Christopher S. Dawson, Ph.D.

Christopher S. Dawson, Ph.D.


Chris Dawson is President of Dawson Consulting Group, a management consulting firm based in Silicon Valley, California. The firm builds client capabilities in three practice areas: Strategy, Culture and Leadership. Dr. Dawson has 25 years as trusted advisor to C-suite executives and Boards of Directors, aimed at improving business performance to create shareholder value.

Areas of Expertise

Dr. Dawson has subject matter expertise, numerous tools and methods in strategy implementation, talent management, organization design, culture change, and executive effectiveness. His book Leading Culture Change: What Every CEO Needs to Know was published by Stanford University Press in May 2010, and he is a frequent speaker and author in the organizational effectiveness area. The new book is a practical handbook for senior executives, HR and organizational effectiveness consultants and graduate students who aspire to be CEO's. It contains numerous case examples, practical tools and a framework for leaders to successfully change their culture in the service of value creation. His educational background - first as clinical psychologist working with families and then MBA in strategy and culture - provide a unique blend of capabilities in people and business.

Much of his work has been with technology firms in Silicon Valley, helping executive leadership teams shape and change their organizational culture through focus on strategy alignment and modeling of authentic behaviors. He also has extensive experience in optimizing the interface between family dynamics and the Family-run Business, creating culture change and optimizing IT capability in Healthcare, in Financial Services and Professional Services firms.


Colleagues



Rebecca Turner, Ph.D.

Rebecca Turner, Ph.D.

rturnerconsulting.com

Rebecca Turner is a talent professional and consultant to organizations, drawing upon 30 years of diverse professional experience in consulting, teaching, administration, and as a principal investigator in scientific research. As a consultant to businesses and other organizations, Rebecca works with individuals and groups to enhance leadership effectiveness and conducts assessments that inform their decision-making and planning. She provides coaching to organizational leaders in areas that draw upon knowledge in the social and organization sciences, including developing stronger working relationships with business partners, navigating transitions and change, managing conflicts, and facilitating change for strategic organizational initiatives. Consulting with executives and professionals in both small and large (Fortune 100) companies, and other non-profit and government organizations, her clients include individuals and teams in technology, medicine, healthcare, architecture and design, law, professional services, manufacturing, and academia. Rebecca holds a Ph.D. in psychology from The George Washington University.


Victoria Hendrickson, Ph.D.

Victoria Hendrickson, Ph.D.


Victoria has a background in human resources, executive search and organizational development. She works with mission driven organizations to drive change in order to best serve their constituencies. Currently, Victoria manages the Human Resource function at Berkeley Food and Housing Project, where she supports the development of social service leaders working to ease and end the crisis of homelessness. Victoria also works as a consultant with OrgVitality, specializing in quantitative survey analysis and interpretation for non-profit, non-government, and revenue driven organizations. Other recent consulting engagements include implementation of a new Performance Management system at Stanford University, culture assessment of a recently acquired digital ad agency, and development of a customized leadership competency model. Victoria has conducted and presented research on decision-making in organizations and organizational ambidexterity. Her current research includes organizational survey methodology, workplace gossip and competencies of ambidextrous leaders. Victoria completed her BS in Social Psychology at St Mary's College of California in Moraga, and her PhD in Organizational Psychology at California School of Professional Psychology in San Francisco.


Ryan Dawson, M.S.O.D.

Ryan Dawson, M.S.O.D.


Ryan Dawson has been a consultant with Dawson Consulting Group since 2013. He has a background in psychology, education, film and entrepreneurship. He is a graduate of UCLA (BS Psychology 2005) and a Master's degree from the School of Management at the University of San Francisco (MSOD, 2017).

Ryan founded (in 2007) a successful tutoring and student coaching business (ryandawsontutoring.com) where he was an academic coach and helped many students gain admission to top universities. He also teaches a class in public speaking at Stanford University and Crystal Springs Uplands School in the Bay Area. His organizational development experience is primarily in the Healthcare and Technology sector, where he has worked on culture change projects, individual and team development.

His organizational interests are in leadership, executive coaching and organizational culture. He has a passion for film and literature, especially Shakespeare, which he has taught to students of all ages. He is currently working on a book that blends Shakespeare and the narrative story-telling methodology in culture change.