The Yes Works

Our clients come to us to engineer their cultures for four things:

PROFIT     |     GROWTH     |     INNOVATION     |     FUN

Because your culture is your future.

I'm synthesizing a life of learning and a diverse career of communications, customer service, training, and leadership development to help improve the work-lives of the people I serve. There is no work/life balance. There is only a balanced and fulfilling life. Work is part of life. Let's make it good.

Happily, fulfilling work and good productive work go hand in hand as a part of a balanced life.

I work with business teams to help build habits of work, communication, and collaboration to enliven work and make it good. It's good for business, it's good for people. That's the bottom line.

Co-Founder & CEO

Giant Leap

Lead two regional groups of Chief Executives and Business owners through a peer-mentoring experience...

We're whole humans leading companies, and it can be lonely at the top. Members of these groups find peers who have no agenda with them, have no fear of them, and will therefor put their best interests frontmost and share their honest, insightful thoughts and questions.

We're helping leaders live the entrepreneurial lives of their dreams.

CEO/Owner Peer Group Leader

Vistage Worldwide, Inc.

Get the most your team has to offer today, and grow their capacity tomorrow. Leading humans humanely and effectively for high performance and high fulfillment levels. Communication and collaboration culture. Innovation and problem solving.

Speaker

First 5 FUNdamentals

Founded in 2008, First 5 FUNdamentals (F5F) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to mobilize and inspire communities to achieve their collective goals for children and families. F5F currently supports three initiatives - Project Child Success, Help Me Grow Pierce County, and the Washington Communities for Children.

Vice President Board Of Directors

Mighty Good Work Podcast

Producer & Host

Stadium High School

I teach classes in theater to High School students in every grade level, and direct the school productions in our state of the art theater.

Teach juniors and seniors a course in Business Communication -- Public Speaking and Presentation, Customer Service, Copy Writing, Marketing, Surveys and other topics.

Theatre Arts & Business Communication Teacher

Gold From Straw Theatre Company

Managing Executive Director

Infinite Encore Coaching

Guiding leaders where they are to where they want to be.

Dream it.  Do it.  Live it.

Leadership Coach

Keller Williams Realty

Real Estate Consultant

Oakland School for the Arts

Tech Director and Theatre Teacher

People-first leaders come to us to help make their good teams LEGENDARY:

➡️ Do you have a nagging sense… We could be even BETTER? 

➡️ Do you have a strong culture that's still hampered by CONFLICT & miscommunication?

➡️ Have ACCOUNTABILITY gaps cost you sales, profit, clients, employee retention?

➡️ Is MISTRUST slowing you down?

➡️ Has a KEY PERSON quit out of the blue, citing more money & growth opportunity... And you can't allow a REPEAT with anyone else?

➡️ Is your headcount GROWING -- organically or through acquisition -- faster than team CHEMISTRY?

➡️ Is it hard to see how today's team can accomplish your AUDACIOUS GOALS for tomorrow?

It's time to REFUSE to accept a status quo where:

❌ MEETINGS are a dull time-suck // when they could be fun and productive.
❌ Gaps in communication and/or accountability create CHAOS.
❌ TRUST between team members is weak, so productivity suffers.
❌ Problems are suppressed until they become CRISES // instead of being brought to light.
❌ People resist CHANGE // instead of embracing reality and driving continual improvement
❌ Fixable PROBLEMS persist // when everything they need to find the solution is right there.

We can help. 

Think you can't have SWIFT & LASTING transformation with the team you have?

YOU CAN!

Because we use a unique science-backed approach to training and consulting. And we follow the advice of Albert Einstein:

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

Check out these client results:

🎯 “There’s nothing else like The Yes Works.” Joe Mc Swiney, CEO, SOG Knives. Six months after we worked with his leadership team, Joe said that they’d seen a:
50% increase in mutual appreciation. 
30% increase in mutual understanding. Conflicts were easier to navigate.
80% increase in their ability to communicate positively and constructively under pressure.

🎯 “Your work got us through COVID. We embody the principles you trained us in every day.” Joe LeRoy, CEO, HopeSparks

🎯 “What you did with us is a part of the fabric of this company.” Philip Goward, CEO, TextExpander (Then Philip and partners were able to sell TextExpander ahead of schedule.)

🎯 “Here’s how important you are to me. You give me hope that my company’s culture will be preserved through scaling. 50 years from now, I’ll want you training our leaders to keep us who we are.” Hugh Stewart, CEO - Platform Transition 


Ready to see your team's full potential in ACTION?

