Tag Archive for: Logos

CELEBRATING 21 YEARS OF LOGOS

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To our clients, colleagues, and friends,

This month Logos Consulting Group begins our 22nd year in operation.

As we complete our 21st year, we want to take a moment to thank all of you for your support and confidence over the years.

We are blessed to have the opportunity to pursue our mission – to equip people to become leaders who ignite and inspire change in the world for the good – with hundreds of clients and thousands of people across the United States and the world.

As of this month, Logos has worked with 450 clients. Some have been our clients for decades, including before Logos was around. Some were clients only for a single project. Some are industry leaders, such as some of the largest money center banks, insurance companies, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, industrial and manufacturing companies, and hospitality companies. Some are younger, smaller, and more entrepreneurial organizations. We’ve also worked with non-profits, cultural organizations, educational institutions, and religious and multi-religious institutions. And we’ve been honored to work with various branches and joint commands of the U.S. armed forces throughout this time.

We’ve also worked with clients where they are. In our 21 years (more precisely, the 19 ½ years because of COVID travel restrictions), we have worked on the ground in 45 U.S. states and in 43 countries on six continents.

In our time we have been able to build out our three primary areas of practice: Crisis Management, Crisis Communication, and Executive Leadership Development. Over our 21 years, Logos team members, past and present, have authored or co-authored eight books (thirteen, if you include revised editions and translations). And through our publishing arm, we have published two books by non-Logos authors, with more on the way. And Logos team members served on graduate professional faculties, have been contract lecturers, and have been guest speakers in dozens of universities around the world.

I especially want to thank all those who worked at Logos in various capacities over the years: As staff, as interns, as consultants and business partners, as service providers. And to thank their families, who made their service possible.

We enter our 22nd year with deep gratitude, with humility, and with enthusiasm. Here’s to the next 22 years….

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For the Public Good: A Logos 20th Anniversary Reflection

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Logos Consulting Group’s mission is to build a better world by equipping people to become leaders who ignite and inspire change for the good. We do this in many ways, including in the work we do with clients.

Many of our clients are leaders in their industries – in banking, insurance, finance, pharmaceuticals and life sciences, healthcare, manufacturing, consumer products, hospitality, professional services, and the U.S. armed forces. And we’re very proud of the work we have done with them over the past two decades.

But when we were founded 20 years ago, we made a deliberate decision to commit meaningful time – sometimes as much as 30 percent of our time – to causes we care about without regard to compensation. Since then, we have maintained a robust pro bono publico practice. Some pro bono clients pay us nothing. Some pay a nominal fee, often a single-digit percentage of our usual rates. And for some, we make financial contributions in addition to the work we do with them.

Pro Bono Publico – Literally, For the Public Good

Our pro bono practice has included meaningful work in human rights; civil rights; arts and culture; education; religious and multi-religious organizations; and youth education, development, and sports; among many sectors.

And our philosophy of pro bono service is clear: pro bono clients get the same level of service, attention, and commitment as our commercial clients. If we have a scheduled commitment with a pro bono client and then a commercial client asks for the same time, we keep the original appointment and seek to find another time for the commercial client.

In this 20th Anniversary Reflection, I focus on just two of the areas of our pro bono practice: multi-religious advocacy and youth education, development, and sports.

Multi-Religious Advocacy

One of my personal pro bono priorities is helping to equip multi-religious organizations to be better able to fulfill their missions. Over the past 20 years I’ve advised, taught, or led more than a dozen multi-religious organizations, including serving on five of their boards and chairing two of them. Over the years, many Logos team members participated in our multi-religious advocacy work.

Religions for Peace

Logos’ second client, one month after our founding, was Religions for Peace, the largest multi-religious organization in the world. Religions for Peace helps leaders of religious communities around the world harness the moral authority of their faith traditions to prevent violence, transform conflict, protect the earth, and promote peaceful, just, and inclusive society. In my prior job, I had attempted to secure pro bono client status for Religions for Peace, but my employer was unwilling to invest in pro bono activities. So, all my work at the time was personal and off-the-clock. Upon founding Logos, Religions for Peace became an important client in the life of our young firm.

