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Associated Press
22-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
The Poling Group Celebrates Over 25 Years of Excellence and Enduring Commitment to Leadership Impact
05/21/2025, Asheville, North Carolina // PRODIGY: Feature Story // The Poling Group, Inc., celebrates a significant milestone, serving the business community for over 25 years. Led by President Terry L. Poling with over three decades of consulting experience, including more than 20 years dedicated to executive coaching, the company shows no signs of slowing down. It continues to serve as a trusted advisor to companies across sectors. The Poling Group, Inc. The North Carolina-based firm was built on the belief that leadership is a responsibility to influence systems, people, and outcomes with clarity and purpose. Since Poling's background includes decades of experience in corporate strategy, leadership development, and international consulting, the firm's vision has always remained focused on enabling clients to lead with greater awareness, intentionality, and impact. The Poling Group has become known for blending executive coaching, strategic advisory, and organizational transformation work. Clients turn to the firm during periods of transition, expansion, or cultural change, when leadership alignment and clarity are most critical. Its tailored approach helps organizations shift from reactive management to proactive, purpose-driven leadership. The 'Integral Leadership' model is integral to the company's methodology. It involves developing the whole leader and not only their skill set or performance metrics. The firm partners with executives and leadership teams to create new definitions of success, strengthen organizational capacity, and generate meaningful, sustained change across sectors. This work is supported by the firm's proprietary 5 C's model. The first three C's represent the foundational 'what' of change leadership. Context refers to the vision and rationale for change. Conditions pertain to the environment and resources necessary for success, and Capacities revolve around the skills, knowledge, and experiences required. Meanwhile, the final two, Consciously and Collectively, represent the 'how.' Changes must be implemented with mindfulness and intention, and they must engage stakeholders at every level. Poling aims to extend The Poling Group's impact with his long-anticipated personal development book, a product of years of thought leadership, field experience, and journaled insights. It will expand on the 5 C's Model, and potentially introduce new frameworks that reflect his evolving philosophy and the lessons drawn from his global coaching practice, all of which are embedded within the company's operations. The Poling Group's impact stems from a profound understanding of how leadership shapes organizational ecosystems. It stands as a partner and catalyst for meaningful, measurable change, whether through advising an executive team on strategic alignment, coaching a new CEO through a high-stakes transition, or supporting a cultural reset following a merger or acquisition. Poling brought a global perspective and cross-industry expertise to the launch of The Poling Group in 2007. Since then, the company has grown, drawing on its founder's earlier experience in Fortune 100 environments and complex systems consulting. After closing his earlier firm in 2022, Poling dedicated himself fully to The Poling Group's mission, returning to more hands-on executive engagements that remain at the core of the business today. Poling's motivation behind this venture stems from his desire to catalyze change that ripples outward. He was influenced by the saying 'Be the change you wish to see in the world,' associated with Mahatma Gandhi. 'Leadership isn't a mere function of business,' says Poling. 'It's a conduit for societal betterment. I built my coaching style around conscious leadership because I believe that by helping leaders grow in awareness and intentionality, they are empowered to positively influence hundreds, even thousands of people within their organizations and communities.' Terry L. Poling As The Poling Group celebrates over 25 years in elevating leadership, Poling remains dedicated to his mission. In fact, Poling states that, 'My aim is to continue helping leaders achieve greater wisdom, effectiveness, integrity and fulfillment for themselves, their organizations, and the world-at-large.' Media Contact Name: Terry L. Poling Email: [email protected] Source published by Submit Press Release >> The Poling Group Celebrates Over 25 Years of Excellence and Enduring Commitment to Leadership Impact
Entrepreneur
12-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Raymond Sheen's Guide to Mastering AI Implementation: President of PPI on Why Business Precedes IT
