Dennis Geelen

Coaching and mentoring to help you start and scale your one-person business.

Founder

Zero In

The mission of Zero In is to help as many businesses and leaders build a brand customers love and a company people are passionate to work for.  

So where do you need to focus (or Zero In)?
Solve the problem of INDIFFERENCE!

Indifferent customers have no compelling reason to purchase your product or service rather than your competitors' product or service. 

Indifferent employees are complacent because they are not passionate about coming to work each day.

Utilize the resources, books, and courses from Zero In to increase your customer retention, improve your customer experience, and build a passionate culture of innovation giving your team the ability to find new and better ways to serve your customers.

"Customers DO NOT buy your product or service, they buy what it can DO FOR THEM"
Customer-centricity means knowing your customers and giving them what they crave.  This helps you to build trust and loyalty, but also a solid reputation.  Loyal customers become fans of your brand and refer other customers to you.

"If you don't find new and better ways to serve your customers, SOMEONE ELSE WILL!"
Being Innovative brings new ideas, which is crucial to a business being able to find new and better ways to add value for your customers.  With innovation comes creative new products and services, increases in efficiency and, as a result, improved profitability.

BE THE BRAND CUSTOMERS LOVE AND THE COMPANY PEOPLE ARE PASSIONATE TO WORK FOR

Founder and Chief Difference Maker

The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group

About the Commonwell
We are committed to profitable growth, team development, ingenuity, while having fun at work.  We offer a complete range of insurance products including residential, automobile, commercial, farm and watercraft. We encourage a work-life balance and we are serious about what we do!

About my Role
As Manager of the PMO, I lead a group project managers and business analysts to implement the project management office from the ground up.

About the PMO
Projects at the Commonwell are measured against timelines, budget, delivery of scope, but most importantly the realization of the intended benefits of each project.  Over 85% of projects at the Commonwell were consistantly green throughout 2018.

Manager, Project and Portfolio Management Office

As Manager of Application Services, I am responsible for planning, coordinating and managing the activities of the Application Services team within the Information Systems (IS) Department. This includes leadership and development of the IS team members, as well as providing direction and support for IS solutions to meet the present and future needs of the organization.

Manager of Application Services

Kawartha Lakes Food Source

Kawartha Lakes Food Source is a community effort to reduce hunger in the City of Kawartha Lakes by:

1. Maintaining a central warehouse to supply food to organizations that provide food to individuals in need,
2. Raising public awareness, and
3. Working in concert with other local not-for-profit organizations.

Board Of Directors

Operitel Corporation (An OpenText Company) 

ABout OpenText
OpenText, The Information Company™, a market leader in Enterprise Information Management software and solutions, enables intelligent and connected enterprises by managing, leveraging, securing and gaining insight into enterprise information, on-premises or in the cloud. 

About my Role
Directed a team of PS and R&D resources to develop and implement the LearnFlex LMS platform for over 40 clients.

Director of R&D and Professional Services

TELUS

Manager - Payment Solutions Development and Support

Emergis - A Telus Company

Manager

Emergis Inc

Business Coach | Keynote Speaker | Author of The Happy Accidents newsletter and The Accidental Solopreneur book

What I Do
I help teams, organizations, and solopreneurs flourish by focusing on what really matters: people.

As a speaker, author, and consultant, I equip audiences with practical, human-centered strategies to thrive in uncertain times, build meaningful businesses, and create lasting impact.

Who I Work With
• Event organizers seeking keynote speakers on serendipity, growth, and personal transformation
• Businesses and nonprofits looking to create stronger cultures, customer experiences, and leadership teams
• Solopreneurs who want to design businesses that give them both income and freedom


What I’ve Created
• Author of The Zero In Formula and The Accidental Solopreneur (bestseller)
• Creator of top-rated online courses for solopreneurs and authors
• Host of the Happy Accidents podcast and newsletter
• Keynote talks including 'The Power of Serendipity', 'Start Before You’re Ready', and 'Rooted in Humans'


Want to Work Together?
Let’s talk if you’re looking for:
✅ A keynote speaker for your next event
✅ A workshop or webinar for your team
✅ A course to help you grow as a solopreneur or author


DM me if you’d like to connect about speaking, workshops, or collaborations.

