Leslie Yerkes has been advancing the cause of positive organizational culture for over twenty-five years, ever since she started The Catalyst Consulting Group with a mission to do consulting with a conscience. Her interests are many but her vision for a workplace emboldened by empowered, enthusiastic employees and managers is singular.

Author of five books, including three for Berrett-Koehler, Leslie tends to run with her enthusiasms only after testing their viability in the rubber-meets-the-road environments of the organizations she consults with, be they small passionate non-profits or global Fortune 50 conglomerates. She nailed ‘fun at work' with co-author Dave Helmsath way back in 1997, and revisited the concept with the essential Fun Works, Creating Places Where People Love to Work, in 2001.

In re-doing the book for a second edition, a lot of her experience and learning fueled a renewal of her enthusiasm. All of a sudden the idea of fun at work was not nearly as magnetic for her as was the conception of a soft science of organizational change, a conception for which fun and fulfillment were ingredients in a much more robust mix.

This mix was geared to provide a recipe for a richly complex, sophisticated and deeply human view about how to optimally support business success by supporting the success of the people that are the human core of the organization.

They Just Don't Get It: Changing Resistance Into Understanding, is of a piece with this too. The book addresses how communication can be undermined, while it provides practical techniques to explore and solve communication problems. There's little that can be changed in an organization unless stakeholders listen closely, and support their ow and each other's openness, and, are passionate about daring to do things—together-- differently.

As a consultant, author, thought leader, and keynote speaker, Leslie is all about deep change and other kinds of daring.

301 Ways to Have Fun at Work

The most successful organizations add a healthy dose of play into their daily or weekly routines. In fact, research has s...

Services include:

  • Consulting
  • Facilitating
  • Performance coaching
  • Speaking

Corporations Manufacturing

Ameritech, Chemical Methods, Ben Venue Laboratories, The Kirby Co., The Blonder Company, Summers Rubber Co., Chrysler Corp., TALAN Products, Cleveland Financial Group, TremcoCohen & Company, Van Dorn Demag, ConferonWIRE-NetDeloitte & Touche, Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Health Care

Fed Ex Custom Critical, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, McDonald & Company, The Cleveland Oral Clinic, Norstan Euclid Hospital, Pro-Ed Communications, Health Hill Hospital for Children, Realty One, Hillcrest Hospital, Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital, Roberts Express, Huron Hospital, Sheraton Suites of Columbus, Lake Hospital, SystemSky Financial Group, Meridia Health System, Sodexho, Marriott Meridia Institute, The Strang Corp., Meridia Mental Health Center, TRION Technologies, Meridia School of Management, The Victor S. Voinovich Co., Metro Health Medical Center, The Westfield Group, Montefiore Nursing Home

Civic and Community Service Organizations

St. Luke's Hospital, AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, South Pointe Hospital, Bellflower Center, Summa Health Care, Case Western Reserve University, Visiting Nurse Assoc., The Child Life Council of America, Wadsworth Rittman Hospital, Cleveland Council of Smaller Enterprises

Arts

The Cleveland Foundation, Cincinnati Arts Consortium, Cleveland Metro Parks, Cleveland Ballet, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cuyahoga County Board of Directors, Lyric Opera, Cuyahoga County Board of Directors, National Afro American Museum, Greater Cleveland Growth Assoc.Ohio Arts Council, Hellenic Preservation Society

Government

The Hispanic Cultural Center, Cuyahoga Work in Training, Hospice of the Western Reserve, The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Lakewood City Schools, The Ohio Arts Council Recovery Resources Inc.Ohio Industrial Commission, St. Luke's Foundation, State of Ohio Training Assoc.,United Way of Defiance County 

Available upon request.

"Leslie Yerkes is energizing!"
"Leslie's Session was excellent, it's nice to have hands-on in the learning process."

- MMAC Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce

"Catalyst's brainpower, strategic insight and ability to independently inspire the 'team' to reach the next level will double your cash flow in 12 months."

- David Strang, The Strang Company

Leslie has not added any photos.