Mission & Focus

Leigh Branham is dedicated to assisting organizations in the management of people, and helping individuals in the management of their own careers, so as to balance the achievement of organizational and individual goals. He is a strong proponent of the idea that investing in people is the surest path to business success and profitability.

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Professional Profile

Leigh brings 30 years experience in business, education, and management consulting to his mission of helping employers implement best practices in employee engagement and retention.

He is the author of three widely respected books on employee engagement and retention best practices--Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business: 24 Ways to Hang On to Your Most Valuable Talent (AMACOM, 2001), The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It's Too Late (AMACOM, 2005), and, with co-author Mark Hirschfeld, Re-Engage! How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times (McGraw-Hill, to be released in February, 2010).

Leigh was Vice President, Organizational Consulting with Right Management Consultants in Kansas City and leader of the firm's Talent Management practice in the Heartland region. Prior to that, he was a Senior Consultant with Lee Hecht Harrison in Irvine, California.

In these roles, Leigh has consulted in a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, retail, banking/finance, telecommunications, hospitality, insurance, government, health care, energy, and construction.

He has been widely quoted in the media, including Fortune, Business Week and The Associated Press, as an expert on employee retention. He has been published in many business and general interest publications, including the Harvard Business Review and has written a chapter for a new book to be published by Unity Press in 2010--The Essence of Good Business.

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Areas of Expertise

Leigh consults and speaks throughout the U.S. and internationally on the following topics:

• Employee retention and employee engagement best practices
• Employee engagement surveying
• Post-exit interviewing
• Uncovering the root causes of turnover
• Employment branding
• Behavior-based interviewing
• Hiring pitfalls and best practices
• Employer-of-choice and best-place-to-work strategies
• Leading a highly-engaged workforce
• Employee career development
• The workforce of tomorrow
• Leading a multi-generational workforce

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Selected Achievements

• Conducted successive employee engagement surveys for several organizations that have led to targeted leadership actions which have produced significant increases in employee engagement scores and led to corresponding business improvements.
• Designed and delivered employee engagement and retention training for corporate executives and managers leading to the achievement of significant positive business results.
• Conducted ongoing third-party exit interviews and surveys that revealed important employee issues that have been addressed in a timely fashion and produced insights leading to new employer-of-choice initiatives.
• Designed employee career development program for an 11,000-employee division of major defense company, which significantly increased the retention of engineering professionals.
• Facilitated strategic planning and leadership development for company president and team of direct reports.
• Conducted human resources audit that led to a reorganization of the HR function, produced new initiatives, and significantly enhanced organizational effectiveness.
• Coached executives from diverse companies in personal development based on 360 feedback. " Coached hundreds of executives, managers, and professionals through successful career transitions over 18-year period.

Education

Leigh holds Master's degrees in Counseling/ Personnel Services and Journalism from the University of Missouri - Columbia, and a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from Vanderbilt University.

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Affiliations

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Keeping the People, Inc.
13488 West 126th Terrace
Overland Park, Kansas 66213
(913) 620-4645
E-mail: LB@keepingthepeople.com
Web site: www.keepingthepeople.com