Both I and the Logos team have deployed around the world for Religions for Peace.

Twenty years ago, I and a Logos colleague deployed to Amman, Jordan just weeks after the U.S. declared Mission Accomplished in Iraq. We were advisors to our client as it negotiated with Iraqi religious leaders – Arab and Kurd, Sunni and Shia Muslim and Christian – to create the Iraq Inter-Religious Council for Peace. It was the first time that Iraqi Sunni and Shia leaders had been in the same room together since before Saddam Hussein’s reign, and it was the first time they had been in the same room with Christian leaders in their lifetimes. Also present were dozens of religious leaders of many faith traditions and civil society leaders from around the world. They were there as observers, to bear witness to the proceedings and to testify to the effectiveness of inter-religious cooperation.

We also arranged for the international press to cover the announcement of the creation of the Council.

L: The announcement of the creation of the Iraq Inter-Religious Council for Peace, Amman, Jordan, May 2003
R: Religious leaders celebrate the creation of the Middle East North Africa Inter-Religious Council for Peace, Marrakesh, Morocco, November 2011

In 2011, after the Arab Spring, I deployed to Marrakesh, Morocco to advise our client as it negotiated with religious leaders of all faiths from all nations in North Africa and the Middle East to create the Middle East North Africa (MENA) Inter-Religious Council for Peace.

World Assemblies of Religions for Peace

Every six or seven years, Religions for Peace convenes the World Assembly of Religions for Peace, bringing together thousands of leaders of the world’s faith traditions for work on conflict transformation, sustainable development, and protection of the earth.

At the eighth World Assembly in Kyoto, Japan in 2006, six Logos team members deployed to advise our client and manage communication. I served as spokesperson for the Assembly and moderated the press conferences with religious and civil society leaders.

At the ninth World Assembly of Religions for Peace in Vienna, Austria in 2013, five Logos team members deployed to advise our client, create our client’s first social media channels, and manage the newsroom and Assembly communications.

L: Moderating a press conference of Iraqi religious leaders at the VIII World Assembly of Religions for Peace, Kyoto, Japan, August 2006
R: The Logos team at the IX World Assembly of Religions for Peace, Vienna, Austria, November 2013.

In 2014, as a complement to the United Nations Summit on Climate Change, we deployed in our home city for the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change sponsored by Religions for Peace and the World Council of Churches. Logos advised our client and helped its staff manage communication on a multi-religious commitment to use the moral authority of faith traditions to call for action to protect the earth.

In 2019, I deployed to be the English-language spokesman for the tenth World Assembly of Religions for Peace in Lindau, Germany.

Board of International Trustees

From 2011 to 2020, I had the privilege of serving on Religions for Peace’s Board of International Trustees.

Meeting His Holiness, Pope Francis, the Vatican, November 2017

One highlight of that service was our 2017 Board meeting in the American Academy in Rome. The meeting began with a private Board audience at the Vatican with His Holiness, Pope Francis.

Pope Francis addressed the board, which includes one of his representatives, and noted:

“You provide a valuable service to both religion and peace, for the religions are bound by their very nature to promote peace through justice, fraternity, disarmament and care for creation. There is a need for a common and cooperative effort on the part of the religions in promoting an integral ecology. The Bible helps us in this regard by reminding us of the Creator, who “saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Gen 1:31). The religions have the wherewithal to further a moral covenant that can promote respect for the dignity of the human person and care for creation.”

Although I have not been a Roman Catholic for 50 years, and have often been skeptical of prior Popes, I have always had a great appreciation for Pope Francis. I was honored that both I and my wife, Laurel Colvin, were able to meet His Holiness and spend precious moments in private conversation.

In 2020, I stepped down from the Religions for Peace board after 10 years. I remain an International Goodwill Ambassador.

Interfaith Alliance

In the United States, much of Logos’ pro bono multi-religious work has been with Interfaith Alliance, based in Washington DC. Interfaith Alliance protects and promotes America’s religious pluralism and helps to protect at-risk religious communities that are often targets of extremism. Logos has actively supported Interfaith Alliance for 20 years. From 2007 to 2020, I served as a member of the Board of Trustees, and as board chair from 2014 to 2017.

