We Want to See You Thrive.

The Global Society of Change Agents teaches organization development consultants, leadership and executive coaches, trainers and facilitators how to create the practices they really want.

You’re out there making businesses more humane, nonprofits more effective, government more effective, leaders more inspiring, and all of us more fulfilled.

You’re creating the kind of world we want to see.

That’s why we want you to have all of the impact, income, and influence you truly deserve. (It’s only fair!)

Our mission is simple: We’ll help you focus on the proven action steps that will help you get where you want to be in your practice. And we’ll help you sustain your energy, spirit, and enthusiasm along the way.

Your Free Practice Development Education

You’ve invested a lot in developing your professional skills, so you’re ready to serve your clients in a big way. But do you also have the knowledge it takes to make sure you have ideal clients to serve … plenty of opportunities to do your best work … and a practice that lets you flourish?

That’s where we come in.

Every week, we’ll bring you fresh insights about what’s working right now in practice development. You’ll discover how to …

• Have more of your ideal clients (and fewer of the headaches).
• Streamline your “marketing” and make the most of your precious time.
• Maximize the value you deliver to your clients, so you can enjoy the rewards.

And much more. These days, you need to understand the big picture of where you’re headed, what’s possible in this exciting field, and all the facets of developing your practice.

About the Founders

Jim Lord

Jim started out as the youngest consultant in a very large firm (one of the oldest, Ketchum) something like 40 years ago. In the 30 years since he struck out on his own, he’s never competed for clients.

“None of those dog-and-pony shows,” Jim says. “I know about them, though, because I’ve joined consultants on the hot seat, as I supported them in their presentations. I know just how nerve-wracking that can be.”

Over the years, Jim has done just about everything related to consulting — even consulted on selecting consultants. And he intentionally designed his business so it grew out of his own interests, supported his growth, and was rewarding in every possible way.

Jim is well-known for his groundbreaking work in the facilitation of philanthropy (what some call “fundraising”). He wrote one of the first and still most influential books in the field, The Raising of Money, and developed innovative methods for large-dollar philanthropy, the Philanthropic Quest.

Philanthropists and civic leaders from more than 50 countries have participated in his private, by-invitation workshops.

Jim’s creative mind has been enriched by studying and working side-by-side with global thought leaders in social psychology, organization development, and change management … David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney in Appreciative Inquiry … Carolyn Lukensmeyer and John Carter of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland … Len Hirsch and Jane Watkins at NTL. Other influences include relationships with Carol Pearson, Ken Gergen, and Jay Hughes.

Jim was a founding member of Appreciative Inquiry Consulting and is an Associate of the Taos Institute.

Today, Jim is a consultant’s consultant and a coach to coaches — “lifting the lifters,” as he likes to say. He first started to consult with consultants more than 25 years ago, always aiming toward a significant leap in the person’s business and, more important, in their influence.

Pam McAllister

Pam McAllister is a retired cofounder whose thinking helped shape the organization from its earliest days.

Once upon a time Pam was a tax lawyer, but she quit when she was offered partnership in the firm.

“People always look at me funny when I tell them that,” she says.

Maybe because she’s so not a tax lawyer these days. But even more because … well, who puts in three years of high-pressure law school (at Northwestern University, where she graduated cum laude and was on the Law Review) plus six years of big-firm politics and long hours — and then turns down the big payday?

Now, don’t ask Pam to explain the becoming-a-tax-lawyer part of the story. It’s a mystery.

But she does know why she walked away: “My work held no meaning. Every day at that job, a little more of my soul disappeared.” She longed to stand for something. She wanted her work to matter. (She wanted her life to matter.)

So she jumped off the cliff, left her home in Hawaii, and ended up in Seattle. She spent the next six years working for a small, start-up nonprofit environmental group, followed by 10 years in her “dream job” at The Nature Conservancy — the largest environmental organization in the world.

Even then, there was something missing. As Pam bluntly puts it, “For far too many years, I sold myself short and let other people set the agenda for me.”

Pam took control of her life by making another leap: into entrepreneurship. She found it “a far greater journey of personal growth than I’d ever imagined.”

And she’s quick to admit that she’s made every mistake in the book. Tactical blunders like carrying too much inventory and investing in the wrong technology. Strategic missteps — like the year or so when she changed her entire business every few months. (Ouch.) And deeper stumbles like doubting her abilities, making things too complicated, and ignoring the opportunities right in front of her.

Things turned around only when she took the plunge and invested serious money in top-level business coaches, who showed her how to get where she really wanted to go.

“My belief in high-quality business coaching is one of the big reasons I founded GSCA,” Pam says. “Change agents deserve business support at least as powerful as what’s available to other communities of entrepreneurs. It’s a privilege to take responsibility for providing that for this community. It’s what I wish someone had done for me, years ago.”