Then ask for a call:

📞 https://calendly.com/aaronyes/15min

🌐 https://www.theyesworks.com/

Aaron Schmookler, Culture Engineer

hiltonbarbour.com

WHY CLIENTS CHOOSE ME
I'm a swiss-army knife that deftly brings a myriad of experiences and qualifications to their business challenges. I've an unparalleled curiosity about what makes their business work - and a passion to help it work better, especially for the talented humans they employ. Invariably my solution involves a combination of tools, frameworks and real-world experiences that encompass marketing, organizational culture and change management expertise. 

I believe it is my intellect, ambition, international experience and curiosity that makes them call.  

I know that its my passion, humor, award-winning accent and desire that they win that makes them come back again and again.

WHAT I'VE DELIVERED 
- US Medical start up: Defined the Brand Articulation (Purpose, Vision, Values) and marketing communication platform.
- Canadian Telco: Lead an employee motivation and engagement project related to their current business strategy including Culture and Communication recommendations for the COO.
- Canadian Telco: Determined the B2B customer experience journey and executed research culminating in an extensive set of recommendations for CMO.
- North American Property Developer: Conducted a Social Media Audit and developed a social media playbook as well as a series of internal training workshops. 
- Global Professional Services Firm: Developed and built B2B personas and unique value propositions to inform and drive content program.
- Canadian Automotive Manufacturer: Mapped extensive automotive customer journey to determine content needs and channel selection for principal 1st time buyers and key influencer targets.
- Canadian Technology Leader: Lead Global Leadership Team through a rigorous series of Culture workshops defining and codifying Values and Behaviours for implementation. 

WHO I HAVE WORKED WITH
Shaw, Minto, Allstream, McDonalds, PwC, TELUS, Ford, Kelloggs, Sommetrics, Cossette, TAXI, Leo Burnett, WAX, Kognitiv, SMART Technologies, SDI Marketing

Strategic Marketing Consultant / Growth Partner 

Gagen MacDonald

Gagen MacDonald is a strategy execution firm that specializes in employee engagement, culture change and leadership development. As pioneers in organizational change, we are proud to have helped some of the world’s biggest brands improve business performance and become better places to work.

My role includes:
-Sitting on the Gagen Leadership team
- Ownership of the Marketing function and driving brand awareness and consideration for Gagen's services.
- Crafting distinctive Value Propositions that set Gagen apart in the market.
- Partnering with my Sales colleagues to define/build Sales Enablement tools - like our Six Levers mini assessment - and delivering key Sales collateral pieces.
- Enhancing how we use our Hubspot CRM platform to deliver increasingly segmented campaigns and outreach.     
-Representing Gagen in key industry settings and conferences like Gartner, The Conference Board, PageUp among others.
- Authoring Thought Leadership blogs (a not-so-secret passion) 
- Being an internal champion and advocate for the unique Gagen culture

Senior Director, Marketing & Thought Leadership

Kognitiv Corporation

Kognitiv is redefining loyalty and ushering in the next era of business – collaborative commerce.

We enable organizations to create new value inside their current ecosystem, deepen the impact of their partnerships and build deeper trust with their most important consumers. Our innovative Platform-as-a-Service technology and business model addresses the rapidly emerging trends transforming businesses today. Trends like the subscription economy, zero-party-data, DTC and hyper-personalization. We pride ourselves on being additive, not disruptive, to the capabilities of our clients and partners.

Headquartered in Canada, and employing over 500 people globally, we focus on Financial Services, Media, Telecom, Hospitality and Retail.
 
As VP Marketing, my role is to bring our message and value proposition to the market with clarity, consistency and impact. To build awareness, understanding and preference for our bold vision and lofty ambition. To engage with global business leaders who recognize the enormous potential of working collaboratively to drive real growth inside their organizations.

Vice President Marketing

Global Brand Leaders Inc.

Global Brand Leaders is a consultancy  offering services in Strategy, Culture and Organizational Design.

WHAT I'VE DELIVERED
- Ontario-based CPG: Defined a comprehensive set of Purpose, Mission, Values and Behaviours culminating in a robust internal communication program to drive awareness and alignment to the new Purpose.  
 - Property Development organization: Executed a Culture Audit sponsored by the COO leading to an internal communication and change management plan to refine and modify their Culture practices. 
- Property Development organization: Executed an extensive brand architecture review to refine and simplify their brand portfolio.  

WHO I HAVE WORKED WITH
Chudleighs, Minto, Medavie, Environics

Partner

dubdub.com

Hired as Independent Consultant, I became the first CMO for this mobile start-up with offices in Toronto, New York and Montreal.

- Responsible for defining Value Proposition & Mission "Reducing the lag between epiphany and expression" 
-  Authored investor decks highlighting market opportunity, target industry segments, product roadmap
- Built holistic life-cycle approach to customer acquisition, app usage and retention
- Built marketing team of four including hiring dedicated Food, Travel vertical experts and first in-house Creative lead
- Responsible for hiring/liaison with NYC PR agency, media relations and authoring press releases
- Responsible for hiring multi-award winning commercial director Steve Chase as Resident Creative Counsel
- Negotiated first dubdub sponsorship with NASCAR team based in North Carolina
- Lead business development efforts with Bloglovin, L'Oreal Canada, Ford Models, airbnb

CMO (Contract Role)

Zulu Alpha Kilo Inc.

