Brian Bienn

Senior Consultant

Brian Bienn, Senior Consultant

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Brian Bienn is a licensed psychologist and board-certified coach who brings extensive experience to his selection assessment, leader development and coaching work with clients. During his 30-year career, he has provided assessment and coaching services across a wide array of organizations, ranging from Fortune 100 companies to boutique professional service firms. He serves as a senior consulting psychologist with Table Mountain Consulting Group and holds adjunct roles with several global talent management firms, including the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL).  His areas of expertise include executive leader assessment and development, executive and high potential coaching, team building, emotional intelligence, and executive presence.

BACKGROUND & INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE

In consulting with client organizations and working with individual leaders, Brian applies a perspective that reflects his graduate training in both industrial/organizational and clinical psychology. For the first fourteen years of his career, he served as a staff psychologist with a regional management psychology firm, concentrating on leadership assessment and development. Since that time, he has led his own consulting psychology practice. Emotional Intelligence is an area of particular depth for Brian: he is a co-founder and strategic partner with EI Sills Group and co-authored the “Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace” chapter in Emotional Intelligence in Everyday Life. He serves as the preferred coaching partner with Executive Presence, an Atlanta firm providing best-in-class Executive Presence training and skills development for leaders. He is a senior executive coach and adjunct faculty with the LSU Executive Education Center, supporting several leader development programs.

Brian has provided assessment and coaching services to client organizations from a range of sectors, including consumer products, technology, utilities, hospitality, financial services, pharmaceutical, telecomm, risk solutions, automotive, construction, engineering, professional services, manufacturing, and nonprofit.

Leadership Assessment Approach

Through his assessment expertise, Brian helps clients make the best possible decision when hiring for executive, managerial and key contributor positions. He assesses candidates’ (external and internal) likely success in the role and “fit” to the company culture and team. His assessments provide an in-depth and objective view of candidates and their personalities, helping to prevent costly hiring mistakes. His insights and feedback to hiring managers accelerate on-boarding and early productivity for newly-placed leaders at all levels. In addition to individual assessment, he possesses strong practice depth in assessment centers for both selection and for leader development.

Coaching Approach

As an executive coach, Brian helps leaders become more self-aware and identify specific actions to facilitate the transition into broader and more demanding leadership positions, thereby accelerating how quickly they gain effectiveness in the new role. His coaching style practical and supportive yet challenging – to help clients broaden their thinking and form new habits needed to promote success in more demanding leadership roles. He leverages best practices in leadership development, coaching, and 360 feedback, to help leaders develop keener self-understandings, goal-directed habits, and specific behaviors needed to set direction, align with others, exert positive influence, and impact their business. He emphasizes the importance of meeting leaders “where they are,” and customizes engagements in response to the unique characteristics and demands of each leader and situation. Leaders working with Brian create a roadmap of targeted goals and specific actions designed to promote leadership development and deliver value to the business.

Teambuilding Approach

Brian is one of the country’s most experienced providers of Partnering – team building on large-scale construction projects that improves team performance and financial outcomes for all stakeholder organizations. His Partnering facilitation on hundreds of projects has helped teams develop more quickly and build the level of team resilience needed to deliver overcome setbacks, work through conflicts and significant project results.

Relevant Assessment Assignments

  • Assessment for Selection: Consistently involved in assessment for selection work throughout his 30-year career, he has assessed hundreds of leaders in private and public sector companies, including assessment for C suite roles. Recent examples include comprehensive assessment for CEO succession in a regional electrical cooperative and assessment for Senior Partner position in a private equity firm.
  • Assessment/Development Centers: Has served as an assessor in customized assessment and development centers throughout his career. Currently supports assessment centers for a global consumer products organization and global research and development pharmaceutical company.
  • 360 Feedback and multi-assessment feedback: Throughout his career, multi-assessment feedback sessions (best-in-class 360 and leadership assessments) have been a foundational component of Brian’s work with  leaders, ranging from early career managers to senior executives.

Relevant Coaching Assignments

  • Senior Vice President, U..S. financial services company. Focus: managing-up to establish more credibility within the role, more strategically viewing talent and performance management, strengthening skills in influencing peers across the organization as well as external stakeholders.
  • Vice President, North America division of European auto manufacturer, recently promoted. Focus: understanding how to influence at a broader level in the organization, developing a stronger executive presence, taking a more strategic view of running his business.
  •  Senior Director, global telecom company.  Focus: enhance self-awareness and impact through stronger emotional intelligence skills, strengthening leadership versatility, enhancing team development skills.

Relevant Facilitation & Teambuilding Assignments

  • Brian has facilitated hundreds of Partnering workshops during his career. Most recently conducted initial and multiple follow-up sessions with a complex team (City of Atlanta, general contractor, multiple subcontractors, multiple design/engineering firms) tasked with delivering a $500 million program of work to ensure Atlanta’s water supply for the next 100 years.

Education & Professional Affiliations

  • PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Louisiana State University
  • BS in Psychology from Louisiana State University
  • Licensed Psychologist in Georgia
  • CCE Board Certified Coach
  • Adjunct Executive Coach with the Center for Creative Leadership
  • Executive Education Adjunct Faculty – Louisiana State University (E.J. Ourso College of Business)
  • Certified in Hogan Assessments, Workplace Big 5 Profile™ Type Indicator, OPQ32, Saville WAVE, Learning Agility Talent X7, Decision Styles, MSCEIT, Style Indicator, Change Style Indicator, FIRO-B, Center for Creative Leadership’s suite of 360 assessments, Korn Ferry 360 (Voices)
  • Member of the American Psychological Association and APA Division 13 (Consulting Psychology)