About Us
We are committed to helping organizations of all kinds enhance the leadership effectiveness of first-line supervisors with direct reports as a means of increasing company performance, productivity or quality. Read on to learn more about Joseph L. Curtin.
Joseph L. Curtin
Joe Curtin has been a management and leadership development consultant since 1984. Some of his leadership development clients include Airstream, Farmer John Meats, Evans Foods, Madison Industries, and Reynolds Aluminum. Over the years, he's served over 100 clients from the following industries and more:
- Finance
- Insurance
- Professional Services
- Support Services
- Technical Services
- Personal Services
- Accommodation
- Travel
- Recreation Services
- Transportation
- Construction
- Manufacturing
- Food Products
- Rental Services
- Retail
- Wholesale Trade
- Mining
- Automotive Repair
- Furniture Restoration
- Window Tinting
- Information Services
- Healthcare
- Real Estate
In addition to leadership development, Joe Curtin has provided management consulting and project management services in the areas of organizational restructuring, marketing, sales, strategic planning, managerial accounting, financing, productivity, human resources, communication, reward systems, and organization culture.
Academia
Joe Curtin is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree from California Coast University.
An innovator in the field of leadership, Joe Curtin designed one of the first leadership Master's degrees in the United States for the International School of Leadership in Tampa, FL, during 1977 and 1978. He also taught leadership for California State University, Northridge and Ashford University. Currently, he teaches leadership at Northeastern University. Publications to his credit include:
- Curtin, J. (2022). Leadership: 700 Definitions and Ways to Lead. Archway from Simon & Schuster.
- Curtin, J. (2016). Action learning in virtual higher education: Applying leadership theory. Action Learning: Research and Practice, 13(2), 151-159.
- Curtin, J. (2009, Fall). Values-Exchange leadership®: Using Management by Objectives performance appraisals to improve performance. Leadership Review, 9, 66-79.
- Curtin, J. (2004, Summer). Emergent leadership applied: Case study of a jury foreperson. Leadership Review, 4, 75-88.
- Curtin, J. (2002, Summer). Teaching versus facilitating in leadership development: Trends in business. Journal of Leadership Education, 1(1), 58-67.
- Curtin, J. (2001). What fortune-500 CEOs want from leadership development and their definitions of leadership. In American Society for Training and Development - Los Angeles Chapter (Ed.), The Wisdom of ASTD-LA. (pp. 185-196). Whittier, CA: ASTD-LA.
- Curtin, J. (1990). Turning your company around. Meat & Poultry Magazine. 36(1), 26-36.
- Curtin, J. (1988). Putting self-esteem first. Training & Development Journal. 42(10), 41-44.
- Curtin, J. (1986). A reaction theory of leadership. Ph.D. dissertation. Dissertation Abstracts, 14(01R), 8. (UMI No. LD01328).
Memberships and Speaking Engagements
Current and former memberships include:
- Association for Talent Development (National and Los Angeles)
- Association of Leadership Educators
- Encino Chamber of Commerce
- International Leadership Association (Los Angeles Conference Planning Committee, 2007-2008)
- Los Angeles Organizational Development Network
- Professionals in Human Resources Association
- Turnaround Management Association (Southwest Chapter Secretary/Treasurer, 1990-1991)
- Society for Human Resource Management
- Staffing Management Association of Southern California (Diversity Director, 2009)
Joe Curtin has spoken to groups such as the Monrovia Rotary Club, the Small Business Council of Torrance Chamber of Commerce, and L.A. Chapter of American Production & Inventory Control Society. Speaking topics include:
- "How to Lead Anyone; Building Self-Esteem; Styles of Leadership"
- "How to Be Viewed As a Leader in Business Turnaround"
Book Review
Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs
John Doerr, New York, NY: Portfolio/Penguin, 2018. 306 pp.
This review is for the well-educated, high-income earners under 30 years of age who buy management books¹ and anyone else who is interested in management. John Doerr worked for Intel where he met Andrew Grove and learned and implemented Grove's "Intel Management by Objectives ('iMBOs')"² which employees called "imbos."³
Doerr worked for Kleiner, Perkins which encouraged its venture capitalists to advise and sit on boards of directors of companies in which they invested.⁴
Imbos, renamed Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) by Doerr "to avoid confusion,"⁵
were presented to Google and other ventures by his use of a professional football team example.⁶
Doerr invested in BetterWorks which developed software⁷
to schedule and track Conversations, Feedback, and Recognition (CFRs) trademarked under the name of Continuous Performance ManagementTM (CPM).⁸
Such is the backdrop for Measure What Matters.
This first-class publication was superbly-promoted and is outstandingly-readable, wonderfully-edited, and well-packaged. The writing is clear, enthusiastic, organized, forwarded by Alphabet CEO and Google co-founder Larry Page,⁹
loaded with testimonials and stories Doerr and owners, executives and managers some of whom are famous or associated with well-known organizations who laud the benefits of OKRs and CFRs.¹⁰
Doerr's tribute to executive coach Bill Campbell is heartwarming.¹¹
However, the book is guilty of some inaccuracies and includes some examples inconsistent with Doerr's definition of OKRs.