One of my favorite Interfaith Alliance initiatives is the Walter Cronkite Faith & Freedom Award.

In addition to being a respected journalist and one of the most trusted men in America, Walter Cronkite served as the honorary chair of Interfaith Alliance from 1997 until his death in 2009. He joined the organization, he said, because “nothing less is at stake in the work of the Interfaith Alliance than the existence of democracy as we know it.”

The Walter Cronkite Faith & Freedom Award recognizes those whose courageous actions embody the values of civility, tolerance, and cooperation in the advancement of public dialogue and public policy on traditionally controversial issues.

L: With Walter Cronkite at an Interfaith Alliance Cronkite Award Gala, 2007
R: With Khizr Khan displaying my copy of the U.S. Constitution, 2017.

Cronkite Award recipients include George Clooney, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, ABC News anchor Peter Jennings, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, CNN’s Larry King, PBS’s Jim Lehrer and Bill & Judith Moyers, and immigrant American and Gold Star Parent Khizr Khan.

Youth Education, Development, and Sports

Over the years many Logos teammates have done meaningful service with organizations that educate, inspire, and mentor youth. This includes leading youth groups in religious communities; helping prepare teenagers for the process of applying to college; and helping teens develop confidence, leadership ability, and the tools for success as they grow into adulthood.

The Dorill Initiative

One such organization is The Dorill Initiative, a nonprofit arts education organization based on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Dorill Initiative was founded in 2018 by Tareake Dorill to provide a platform for future generations in underserved, overlooked, and often forgotten communities to harness their expressive energies for social justice through the arts.

The Dorill Initiative’s founding principle is Love Through Art. The organization helps its students share their stories and transform communities through artistic and creative expression, academic enrichment, and civic and community engagement.

The organization strives to cultivate the whole citizen artist and help young people become DoERs – people who show up, put word to action, and work to create meaningful change in community. Dorill reinforces young citizen artists’ limitless potential and ensures their families and the larger community are part of their growth artistically, academically, and personally.

Logos Chief of Staff and Advisor Katie Garcia, who is an accomplished competitive dancer, joined the Dorill Initiative’s DoER Board in 2020. She has served as the organization’s Board Chair since 2021.

“As someone who has been profoundly transformed and healed by the arts, I am passionate about ensuring all young people have access to holistic and transformative arts education,” Katie explained. “What is special about Dorill is the way this program meets our young citizen artists where they are – seeing our youth as whole people and equipping them to share their authentic truth in a safe, supportive, and loving way. Every child deserves that kind of transformative arts education.”

“Three years after joining the Dorill board, I continue to be inspired every time I have an opportunity to watch our young citizen artists perform, speak with a DoER parent, and engage with members of our DoER community,” Katie reflects. “I am excited to see Dorill’s programs grow in the coming years – engaging more communities and transforming more young people – and am immensely proud to be a small part of that work.”

Youth Volleyball to Build Confidence, Teamwork, and Leadership

Logos’ commitment to developing youth is also manifest in work Logos teammate Maida Kalic Zheng did with young people in Virginia in Alexandria, Virginia.

Maida joined Logos in 2019 after 7 years as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. She is an Advisor at Logos.

Maida played Division 1 Volleyball at the U.S. Naval Academy as a middle blocker.

“I was not a good volleyball player before making the team at the Naval Academy,” jokes Maida. “But the head coach believed I was coachable and explained to me that he wanted to give me a shot. Him taking a chance on me and giving me an opportunity had an incredible impact on me.”

Maida came to the U.S. as a refugee in 1999 following the Bosnian War. She spent years moving from country to country before settling down in Utica, New York.

“I didn’t really speak English when we moved to the U.S., so school was hard. Sports became my passion, my outlet when life was hard,” said Maida. “I delighted in the idea that I was able to work with a team that did amazing work but also gave back. So, when the opportunity for me to coach and make an impact in my local community arose, it was a no-brainer.”

