Jane Perdue, Principal and CEO of The Braithewaite Group.   Jane is the CEO and Chief Inspiration Instigator for The Braithewaite Group, a female-owned professional development and consulting firm, focused on challenging your thinking at the intersection of the art of leadership and the science of business. Throughout her corporate and entrepreneurial careers, Jane has created numerous leadership development programs, some exclusively for women, and has coached hundreds of business leaders to use their heads to manage and their hearts to lead.  Inspired by her Dad’s words, “If you put your heart and mind to it, you can do anything a man can do – and do it even better,” Jane set out to tackle Corporate America and did. She spent 15 years as a Vice President for Fortune 100 telecommunications companies, earning the nicknames “the iron hand in the velvet glove” and “the HR goddess.” As Jane so humorously states, she put her MBA to good use, learned to do more with less, earned her business chops by managing $25 million budgets and thousands of employees, developed and implemented strategy, negotiated labor contracts and developed leaders – while also amassing a staggering collection of handbags. Her first book, Yes You Can!, co-authored with Warren Bennis, has just been released.

Amy Diederich, President of The Braithewaite Group Amy Diederich's career includes an impressive list of positions held in corporate America, yet she describes herself first and foremost as an entrepreneur and inventor. The daughter of a prolific inventor (Amy’s father holds over 20 patents, including ground breaking work that allowed for the mass production of Braille), she started inventing at an early age. Her first lemonade stand boasted orange lemonade – a distinctive and tasty combination of lemons and tangerines! Encouraged by her father to see the world through an inventor’s eyes, Amy views the world with a unique perspective that allows her to see opportunities that others may see as unconventional. When just an undergraduate student herself, she was asked to teach Communication 101 – to her fellow students. This role helped Amy realize that the rest of the world could benefit from an inventor’s mindset. Amy sees every opportunity as novel, whether it’s learning to climb telephone poles while in her first real job as a management trainee for Ameritech or more recently in creating the international quality program for Vonage. Amy's open and curious mind enables her to see beyond what is known. As the founder of A-Squared Consulting, she's led numerous successful projects in multiple fields. True to her inventor’s mindset, Amy will skip over the boundaries between distinctly separate occupations, seeing the unique connection that no one else sees or envisions. Amy has served as the senior sales consultant for Lastar Inc, a lead training consultant and call center director for Comcast, and a national quality consultant for Adelphia. Amy’s gift is her ability to help others discover new ways of thinking as well as taking materials, processes or tools from one realm and using them as no one else has imagined in a totally different realm. She can’t wait to help you see a new possibility, a new connection or relationship that will spark the next great invention.

What People Have to Say About Our Work I always learn a lot from Jane. She’s a star. ~Bob Burg, author of The Go-Giver Amy has facilitated several retreat and brainstorming sessions for Dayton Children's. She is creative, always prepared, and challenges our thinking.  Amy always has a great way of understanding and connecting with her audience and leading them to great discussions and resolutions. ~Matt Graybill, Vice President, Dayton Children's HospitalPresid ~Matt  I met Jane at the SHRM Atlanta Conference in 2009. Jane's presentation, Winning @ Work: Boost Your ‘PQ’, was one of the highlights of the conference. Jane was knowledgeable and entertaining. Jane was the first person many of us had ever heard speak on Office Politics. She took the "sting" out of the word and made it applicable and approachable. She did an excellent job.  I was most impressed with the way she engaged people before, during and even after the presentation. She's a real people person--authentic. She a seasoned professional who connects and truly cares. It was obvious to us all that Jane was a woman of  great insight and wisdom. She was thronged after her presentation. ~Philistia Pittman Amy is a true visionary -- she is able to see connections and devise a clear solutions path where others are blind.  When most people have "aha" moments once a year, Amy has them daily! Her enthusiasm, intellect and passion toward any project create a momentum that results in sheer greatness.  I appreciate Amy's deep knowledge, coupled with her breadth across varied organizational landscapes and experiences.  Trust her innate sense:  you won't be disappointed. ~Amy Hale, Owner, Amy A. Hale Sales Compensation Consulting Jane manages to combine great content with inspiration and heart. ~Joolz Lewis You know what I love about you, Jane? That you include your heart in your leadership. I think that is one thing we don't hear much about, but such a necessary part of being a great leader, in my opinion. ~Trish McFarlane Jane is a passionate, intelligent and creative professional who consistently gets amazing things done. Her wealth of experience combined with a calm, thoughtful demeanor allows her to connect dots that most people would miss, make informed decisions and lead a cohesive team to success. It was a great honor to work with her and I recommend her talents without reservation. ~Sean Kearney, Executive Director, Learning and Development, AT&T Broadband I just had to reach out and tell you that you truly are one of the most inspiring uplifting people I have every met. ~Terrie Rodriquez Amy is an experienced, energetic, and results-oriented sales training professional. Her ability to understand our business and adjust her sales training methodology to our business really helped drive strong adoption by our sales team. They look forward to working with Amy as they know the knowledge she provides helps them achieve their goals. Amy’s ability to get sales’ buy-in and active participation has been critical to the success of our program. Gregory Billhardt, SVP Quiktron Jane is an amazing speaker and meeting leader. She engaged my entire customer service team of well over 100 people for an entire day and they still wanted more. They always ask if Jane is going to be a speaker when I schedule our meetings. ~Laurie Giammona, Vice President, Comcast I attended a number of Jane’s training sessions on leadership over 10 years ago and still apply what I learned. What she taught me in those meetings has stayed with me and has shaped me to be a better leader. ~James Gerhard, Operations Director at Time Warner   Jane and her team have been working with our firm and the progress we made in establishing a strategy and action plans in such a short time is simply amazing. It would not have happened without The Braithewaite Group. ~William Diederich, President, Lastar Hands down....one of the best HR professionals I have ever had the honor to coach. Her attention to detail, care of individuals, ability to strategize, creativity and genuine love of the work is equal to her emotional intelligence and commitment to personal development. Jane is an exceptional human being whose love of life is infectious and inspiring. ~Deborah Annes, Owner, DBE Consulting, Inc. Blackman might have said ’Needs are great, but your possibilities are greater’ but Jane helps us see things differently. ~Colin Lewis, Author of Wisdom Notes