A Program of Headway Strategies Consulting
A Program of Headway Strategies Consulting
I've spent my career watching talented people second-guess themselves because they were told there was only one right way to build a successful career. Making Headway grew out of hundreds of real conversations — with executives, tradespeople, veterans, and entrepreneurs — that convinced me the opposite was true: success has more than one path, and the right one depends on the person walking it.
Over four decades in business leadership, strategic planning, and coaching — helping organizations translate strategy into results and individuals translate ambition into a plan. That work led to founding Headway Strategies Consulting and authoring The Compass Approach, and eventually to Making Headway — bringing that same practical approach to discovery, goal setting, and planning to students, parents, and educators as they explore the many paths to a meaningful and successful future.
John's own career has taken several turns as interests and opportunities presented themselves. He began with a startup airline, moved to a large information consulting organization, and went on to hold senior information technology leadership positions across several industries before eventually taking another path — entrepreneurship — and founding Headway Strategies Consulting.
Along the way, John developed a particular passion for leadership development. It began early in his career while managing a large data processing center and continued through more than 25 years of developing and leading a leadership program for the Boy Scouts.
John holds a B.A. in Organizational Behavior from the University of New Hampshire and an M.B.A. in Information Systems from Case Western Reserve University.
His own experience has reinforced one of the ideas behind Making Headway: a career doesn't have to follow a straight line. Interests change, opportunities appear, and sometimes the path you didn't anticipate becomes the one worth pursuing.
To help people make informed, confident career and business decisions — grounded in real stories and honest strategy, not assumptions.
Candor over polish, evidence over opinion, and the belief that meaningful change comes from recognizing the behaviors that make a strategy achievable.
Helping young people make informed career decisions.