Maida coached volleyball in Alexandria, Virginia for Monument Volleyball Club where she implemented a leadership and resiliency program.

Logos’ Ongoing Commitment

Whether at the global level, the national level, or the community level, Logos will continue to work to build a better world by equipping people to be leaders who inspire and ignite change for the good. Literally, pro bono publico, for the public good.

 

This reflective piece is part of our 20th anniversary celebration. Throughout this anniversary year, we will be sharing a series of reflections on the shifts and trends we have been following in business and in the world over the past twenty years, as well as advice to leaders and organizations navigating through the challenges we see today.

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Navigating Through Turmoil: Reflections on Logos 20th Anniversary

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Friends,

I founded Logos Consulting Group twenty years ago – in September 2002. I was 45 years old. My kids were 11 and 7.

Looking back, the Fall of 2002 was quite a time to take such a leap. It was a time of turmoil. In New York City. In the nation. In the world.

2002 Turmoil

The 9/11 attacks, just one year earlier, had shattered the nation’s sense of security. The United States military had gone into Afghanistan soon after the attack, where it would remain for 20 years. Excavation of the World Trade Center site was completed in May, but the smell of death and a sense of sadness continued to linger in the city.

By September 2002, President George W. Bush and his senior advisors were banging the drum about the need to invade Iraq. They lied to the American people. They conflated the 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, with Iraq and its leader, Saddam Hussein. They warned that the next smoking gun could be a mushroom cloud, claiming falsely that Iraq had a nuclear capability and the desire to use it against the U.S.

Massive protests against invading Iraq began in September and continued for months. On one day alone, February 15, 2003, fully half a million people marched in protest in New York City; 15 million people protested that day in 800 cities around the world. At the United Nations some of our closest allies argued strenuously that it would be a mistake to invade Iraq. When the French foreign minister suggested at the United Nations that the U.S. was behaving impulsively, and the Security Council declined to pass an authorization to go to war, the Administration attacked France. President Bush said that our purported allies were either “for us or against us.” It turned petty: the U.S. House of Representatives cafeteria stopped calling its fried potatoes “French fries” and instead referred to them as “Freedom fries.” And the United States – with allies whom it called “the coalition of the willing” – invaded Iraq in March 2003.

The nation was also still in the midst of a severe recession triggered by the 2000 collapse of the dot-com bubble. Irrational exuberance had pumped up the stock of new tech companies that had yet to make a profit. Then a crash lost nearly 50 percent of the stock market’s value.

A series of corporate scandals had also shaken Americans’ confidence in corporate leadership. Enron, Arthur Andersen, Adelphia, WorldCom, and many others were caught committing massive fraud and dishonesty. Arthur Anderson was prosecuted and went out of business. Executives of other companies went to prison. Congress passed the Corporate Fraud Accountability Act of 2002, commonly known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Logos 

It was into this environment that I founded Logos: with no clients, no employees, and estranged from my employer of 12 years and mentor of 17 years. But with a sense of purpose. With a mission to help people become leaders who can ignite and inspire change in the world for the better.

Within four days we got our first client: A major commodities exchange whose CEO needed coaching. Then an UN-affiliated peacebuilding organization. Then a data services company being investigated by the SEC – our first crisis client, and for the first year our largest one. Then a prominent life sciences company. Then a large insurance company. Then a giant investment bank. By January 2003, we were a real firm. Before we moved into our first office space in 2007, we joked that my kitchen table was Logos Consulting Group’s World Headquarters. Two gifted colleagues joined the firm and helped to establish Logos as a credible advisor to senior leaders when the stakes are high.

In the 20 years since, we’ve benefitted from the gifts of many other people who came to and through Logos. We’ve worked for more than 300 clients – including some of the biggest and best-known companies and organizations in the world. Some have remained our clients for all this time. And we’ve been on the ground in dozens of countries.

Two years after we were founded, we created the Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership, our think tank, executive education, and publishing arm. We’ve written books that have been published in three languages. After 15 years, we established the Logos Institute Press to publish other authors’ leadership books. We’ve taught at prominent universities and professional schools on three continents. And in 2021 we launched the Logos Learning Center to provide online training to individuals looking to bolster their leadership skills.

