“To call Martin Rutte a visionary is an understatement, because he is able to build visions into reality.”

Strategic Visionary Consulting

A team sets 26 “Breakthrough Objectives” to be achieved within 24 months.

They achieve every single objective in less time.

A major consumer products company has been very successful in its national market for years. They decide its time to go to “the next level.”

As a result of strategic visioning, they move into the global market.

An entire management team visits one of their highest volume clients with whom there have been long and unresolved service issues.

As a result of the meeting, a $650,000 pending lawsuit is dropped.

A president of a start-up company wants an on-going “pipeline” of nine successful products at all times because “every other major successful company in the industry has nine.”

He suddenly sees his limiting belief and sets the number significantly higher.

My consulting service helps the executive or manager improve performance by having the company examine three simple, yet profound, issues –

Where are you?

Where do you want to be?

What will take you there?

I offer the management team an opportunity to take a reflective time-out, in order to take stock of your current condition, your vision and your key strategic objectives.

My focus is on the process of building a plan, committed to by both head and heart, in order to manifest the next phase of your business’s potential.

Sometimes, managers are reluctant to take time out to engage in this process because of the everyday pressures of running a business. But you can get trapped by that attitude, trapped by the day to day – trapped into the same thinking that got you here but won’t get you to the next stage of growth. It’s the trap of yesterday and today, instead of the open field of tomorrow’s vision and potential.

I invite you to consider my in-depth process

Click on each phase to explore

Phase One:

Individual Interviews
I meet with each individual member of the team for a minimum half-day interview. This discussion clarifies thoughts, perceptions and ideas in the following three areas, for both the individual’s own area of responsibility as well as for the company as a whole.

  1. The Current Condition
  2. The Vision
  3. The Key Strategic Objectives needed to accomplish the Vision

All comments from the individual meetings are confidential. Each participant sees only their own notes, encouraging a safe atmosphere in the interviews. People can freely explore and clarify their own thinking without worrying about saying what they think they should, conforming or coming up with immediate answers. During the interview, participants explore new, innovative and productive ideas.

A summary of the interview is then organized, printed and returned to each person for them to review and clarify in preparation for Phase 2.

Phase Two:

The Offsite Retreat
Team members then participate in a 3-day Offsite. The mornings and afternoons are dedicated to working sessions. The evenings are devoted to team building through group activities.

Schedule

Day 1

  • Discussion of the “Current Condition”
  • Group Activity

Day 2

  • Discussion of the “Vision”
  • Group Activity

Day 3

  • Discussion of “Key Strategic Objectives”
  • Leave for home

During the morning session, each person shares their perceptions about the day’s topic, using the notes from their individual interviews. There is no group discussion or commenting during each of these presentations, so the meeting moves along quickly and efficiently.

After everyone has spoken, we continue with group discussion. This is a time for debate, clarification, new insights, and deep understanding. We begin working as a team, using the emerging “Collective Wisdom” as our foundation. The individual presentations and group interaction help us discover the new common themes.

During the evening session, the group engages in a fun and creative activity designed to foster individual expression and team building.

Phase Three:

Follow Up & Time Commitment

Follow-up Sessions

Two days of Follow Up sessions are scheduled to ensure that every issue raised at the Offsite has been assigned a champion and a time-line for accomplishment. Any other un-resolved issues are also addressed. Overall progress is measured.

Time Commitment

Each individual member spends a minimum of one half-day with me in interview and three days at the Offsite. There is an additional two days of follow up sessions (one day 2 weeks after the Offsite, and one day 8 weeks after the Offsite).

 

Intended Results & My Promise

Intended Results

From the individual interview and group Offsite, participants leave with:

  1. A consensus on the Current Condition.
  2. An agreement on a common, integrated and shared Vision.
  3. Commitments to the Key Strategic Objectives of an integrated and compelling business plan which accomplishes the Vision (including who is responsible for each objective and a time line for accomplishment.)
  4. A more closely bonded team that has created a new vision, while having fun, and that is enrolled and engaged in making it happen.