Leadership-in-a-Box®

We provide premium 60 minute off-the-shelf leadership development programs for our client organizations that are "ridiculously practical" for learners (*same day skill application*) and easy for facilitators and coordinators at scalable enterprise pricing.

Founder & CEO

Nathan Magnuson Leadership

◘ Leadership consulting, coaching, keynote speaking and training program facilitation on corporate leadership development and engagement initiatives
◘ Author: Stand Out! & Ignite Your Leadership Expertise
◘ Over 300 articles posted on NathanMagnuson.com and various publications

Executive Consultant - Leadership Development, Speaker, Coach, Author

HCA Healthcare

Manage team responsible for deploying and managing variety of leadership development programming to region of 14,000 employees, selection and coaching for high potential program participants, performance management, talent review, organizational development and assessment administration.

Director, Leadership & Organizational Development

Tenet Healthcare

◘ Project lead for Mid-level & Frontline leadership development strategy & infrastructure for 130K employee organization
◘ Project lead for Executive Onboarding process (full project life cycle)
◘ Delivered online leadership program to 6,500 leaders with 80% participation and 99% satisfaction
◘ Executive coach program & curriculum lead for high potential leadership academy
◘ Vendor manager for Accenture, Harvard Business Publishing, Table Group, Advisory Board, Avanoo, SVI and others
◘ Facilitation, coaching, assessment interpretation, vendor evaluation & management for variety of development programs/projects as needed
◘ Support talent management projects as needed (talent review, succession planning, performance management, etc.)

Manager, Leadership Development

Masco Administrative Services

◘ Build talent development infrastructure for various levels of management nationwide, including design, development & delivery of leadership programs & events
◘ Advise, design & develop functional training programs, processes & supporting infrastructure to prepare new operations leaders through Center of Excellence
◘ Program manager for new manager onboarding program, executive mentor program, internship program
◘ Lead and/or support initiatives related to performance management, employee engagement/assessment, organizational talent review, succession planning, assessment administration initiatives, role profile management, etc.
◘ Talent partner for various functional areas of the company
◘ Total Cost Productivity recognition winner for HR

Organizational Development Specialist

Accenture

Leadership Development Program Content Developer with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
◘ Served as liaison between leadership foundation team and instructional designers to ensure leadership course content met desired learning objectives
◘ Directly supported design and development stages of leadership content for week long Leadership Seminar targeting 5,300 middle managers
◘ Helped shape leadership coaching aspects of Leadership Seminar and development of an internal coaching practice for organization
◘ Coordinated and integrated use of assessments to enhance learning experience into training (360, FIRO, JOHARI Window reports, etc.)
◘ Collaborated on train-the-trainer certification program, participant practical exercise creation, Kirkpatrick evaluation levels, and various other onboarding or learning initiatives
◘ Managed project workplan for assigned module

Culture Transformation Lead for Defense Intelligence Agency IT Directorate
◘ Consolidated client assessment data to develop themes for future desired culture state and and integrated into Core Values Campaign
◘ Proposed Core Values Campaign to senior client leadership
◘ Built culture roadmap with change management phases
◘ Authored communications to highlight Core Values to workforce (website, newsletter articles, executive email messages, etc.)
◘ Coached client leadership to deliver Core Values presentations during existing workforce programs
◘ Developed internal workforce rotational program processes and communications for client program manager

Stakeholder Engagement Operations project with IRS
◘ Managed and improved weekly and quarterly state reporting processes

Organizational Development Consulting Analyst

U.S. Army Reserves

Joined Army Reserves in April, 2006, deployed to Iraq from Nov, 2007 - Nov, 2008
◘ Member of Army Special Operations Forces (SOF) community
◘ Regularly worked & liaised with senior leadership from military, U.S. Department of State, USAID, and international agencies
◘ Authored and obtained grants for operational expenses for NGO projects, up to $150,000
◘ Personally advised local Iraqi micro finance institution and small business development center
◘ Increased loan creation by 240% over 12 month period
◘ Increased loan capital from $540K to $1.2M with 0% default rate
◘ Opened 3 satellite offices, created over 2500 jobs

Civil Affairs Specialist/Business Advisor

Leadership-in-a-Box® | Speaker | Author | Veteran | Professional Encourager

I believe one of the greatest gifts in all of life is the gift of being well led.