I lead the Strategy and Planning function at independent agency Zulu Alpha Kilo. A fiercely creative agency, I was engaged to deepen the planning and strategy engagements.

The client roster included all major Coca-Cola brands (Coke Trademark, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, MinuteMaid, Simply Orange, Dasani, Powerade and CSR initiative "Live Positively"), Canadian job board Workopolis, Bell Mobility, restaurant chain Jack Astors amongst others. In October 2011, Zulu was awarded the Corona Canada business adding everyone's favourite summer brand to a great roster. In January 2011 we added renowned Challenger brand Audi Canada to our roster too.

Loved our simple agency ethos : "No big egos"

Strategic Planning Director

Organic Toronto

My remit was to add strategic insight and planning to augment and amplify our digital delivery. A burgeoning role across the Organic network and one I felt proud to be part of. I got to have my grey matter tickled by smart folks from San Fran, New York and London. That was all good.

Client remit included overall strategy responsibility for Hilton WW (Hilton Honors, Conrad, Waldorf-Astoria, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hilton, Hampton, HGI, Homewood Suites) and local Canadian clients Nike, Hyundai and Bank of America. New Business was obviously a core component of my responsibilities.

In my spare time, I also served as Editor-in-Chief of Organic's industry-leading blog ThreeMinds which features forward thinking articles on digital marketing.

With the closure of the Organic Toronto office in April 2011, I was retained to work independently across the network. This meant more planes but a broader remit assisting the other three North American offices - Detroit, San Francisco & New York.

Executive Director of Strategy

Banner (part of WPP)

Banner is a B2B specialist agency within the WPP network, focused primarily on technology businesses. Agency scope expanded with AOR status on Ernst&Young which included leading the global marcomms assignment.

My responsibilities extended across the Nokia, TrendMicro, Novell, Ernst&Young, Juniper Networks, InQuira and Autodesk accounts. Account scope was typically Pan-European with a focus on through-the-line communication projects. Lead Generation and Nurturing programs utilizing marketing automation were areas of increased emphasis.

Group Account Director

MacLaren McCann

Strategic communication leadership for Coca-Cola, Johnson and Johnson as well as Cadbury-Adams. Role was primarily integrated across all communication channels incl Broadcast, Web, Events, Direct and Sponsorships. Core team of 6. Senior point of contact across all brand assignments with primary financial responsibility for annual revenue.

Ogilvy & Mather

Lead integrated account assignments across a wide variety of North American clients like IBM, Lotus, Motorola, Kraft,KFC as well as time at Ogilvy New York running Enron. Core responsibility for driving communication strategy across NA and Global (IBM Storage) programs. Business growth and revenue responsibility a key component too.

Account Director

I've two simple principles - "Good people should know other good people" and "Question Everything" - as we enter this new era of AI, that empathy and curiosity has proven invaluable.

Marketing remains my first-love. Marketing is the growth engine of any organization. From crafting unique value propositions to nurturing distinctive brands (even creating a few) I have international client & agency experience in driving growth, building loyal customers and gaining share. I've worked across both B2B and B2C, across sectors and led global brands and feisty start-ups. That diverse exposure gives me a unique perspective on how to build and execute marketing strategies that deliver.

Marketing can drive growth but it is only when employees are fully aligned and committed that an organization achieves real competitive advantage. Culture is always the fuel of creativity, ingenuity and agility that enable a firm to truly win with partners and customers. 

I fiercely believe in the combination of Marketing and Culture to differentiate - and win - in the marketplace. 

If you want to understand what it is like working with me, please check out the kind words colleagues, clients and partners have shared in the section below.

A SYNOPSIS
- Over 20 years of experience working with clients in B2B, professional services, technology, consumer goods, telco, automotive, retail, hospitality in Canada, the US and the UK.
- Strong digital experience from strategy development through to channel deployment.
- An EQ/IQ dexterity honed from working as a senior leader (client & agency) and as an independent consultant. I hit the ground running and make an impact quickly.
- Thought leader with over 50 global interviews and ebooks on Digital Transformation and Culture. Frequent speaker and podcast guest. <The accent helps> 

BRANDS I'VE WORKED WITH
Coca-Cola, IBM, Nokia, Minto, PwC, EY, Shaw, Autodesk, TrendMicro, KFC, Nestle, J&J, McDonalds, Telus...and Enron

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Aaron Schmookler, Culture Engineer

Hilton Barbour

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