My Promise

My promise to you is that this process will exceed your expectations and that we will together build a stronger foundation for the future of your company.

Whether your company is in a challenging situation or experiencing great success, it may be time for you to move to the next level.
My clients always report that they should have done this process years ago. After the Offsite, they return to work refreshed, renewed, and with the energy of a new determination to move to the next level.

Some of Martin’s Clients Include…

Marion Merrell Dow Consumer Pharmaceuticals

Ready to take your organization to the next level?

Speaking

“Martin’s penetrating insights as a speaker and consultant are solidly grounded in personal experience, not theory. It’s been six months since his last engagement here, and people still rave about Martin’s positive impact.”

Rick Blake, Senior HR Advisor, Petro-Canada, Inc.

“Martin’s presentation uplifted our souls! He walks his talk, he lives his message.”

Richard Barrett, The World Bank

“Outstanding presentation…the interactive process was extremely effective. You succeeded in getting the participants to think in broader terms about their professional and personal goals. Congratulations! Many told us your seminar was the best presented by any organization on campus.”

Harvard Business School

“Martin Rutte’s presentation was exquisitely well organized and very effective.”

Scott Peck, M.D., Author/Lecturer

Martin Rutte is an international speaker and consultant committed to reconnecting business with its natural source of creativity, innovation and genius. He presents keynote addresses and facilitates dynamic workshops, seminars and corporate retreats. Martin will customize his presentation for your organization.

Martin has spoken to many companies and groups

across the continent and around the world.

Martin has spoken to many companies and groups across the continent and around the world.

Brazil

Other clients include:

  • Lucent Technologies
  • The Canadian Human Resource Planners Association
  • Southern California Personnel Management Association
  • VanCity Savings, Vancouver, Canada
  • The California School of Professional Psychology
  • The British Columbia Catholic Hospital Association
  • The Anderson School of Business at the University of New Mexico
  • Quad/Graphics
  • Claremont College Center for Process Studies
  • Immaculate Heart College
  • The University of Santa Monica
  • The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
  • First, Second and Third International Conferences on Spirituality in Business, Mexico

Got an Upcoming Event?

– SPECIAL OFFERING –

Chicken Soup Groups!

Chicken Soup Groups are a natural and effective way to bring the power of storytelling into your workplace. By coming together, we share ourselves, our insights, our struggles and our triumphs, resulting in an increased sense of unity, models of positive change, and enhanced creativity. It’s a fun and powerful time for participants.

Sessions usually last 2 hours and begin with a discussion of the “Chicken Soup” phenomenon, the origin of the books, and their impact on society. Then we look at current trends in the workplace and the need to re-inspirit employees. Next, we share stories from Chicken Soup to encourage discussion about: values, problems, challenges and new solutions in the current work environment. Participants also share their own stories, giving rise to insights and creative ideas. Action commitments are then made to increase both results and satisfaction.

There is a real need in the workplace for people’s hearts to be touched and for their souls to be nourished. Contact Martin Rutte to facilitate a Chicken Soup Group in your workplace.

Chicken Soup Groups Have Been A Big Hit At…

Sound Like the Perfect Thing for Your Organization?

“Martin is a friend, a colleague, and a valued advisor. With honest simplicity and keen insight, he’s leading business into the 21st century. The power of spirit illuminates his work.”

Jack Canfield, New York Times Best-Selling Co-Author of “Chicken Soup for the Soul”

“Martin is a friend, a colleague, and a valued advisor. With honest simplicity and keen insight, he’s leading business into the 21st century. The power of spirit illuminates his work.”

Jack Canfield, New York Times Best-Selling Co-Author of “Chicken Soup for the Soul”

Project Heaven on Earth

THE THREE QUESTIONS

1 – Recall a time when you experienced Heaven on Earth. What was happening?