Continued Turmoil

About ten years ago we noticed a troubling trend and warned clients about it: an outbreak of incivility in society at large that we worried would spill into our clients’ workplaces and interfere with their business operations.

We saw that trend get worse in 2015 as political leaders dehumanized and demonized groups and rivals with deadly consequence. The FBI warned of a surge of opportunistic violence and hate crimes against targeted groups. The violence then metastasized into organized acts of terrorism. In June 2020, I published a book warning about this trend and its likely escalation.

Six months later, we saw a violent attack on the Capitol in an attempt to overturn a free and fair election.

Also in mid-2020, as the world grappled with an emerging pandemic, the United States government violated its own public health guidelines and politicized the pandemic response. A combination of incompetence, dishonesty, and neglect led to the worst pandemic response in the industrialized world, and to the preventable deaths of more than three quarters of a million Americans. And to death threats and acts of violence against public health experts and political leaders who counseled good public health practices. My next book is about this massive failure of leadership, which I call the single worst-handled crisis in American history.

2022 Turmoil

Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called misinformation the nation’s leading cause of death. It noted that the surge of misinformation about the pandemic, masks, and vaccines led to hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths, especially among the unvaccinated or under-vaccinated.

And the world was thrown into turmoil earlier this year when Vladimir Putin’s Russia invaded Ukraine, and the world responded with the strictest economic sanctions against Russia. This led to a spike in oil prices and food shortages in much of the world. And now Russia itself is in turmoil as citizens resist the draft requiring them to fight in what Russia still refuses to call a war.

We see turmoil also in Iran, as citizens, especially women, take to the streets to protest the killing in police custody of a female Iranian citizen arrested for improperly wearing a hijab.

And in the United States the political divide has intensified further. The divide has been fueled by the Big Lie about the 2020 election, the embrace of conspiracy theories, and calls for violence if the former president – now facing an array of legal troubles – should be indicted.

Onward

And so, Logos begins our twenty-first year as we did our first, navigating through the turmoil. And helping our clients do the same. We are gratified that when the stakes are high clients turn to us.

Now more than ever society needs leaders equipped to inspire, to ignite people to overcome the turmoil, to push back against misinformation, and to build stronger organizations.

Now more than ever leaders know the consequences of poorly handled crises, and that there is a rigor to responding effectively and quickly in a crisis.

Now more than ever there is need to exercise leadership well. The stakes are that high.

Thank you for your confidence in Logos Consulting Group through the last 20 years. And thank you for your continued encouragement and support.

 

This reflective piece is part of our 20th anniversary celebration. Throughout this anniversary year, we will be sharing a series of reflections on the shifts and trends we have been following in business and in the world over the past twenty years, as well as advice to leaders and organizations navigating through the challenges we see today.

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LOGOS IN THE NEWS: Helio Fred Garcia Interviewed on Leveraging Thought Leadership

On February 8, 2021, Helio Fred Garcia spoke with Bill Sherman on his podcast, Leveraging Thought Leadership. During their conversation, Garcia described some of the drivers for trust in the crisis, how he fell into thought leadership, how translates complex ideas for a common understanding, the influence of philosophy on his life and career, and his advice on how people can become thought leaders.

Listen to the full exchange below:

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LOGOS IN THE NEWS: Helio Fred Garcia Quoted in Carol Roth’s Business Unplugged

Logos President Helio Fred Garcia was quoted in Carol Roth’s Business Unplugged blog on his 2021 New Year’s business resolution. In this post, Roth highlights the business resolutions of more than 100 leaders from across industries for the new year.

For Garcia, his 2021 business resolution was the expansion of our business model and the creation of the Logos Learning Center.

“Covid-19 forced me to reimagine my business model. Previously, we relied on in-person interactions with clients and word-of-mouth advertising. After serious thought and research, I’ve resolved in 2021 to create a new online business platform to expand our offerings to a wider base of people,” Garcia explained. “Our new Logos Learning Center will provide interactive workshops on a variety of leadership skills to help people at any stage of their professional journey enhance their leadership capacity.”