Looking at the current business landscape, it's clear that AI and other Industry 4.0 technologies are not mere buzzwords; they're an integral part of organizations globally. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Sales and marketing teams, IT firms, healthcare, project management, and virtually all other industries have slowly shifted sentiments from fear to excitement, with a staggering 78% of companies using AI in at least one business function. That is in comparison to 72% in early 2024 and 55% in 2023. In handling challenges, agility and cost- and time-efficiency are crucial. Therefore, it's no wonder that solutions like cloud computing, IoT, and AI are now seen as effective tools for accurate analytics, automation, and more. But to maximize results and succeed long-term, following trends—no matter how innovative—is not enough. "Mobilizing IT teams out of fear of missing out isn't the way to go," says Raymond Sheen, President at Product & Process Innovation, Inc. (PPI). "What is, however, is a solid business plan. That should always be the starting point." At the helm of PPI, a training, consulting, and litigation support firm, Sheen collaborates with companies to enhance their operations and execution with an all-encompassing approach. Boasting more than 30 years of experience, his outside perspective is an invaluable resource for businesses of all sizes and needs, helping them strategize from outside the technology silo. For him, however, it's about more than that; it's about not letting history repeat itself. Having been in the industry since the 1990s, Sheen saw the 'dot-com bubble' unfold from the frontlines. "Everyone wanted to have a dot-com, even when they had no idea what it meant. Businesses were wasting money creating websites without having any useful information to share, investors were wiring millions into stocks… And then it all ended," he recalls. "Today, we have a new dot-com boom happening. Only this time, it's more complex." Options vary from VR to IoT to AI and beyond, making it both a great opportunity and a grave responsibility to align digital transformation with business goals. The biggest challenge? Lost in the chase, data, technology's fuel, gets overlooked. Scattered information creates a disconnect between AI and desired outcomes, hindering the potential of cutting-edge algorithms. To deliver tangible results and implement technology with an impact, Sheen leverages the power of IT later on in the process, starting by identifying business problems and potential solutions. "We are so scared of someone else being a step ahead, of another business being viewed as leading or cutting-edge, that we forget to put a plan in place first," he stresses. "To be part of the Industry 4.0 ecosystem, you have to embrace technology. But instead of letting your IT team lead the way, guide them. Take a step back and ask yourself: What makes sense from a business standpoint? What issues are we encountering that technology can help combat? What outcomes are we hoping for?" An established foundation allows IT experts to build solutions based on a cohesive vision, ultimately maximizing the full potential of technology. This is especially important as AI implementation in business is incredibly nuanced. "It's not the same as asking AI to answer a question based on information available online. For it to work, you need to create knowledge management systems," he adds. Sheen also warns against the common misconception of technology being a one-time investment. Beyond monthly utility costs, businesses must consider the expenses and effort of frequent knowledge base updates and refining algorithms. He urges leadership to rethink organizational dynamics before jumping on the cutting-edge wagon, advocating for pragmatism and preparation over purposeless innovation. He also emphasizes the difference between IT and OT (operational technology) teams. While IT experts are the professionals handling website building and connectivity disruptions, OT connects, monitors, manages, and secures industrial operations. With a career spanning system development in the US Air Force, engineering at an electric company, and internal consulting in the corporate sector, Sheen combines both. Despite multiple engineering degrees, this continuous learner re-enrolled in college about a decade ago, looking to broaden his expertise on digital transformation. Today, he leverages that knowledge to help businesses achieve desired outcomes with the right technology, whether that is a streamlined supply chain, fixing retention, or growing their marketplace. By identifying objectives first, he ensures that sophisticated technology isn't thrown into the workplace without a plan. That approach, as he warns, is likely to lead to a lack of results. Consequently, wasted effort, technology, and resources carry the risk of workplace cynicism. "Don't think of technology as the beginning of the journey. Rather, it's a step helping you get to the endpoint—but only if it's implemented the right way," he shares. "I've seen it time and time again: IT teams getting blamed because technology isn't doing what it was supposed to. But how could it, when goals were never specified? If you want to truly change your business, come up with a plan. Identify shortcomings, reimagine operations, highlight the biggest pain points. And then, with a strategy and organized data, you can let AI solve them."