2 – Imagine you have a magic wand and with it you can create Heaven on Earth.
What is Heaven on Earth for you?

3 – What simple, easy, concrete step(s) will you take in the next 24 hours to make Heaven on Earth real?

These three questions are the launching pad for a whole new way of thinking; The story we’ve been living so far is based on being separate and having others be different than us. It has to do with suffering, with fear and judgment, with thinking that we are not able to make a true, profound, deep and lasting difference so that we begin having the kind of world we want.

I believe it’s time for us to create a new model of existence, a new collective purpose for ourselves.
 Ultimately, as my friend Richard Porter says, “It’s because Heaven on Earth is our destiny.”

Project Heaven on Earth is a vast movement, spanning the globe and touching the lives of many thousands of people from all places and all walks of life. Visit the Project Heaven on Earth website to learn more and dive deeply into these three questions that just might save the world, and ourselves.

Watch the Paradigm Shift

An initial doubter begins shifting his view from skepticism to possibility-
to the realization that Heaven on Earth might just be something of value to humanity.

Is Your Interest Piqued?

Read more about the project, Martin’s mission, and how Project Heaven on Earth is being implemented across the globe.

Martin’s Books

Project Heaven on Earth

The 3 simple questions that will help you change the world…easily

In his newest book Martin sees Heaven on Earth as the new story of what it means to be a human and what it means to be Humanity.

Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work

101 Stories of Courage, Compassion & Creativity in the Workplace

Martin Rutte co-authored this New York Times Business Bestseller which has sold over 1 Million copies worldwide and been translated into 24 languages!

Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work

101 Stories of Courage, Compassion & Creativity in the Workplace

Martin Rutte co-authored this New York Times Business Bestseller which has sold over 1 Million copies worldwide and been translated into 24 languages!

About Martin

Martin Rutte, a dynamic international speaker and consultant, is president of Livelihood, a management consulting firm, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. The company’s areas of service include: strategic vision, corporate spirit, performance management, facilitated dialogue, and creative leadership.

Martin has worked with many corporations assisting them to expand their outlook and position themselves for the future: Sony Pictures Entertainment, Southern California Edison, Virgin Records, Apple Computer, Marion Merrell Dow, and The World Bank. In Canada: Esso Petroleum, London Life Insurance and Labatt Breweries.

He addressed the Corporate Leadership & Ethics Forum of the Harvard Business School and returned for four years as keynote speaker. He has also twice addressed joint meetings of the American and Canadian Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong.

He is co-author of The New York Times Business Bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work, with sales over 1.1 million copies and translations into 24 languages.

For over 15 years he has been exploring peoples’ vision for the kind of world they deeply long for – Project Heaven on Earth. He has contributed chapters on Heaven on Earth in these books: How to Achieve A Heaven on Earth; Seeking the Sacred; and, Glimpses of Heaven on Earth.

His newest book is Project Heaven on Earth: The 3 simple questions that will help you change the world … easily. He sees Heaven on Earth as the new story of what it means to be a human and what it means to be Humanity.

Martin’s pioneering work on spirituality in the workplace was featured in an address he gave to The World Bank which was shown in part on the ABC-TV special, Creativity: Touching the Divine. He was a keynote speaker at all six international conferences on spirituality in business in Mexico. Martin was also Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of the Centre for Spirituality and the Workplace, Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada.

He has given talks and workshops globally in: Brazil, Britain, Canada, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, & the U.S.

Articles on his innovative work have appeared in: The New York Times, The Miami Herald, The Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, Personnel Journal, US News and World Report, The Toronto Star and The Boston Globe.

Martin has served as a board member of Money Concepts Canada, Global Family, The Hunger Project Canada, and as a committee member of The Canadian Cancer Society. Martin is also a member of The Transformational Leadership Council and was a recipient of the ‘Excellence in Leadership’ award. He has been happily married to Maida for over 45 years.

Contact Martin