Read the full article here.

Learn more about the Logos Learning Center here.

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LOGOS IN THE NEWS: Helio Fred Garcia Interview on Ethical Voices

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On November 9, 2020, Logos President Helio Fred Garcia spoke with on his podcast, Ethical Voices, about when and where to draw the ethical line. The podcast was released on the second anniversary of Ethical Voices.

During their conversation, Garcia discussed how structures and clear protocols make courage less necessary in ethical dilemmas, what can we learn from Bernays’ definition of public relations, and three key elements in determining the “right” thing to do.

Garcia noted, “From a communication ethics point of view, what I teach my students is to ask, “What is the outcome we seek?” Not the process, but the outcome. Then ask what are the options available to you that could get you closer or farther from that outcome? And then which choice is the less bad choice? Because when you face a moral dilemma or an ethical dilemma, you’re going to make a choice that still violates some principle. What is the less bad choice that gets you closer or at least, least far from that desired outcome? You need the discipline to make the choices based on the outcome and not based on the short-term strains that put you in that situation… The more we can make decisions based on desired outcomes and using agreed upon standards as the way to calibrate whether we’re likely to get to that desired outcome, we’re more likely to live to fight another day.”

Listen to the full conversation here:

Read the full transcript here.

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The Next 18 Years

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This past Friday marked the 18th anniversary of Logos Consulting Group. On this anniversary, I am excited to share with you not only where the firm has been, but also where we are going.

We were founded in 2002 during a recession (granted, not as dire as now). We started without a single client, but with a goal to truly partner with our clients to help them succeed. Slowly but surely, we were able to attract new clients into the firm and recruit a talented team of professionals with a variety of life, educational, and professional experiences.

Eighteen years later, we’ve worked with hundreds of clients and thousands of leaders and communicators in dozens of countries. We have taught in dozens of universities across six continents. And we have also harnessed our professional skills to help causes we care about do their work better.

I am extremely proud of the work we have done and of all the relationships we have built with our clients. We are a small firm, so every relationship is incredibly important to us. I want to thank you, our clients, for all of the ways you have shaped and grown Logos over the years. The work you all do in the world is vitally important and we are so proud to be able to partner with you on your journey – whether we were there for you in crisis, helped you prepare for a high-stakes event, or coached you on how to be a more persuasive communicator, or a combination of all three. We are thankful you trust us with your time and your people.

Just as so many other organizations in the past year, we at Logos have felt the economic impacts of COVID-19. This pandemic, in addition to all the suffering it has caused around the world has fundamentally changed the climate in which our work is done.

At Logos, we know only too well that in every crisis there is an opportunity. And we have seized on the opportunity before us to think differently about who we are as a firm and how we want to serve our clients, our colleagues, and the world.

Over the past several months, we as a firm have reflected on who we are today and re-committed ourselves to our core values. We are also actively re-imagining our business model in a COVID-19 world. This re-visioning of Logos began with reminding ourselves of why we started this journey to begin with, and who we want to be for the next 18 years.

After much reflection, I am proud to share Logos’ vision and mission:

In many ways, this newly articulated vision and mission reflect the work we have done all along over the past 18 years, and why everyone on the Logos team comes to work every day excited to serve our clients. However, grounded in our vision and mission, we are excited for the possibilities that lie ahead. We are both focused and flexible in re-imagining ways to fulfill our mission to equip people to be leaders who ignite change.

We will soon be announcing several exciting new initiatives to help us do this. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks and months.

In the meantime, I know that this has been a difficult year, for us all facing this new reality around the world. And the difficult work is not yet over. But, to paraphrase one of my heroes, we are not at the end, nor even at the beginning of the end. We are at the end of the beginning.

This is a new beginning for Logos – a chance for us to become a stronger firm, a better partner and advisor to our clients, and a greater force for good in the world.

We are glad to share our vision and mission with you and would be immensely grateful to continue to be your partner for another 18 years and on. As always, we are here for you and any of your colleagues, friends, or families.

So, are you ready to ignite and inspire change? We at Logos are ready to help.

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