What Top Leaders Say About The Leadership Edge
Consultation
David has been immensely valuable to my development as a businessman, a leader and as a human being. I have worked with him for over a decade and consider him to be an excellent coach, advisor and friend.
You've made a world of difference for me. You have helped me with the most difficult issues that I couldn't even speak to my staff about.
Technology
Adaptec has enjoyed a relationship with David for nearly 8 years. David is without equal in his business pragmatism, facilitative capabilities and coaching skills.
As a CEO coach, David is an good as it gets. David has helped me to really grow as a CEO. With a wealth of experience, he always provides intelligent analysis to complicated situations. I found his approach very flexible without imposing ideas. His recommendations are very constructive and his candor helpful.
You are irreplaceable as a coach. I really value your input.
David is an *exceptional* coach - highly experienced, intelligent and emotionally aware. He consistently listened through and understood any situation I brought up during our sessions - however complex and idiosyncratic. His level of listening is much higher than what I normally encounter in business interactions, reflecting how present and devoted he is to his work. Having efficiently absorbed relevant context, he always had highly insightful ways for me to look at a situation afresh, giving highly actionable feedback in every case. His input was transformative: not only helping me deal with the particular situation at hand, but more generally helping me to grow across the board and become a more effective leader. He was always able to draw effectively on his published research, giving me much material to think about and use to progress between sessions. David's input was crucial as I was dealing with incredibly complex and high-stakes situations - such as regulatory interventions in Europe with multi-billion dollar implications annually, challenges which required complex internal alignment. David was a constant mentor through those times and has made a really lasting impact beyond them.
What you have given me has been crucial for my career. I can't tell you how much of a difference you have made.
You supported and guided me in a way that allowed me to go from real burnout to genuine enthusiasm and renewal. Business is fun again.
You have made such a difference with me and my team. I contribute more effectively in meetings and experience myself as more powerful with my work.
You have taken a good team and made it great.
You're the best consultant we've ever used. We really got things done with your help. You always helped us get to the toughest core issue.
Financial Services
David is one the best ‘active listeners’ I have met. He asks questions that are directly on target and draws from his vast management experience to share ideas and perspectives that I would not have discovered by myself.
I have had the pleasure of partnering with David to address a range of organizational matters at two different investment firms. In all cases, David has provided thoughtful counsel to me and my colleagues but also lends a framework for critical thinking that is far more enduring. With his effective blend of professional depth and personal character, David is an important advisor. I liberally refer him to other firms and colleagues
facing the inevitable strategic or organizational challenge.
Your guidance has been important and constructive, a powerful factor in my continued growth and development as a leader.
You were great, as usual.
People Management
Moving from Director to Senior Director to VP has been the results I achieved with David’s guidance. David helped me think through strategic issues, break down problems into manageable bites and tactically solve issues. David does this via inquiry and conversation that feels normal but stretches your view. David is always ready with a model that provides a clear way of framing the discussion. These models help you explain and frame the discussion as you work with your customers.
David is outstanding. I know of no one who combines his ability to focus and crystallize ones thinking about both business and personal challenges. His techniques are creative, his approach is caring and straightforward and the results created are very meaningful. His assistance was invaluable to me when I was dealing with a very stressful business and personal crisis. His ability to take each issue, prioritize and problem solve was a key to my getting through a most difficult time.
Marketing
Among the many things that I love about working with David is his seamless integration of business and psychology. Not only does this add a voice of balance and reason to my leadership, but also an expanded sense of what’s possible.
You have really helped me to address some very difficult and long standing issues. Your assistance and persistence was extraordinary.
Agriculture
As the new CEO, I needed an experienced, thoughtful professional to work with me and selected members of my senior staff to insure that focus on appropriate priorities, communications and results was maintained at the required pace. David has not only gained my trust and respect as a mentor but more importantly he has earned the respect of my senior staff. David has a unique ability to quickly analyze complex team and interpersonal situations and apply proven methodologies to gain group and individual focus.
