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Featured Affiliate - Dan Reid
By: Emily Reed
Spending time on both sides of the fence allows you to see the big
picture more clearly. This is where Designed Learning affiliate Dan
Reid has found his niche, and has been able to help many organizations
while doing what he loves.
His perspective from internal experience
as well as an external consultant’s point of view allows him to bring a
unique expertise to the workshops he conducts. After talking with him,
it becomes clear how his firsthand knowledge, experience and
understanding carries through in his work and personal life.
 Years
of experience with organizations like Loral Aerospace, Ford Motor
Company and Lockheed Martin have given Dan the opportunity to go through countless situations
that are similar to the people attending Designed
Learning workshops. Aware of feelings that arise from being in a
position lacking authority yet having the ability to influence, Dan
strives to empathize with the plights of his clients. He does this
through illustrating personal examples that bring to life key principles
in the workshops.
Dan was first introduced to Designed
Learning while working at Loral Aerospace. As internal director of
organizational development, Dan contacted Designed Learning President
Phil
Grosnick to work with the organization. After working with
Designed Learning at Loral, his interest was peaked and he began taking
time to attend workshops on his own.
“The more I worked with Designed
Learning, the more I realized that what they stood for is what I stood
for,” says Reid.
After gaining a great deal of
respect and interest in the ideas of Designed Learning, Dan eventually
became an affiliate. He has been conducting workshops ever since
working with organizations such as Eastman Kodak, NASA, Shell, Texas
Instruments, the U.S. Postal Service and Xerox. His work with Designed
Learning has allowed him to make a fulfilling career out of pursuing
ideas that he strongly believes in. His passion is working with
different groups of people and watching them evolve through learning and
applying the knowledge they gain through the workshops.
“If I can contribute to increasing
individual and collective effectiveness, and increasing others’ sense of
meaning of their efforts in their communities, then I think the work I
am doing will make a useful difference in the world we live in,”
explains Reid.
While Dan looks forward to helping
participants and seeing how they change over the course of the
workshops, there are obstacles that always seem to be present. Dan
encourages people going through the workshops to be receptive to new
ideas and to begin the workshop with an open mind. He hopes that the
participants and their organizations define what they hope to achieve
and apply from the workshops prior to attending them.
“Too often it seems that there is
not enough forward thought on the expectations of those coming back from
the workshops both on the part of the participants and of the
organizations as a whole,” says Reid.
He hopes that, above all,
participants find the courage to not fall back on going about business
the way they always have, but instead apply what they have learned from
Designed Learning.
The principles that Dan explores
through his work carry through into his personal life. He finds it
difficult and undesirable to separate the two. One of his own personal
goals is to successfully integrate personal and professional values in
his life. This principle is explained in Bob Tannenbaum’s article “Self-awareness:
An essential element underlying consultant effectiveness”, a piece
Dan is particularly inspired by. Being extremely appreciative of the
experiences he has had, Dan speaks with a great deal of warmth and pride
when it comes to his accomplishments.
“Participating in the development
and delivery of Peter’s work represents for me a professional
accomplishment. In this work I am privileged to work with some of the
most talented people on our planet. People in the private, public,
profit/non-profit sectors; and it is a “rush” when I see the group, at
whatever level they are, working to create a significant break through.”
While traveling to conduct workshops
for Designed Learning, Dan balances his time with involvement in the
community and family life. He is very active in his church,
participating in a church band and local folk group. He also serves on
a community board to make new residents feel welcomed into the
neighborhood. Above all Dan looks forward to spending time with his
wife Suzanne, his three daughters Dana, Megan and Sarah and his
grandchildren Tyler and Kylee. His marriage to his wife is one of the
things of which he says he is most proud.
“Personally, I feel blessed by a
marriage of 35 years. The relationship I have with my wife, Suzanne, is
a welcomed, stabilizing presence in my often hectic life as an external
consultant,” says Reid.
Dan’s wife is also the person he
credits with having the largest positive impact on his life.
“Everyday she models the notion of
unconditional acceptance, she recognizes the value of providing direct
and compassionate feedback and challenges me to each day create meaning
for myself and those around me,” he says.
While continuing to share his
expertise with others through his work with Designed Learning, Dan would
like to continue to take his career in a direction that promotes
learning and has an impact on others. Dan had the opportunity early in
his career to participate in open forums discussing what mattered most
to people, led by Ron Lippitt and Kathy Dannemiller.
“I see creating a similar forum as a
way to continue contributing and building on the body of knowledge of
those who choose to attend,” says Reid.
In the meantime, Dan continues to
explore his career and his family in ways in which he can make a
difference while pursuing what he is passionate about and learn from
those around him – not exactly sitting on the fence.
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