One of the ways I contribute is by providing executive and HR leaders with high quality, easy-to-use and "ridiculously practical" leadership programs that scale across their organizations. It's called Leadership-in-a-Box.

Our very first enterprise client told me, "I've researched 10 different vendors and Leadership-in-a-Box is by far the most practical option!"

I'd love to show you what's special about our "ridiculously practical" approach.

https://www.leadershipinabox.com

I'm also the author of Ignite Your Leadership Expertise, Stand Out! and over 300 articles at NathanMagnuson.com and in various publications.

If you have an important leadership development priority for your organization, let's talk!

Nathan Magnuson

Today's the day I get to wear my veteran hat (despite being 30 years too young for the look, that's kinda the point 😂) and eat a free meal where I can ask my fellow veterans "so, where did you serve?"

So many veterans eat a free meal by themselves. It's shocking how meaningful it is to receive a "thank you for your service" even from a fellow vet!

Save me a seat, Outback Steakhouse!

Happy Veterans Day!

It meant a lot to have family join in at the last conference of the year at the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL) Fall Leadership Summit in Chicago.

My new "junior consultant" nephew Rowdy Jr sure hammed it up with the other participants and sponsors. (That's 2 events in the last 3 weeks! 😳😳)

If you missed yesterday's presentation: high engagement is all about creating high emotional connection with the team and the work.

Still one more day to go, let's make it a great one!

I took my own leadership advice and this is how I feel!

The Leadership-in-a-Box® skill I struggle with the most is delegation.

There's so much to do and it's so hard to slow down and intentionally complicate the process by adding more human interaction into the mix.

And then I wonder why I feel like most leaders feel: overwhelmed and behind!

So I did what our program encourages others to do: I listed 2-3 tasks that must be done ("mission critical") but do not need to be done by me... with an emphasis on EASY.

And I passed them off with clear instructions and a clear deadline (I'm a little better at the Accountability program!).

How do I feel now? AMAZING!!!!!!

But the best part is all of this will improve the experience everyone has with our team. WIN-WIN-WIN

If you struggle with delegation (like I do), don't overcomplicate it. Commit to picking that low hanging fruit and handing it off.

We're ready for our last conference of the year at the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL) Fall Leadership Summit. 

Can't wait to give away copies of Ridiculously Practical Leadership and present on "Winning the Heart: Engaging Top Talent in Healthcare!"

I think this was the greatest lesson from my time in the military. 

As soon as you say, "It went wrong because of me," you can immediately say, "It will go right because of me next time."

The cards of ownership, success and freedom are all in your hands as soon as you take accountability. 

That's really cool!! 🫡🫡

Five of my "ridiculously practical" gratitudes for 2025:

👉 Life and breath —

At an entrepreneur event a couple weeks back, the topic came up about how much credit we can take for our successes.

I said, "Hey, if you took the risk and figured it out, you deserve the reward! But until you can put breath in your own lungs, stay grateful!"

👉 Each past experience (even the bad ones)  —

I'm blessed to have some really cool (and also some really random) career highlights, but the excruciating ones probably taught me even more.

In fact, I'm not sure I'd be doing what I am today without some prerequisite dreams dashed. Blessings in disguise?

👉 Incredible clients  —

I try to tell our Leadership-in-a-Box® clients on a regular basis how much of part they play in our success.

Every program, feature and even the new book has a client's name on it because they are the ones who ultimately funded it.

Isn't that cool??

👉 Creative autonomy  —

I think this may be my own version of "self-actualization."

Many years ago, I set out to find the perfect "corporate book club book" that every team could use.

I still can't believe I got to attempt to write it myself in Ridiculously Practical Leadership!

👉 The opportunity to serve even more people tomorrow!  —

Unforeseen circumstances left me working through last year's holiday break and all through this summer as well.

I think that's why I'm so excited to take a little time off this week and then two whole weeks in December.

Until every leader has a great boss, there's more work to be done, and it's a lot easier with a full energy tank.

taplio

The Battle

Dennis Geelen

Nathan Magnuson

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Nathan Magnuson

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Nathan Magnuson's LinkedIn Performance

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