Joscelyn A. Davis: Maximizing Organizational Success through the Design and Execution of Innovative Change Management Programs

Great leaders attract top personnel and foster the performance culture that your company needs to achieve faster outcomes. Leadership skills training is a wonderful approach for executives at all levels to strengthen their capabilities, motivate their employees, and produce remarkable business results. To achieve better results, successful leaders are able to transform organizations, increase value creation, increase efficiencies, and engage their employees.

Hundreds of leadership development workshops on high-functioning teams, collaborative cultures, strategic planning, conscious leadership, and emotional intelligence have been guided by Joscelyn A. Davis, President and CEO of JADE Strategies. Her worldwide facilitator certification was awarded in 2017 for her work in Personality Dimensions® seminars, which examine personal temperaments, investigate unconscious prejudices, and promote team cooperation. She also founded Mentoring Leaders℠, an advanced coaching program for present and rising leaders, and Mentoring Trailblazers℠, a leadership development program exclusively for professional women, seven years ago.

Joscelyn works directly with clients at JADE Strategies to develop and implement solutions to difficult problems that connect operations with goals, establish stakeholder relationships, and improve operational efficiency. She accomplishes this through one-on-one executive coaching, team leadership development, and strategic planning.

JADE Strategies

JADE Strategies began by aiding NGOs at a period when contributors had just recently gotten internet access, resulting in increased rivalry among nonprofits. Joscelyn used her background in corporate communications to lead those firms through strategic planning procedures that improved operations and emphasized relationship management. She quickly learned that every sector faces market rivalry and requires constant leadership growth. JADE Strategies now has a diverse portfolio of business, governmental, and nonprofit customers from a variety of industries.

Early Life and Work Experiences 

Joscelyn secured a “large, significant post” as manager of corporate communications and investor relations for a telecom business while still in graduate school. When she took the job, she found out that the company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and had been bought by a mergers and acquisitions firm that specialized in dismantling corporations. Joscelyn was tasked with coordinating communication between the company’s panicked workers, disenchanted community, suspicious media outlets, and enraged shareholders.

Joscelyn’s path to business was a foregone conclusion. Fortunately, she rose to the position of corporate leader early in her career, giving her several opportunities to gather invaluable knowledge — mostly as a result of a few professional setbacks. Although she received an MBA with the goal of one day being her own boss, an unexpected family transfer to Phoenix, AZ, prompted her to pursue her ambition and start her first company. She quickly recognized that what had looked to be a difficulty had turned out to be good fortune disguised.

Joscelyn founded Hermès Communications, a public relations and marketing agency in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1995. She formerly worked as the Corporate Communications Manager at Center Re, a Wall Street reinsurance business and Zurich subsidiary, where she oversaw divisions in New York, Bermuda, London, and Dublin.

She shares, “More than one client has remarked on the accuracy of my situation analyses and the effectiveness of my recommended strategies, sometimes even asking if I’m psychic (which I am not). But, if I were to describe myself in one word, it would be “intuitive.”

The leadership publicly valued Joscelyn’s counsel as a member of the executive team. It was a massive position, but she handled it well and recognized she had a knack for strategic planning, execution, and leadership coaching at the time.

Joscelyn continues to earn the finest acknowledgment in the form of invitations to serve as a thought leader. Over the years, she has earned a few extremely exceptional accolades for her leadership efforts. She says, “I’m always most honored, however, when asked to speak (teach, train, inspire) to organizations and communities on topics, such as high-functioning teams, leadership competency, and organization sustainability.”

Work Life Balance 

Joscelyn doesn’t always maintain balance in her personal and professional life – with a bent toward the professional end of the spectrum. She says, “Of course, this was even more challenging when my children were young. However, I’ve given myself permission to forego a traditional work schedule as a way of maintaining balance.”  Joscelyn might start a project at midnight one day and go to the movies at noon on another, which goes a long way toward controlling her stress level.

As per Joscelyn, most people might define motivation in dollars and cents. However, she keeps in mind that motivation is so much more. It’s also time, information, access, authority that matches responsibility, and genuine gestures that demonstrate the team’s individual and collective value.

A Leader’s Perspective

Joscelyn believes work-life balance is the very definition of success. She states, “We’re really successful when everything aligns; not just a prosperous bank account or high-level professional status, but everything—home life, professional influence, volunteerism, time to rest, time for creativity, and the belief that we’re making a difference.”

Joscelyn claims that when she started JADE Strategies in 2010, she decided to take on every assignment that came her way if she thought she could handle it. However, it took her a few years to realize that she needed not only skill, but also passion for the work. She is currently concentrating on leadership, team, and organizational development, areas in which she is well-versed and enjoys facilitating.

Creating Impact by Working Globally 

JADE began working with overseas clients last year. In the foreign market, Joscelyn sees room for expansion. She intends to enhance her foreign leisure trips as well. And she’s not blind to the fact that her work and personal objectives may be in sync.

Joscelyn shares, “I still have a few goals to achieve before I can claim complete success. I’m in the process of developing an online, leadership competency assessment tool, for instance, as well as a couple of books—one a non-fiction book related to leadership development, and another a semi-autobiographical work about the five, consecutive generations of women in my family who are all college-educated, starting with my great-grandmother, Pearl, who graduated from college in 1915, and including my daughter, Jordan, who is the first in our family to graduate from an Ivy League university.”

Joscelyn’s advice to aspiring business leaders is to be intentional about assessing the alignment between your strengths, values, and passions and your chosen profession/employer/business concept. She says, “When you know who you are and what you really want, you’ll recognize and discern opportunities faster and with greater accuracy.”