When describing his NY Times bestselling book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell once said “The biggest misconception about success is that we do it solely on our smarts, ambition, hustle and hard work. There’s an awful lot more that goes into it than we admit.”  Gladwell’s book was a bestseller for a reason.  Through interviews, research and a variety of observations, the author identified a range of factors that enable success across several venues.  Although the title suggests that the subjects of Gladwell’s research were unique in their pathways to success, I would counter (or perhaps clarify) that his greater conclusion was that we all have unique pathways toward success.

At North Group, we have worked alongside hundreds of clients over the past twenty-three years – and we agree.  It is true that behaviors such as hard work, developed expertise and teamwork are almost always present in successful organizations, yet the pathways that lead to a team’s current location are unique for each of us.

Researching and mapping current location on the pathway toward success is vital to understand what makes us successful.  For Gladwell, that understanding came through interviews, research, and observation.  At North Group, we use tools such as Organizational Health and Performance Assessments, Organizational 360 Assessments and Leadership 360 Assessments to understand the current location of leaders and their organizations. The truths revealed through our evaluations enable us to recommend and design unique strategies for personal and organizational development…pathways toward future success built on the unique, historical foundation of every individual and organization.

We believe in the innate potential for leaders and their organizations to become outliers – to achieve success via paths uniquely designed and available to them.  Our mission is to work alongside leaders and their organizations to achieve this potential…starting by understanding your current location on that path.