Work From The Inside Out 125: Don’t Rest on Your Past Success with Jennifer Fondrevay
Jennifer Fondrevay told me something that I have never before heard from a guest. As a young child, she wanted to become the Ambassador to France and even more remarkably she continued to have that goal throughout her college years into graduate school. Jennifer’s father is French and her grandmother lived with them until she was three years old, so she learned French first, English second. She majored in French and political science undergrad and then continued with her graduate studies at the Thunderbird School Of Global Management where she studied international business, specializing in marketing and advertising. Jennifer figured if the ambassadorship didn’t materialize, her fallback plan was in marketing or advertising. It appears to have worked out extremely well, although Jennifer’s Dad still hopes that she’ll pursue the diplomacy route one day.
As a Fortune 500 C-suite “survivor”, Jennifer has been on all sides of three separate multibillion-dollar mergers and acquisitions. She saw countless growth strategies fail due to a workforce that couldn’t pivot and adapt as quickly as leadership anticipated. While she may not be the Ambassador to France she has sharpened her diplomacy skills over the years.
Today, Jennifer is the founder and Chief Humanity Officer of Day 1 Ready, a consultancy that advises forward-thinking business leaders, owners, and C suite executives on how to prepare for and manage the people challenges of business transitions, particularly mergers and acquisitions. Jennifer conducted extensive research for and authored the satirical survivor’s handbook, Now What? A Survivor's Guide to Thriving through Mergers and Acquisitions. She is a frequent keynote speaker at HR conferences and associations.
In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Jennifer’s journey:
- When her Harvard Business Review (HBR) article, “After a Merger, Don’t Let “Us vs. Them” Thinking Ruin the Company” went viral, Jennifer recognized the power and interest in a human-centric approach to business transformation, where employees are at the heart of the change.
- In addition to HBR, Jennifer also shares her expertise as a contributor to Fast Company, Inc, Thrive Global, and Forbes.
Learn more and connect with Jennifer here:
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