You have always helped us to see the principles behind the solutions. You make all the business theory practical and usable. That has allowed us to continually improve our decision making and handling of new challenges. You have helped us to commit to a consistent and professional process that increases our productivity and the quality of our results.
David has tireless energy and is an excellent facilitator in sensitive/strategic settings. He keeps the process moving. David has a knack to continually re-focus a group toward the goals of the meeting and not allow individuals to railroad the group thought process. David was instrumental in facilitating important strategic meetings and keeping a very large and diverse group focused on the goals as stated by the Board and management.
I want to say thank you for all your advice and guidance over the years. Your insights have been invaluable to me. You have really helped shape and improve my mindset assisting me to overcome the many challenges in both my career and in my personal well-being.
Health Systems
David’s impact on our communication, problem solving and team effectiveness has been significant and very positive. You have a style that has enhanced your effectiveness, even among some of our team who were initially skeptical about using a coach. We are confident that your impact will endure.
Dr. Surrenda, through his coaching, provides the CEO of a complex organization with the tools needed to develop, implement and drive strategy; to use the strengths of the executive team to get the results needed; to understand the importance of relational as well as operational leadership; to think through the implications of decisions; to communicate effectively with the important stakeholders and to understand organizational dynamics. David is an excellent listener, a thoughtful advisor and a trusted confidant.
David is a highly knowledgeable, experienced and compassionate person. His knowhow, his commitment and his sensitivity to our senior management team contributed substantially to the success we had in building a fledgling technological enterprise to a successful billion-dollar public company before its sale by the shareholders. I highly recommend him to help you create inspirational leadership within your management team, a key element for our success.
You're one of the most important people I've come to know in my whole career. You've really helped.
I found Dr. Surrenda’s program and services for on-boarding extremely valuable. This is a highly value-added process to provide to a new executive in an organization, and one that I strongly believe greatly benefits the organization as well in terms of effectiveness and retention.
In moving from my role for two hospitals to a system-level role for five, David and I spent several sessions reviewing and discussing several areas I found helpful: plans and approaches to making the transition; creating a “ first 100 day” plan, focusing on the key success factor of establishing not only a good reputation but also great relationships within the new organization’s culture; and reviewing a “to do” list of key areas to assess and address with useful tools and checklists.
In addition, having opportunity for follow-up discussions along the way during the initial transition period and beyond has been very helpful in discussing emerging impressions, challenges and ideas. David’s style is very supportive to this process, he has a great ability and intuition about areas of opportunity, and he creates a shared accountability for key learning and actions.
I highly recommend Dr. Surrenda’s services and process as a valuable tool for organizational success in recruiting and retaining talent.
Education
Working with David Surrenda is like adding that pinch of salt to a dessert recipe. Just as the salt harmonizes and brings out the various flavors of many different ingredients, David has been able to help me to bring together and manage successfully the often unharmonious, unclear and divergent demands of my job. David is a master at absorbing large amounts of information quickly and accurately. He can drill down with amazing speed to the key issue as well as articulate an effective way to manage that issue.
David has created a place and time for me in which I can speak with complete confidentially and confidence that he will help me find the most effective solution to problems that range from the simple to the complex. And by most effective I mean that the course he has helped me to plot out conforms to the highest levels of ethical and professional conduct.
Government
If we had a hundred more people of David's skills in the Senate, we could really get things done.
David is unlike most consultants. He really gets things done and makes a difference.
David really gets to the heart of the problem. He can really get people to try new strategies and consider new ways of thinking rather than being stuck in the old traps.
Your objective way of dealing with issues is so clear that I learned a new way to talk with people about difficult issues. You helped us with conflicts that we thought were unsolvable and showed us perspectives that offered whole new possibilities that we hadn't seen. You made it safe to explore the things in both my business and my personal goals that are hard for every leader, including me, to talk about.
You took the most difficult issues I was facing and made it easier to see the choices and the options clearly. I was able to act wisely because of your guidance.