Modalities

Feedback From Clients

As a retained consultant, Bill Duane has made a tremendous contribution to our initiative to upskill Amazonians and our customers in innovation mindset and process. He was instrumental in helping us develop and execute a theory of change to evolve our culture into a more empathetic and connected one—directly supporting our new Leadership Principle, Strive to Be Earth’s Best Employer. Bill has also provided actionable insights on how leaders can leverage emotion skills to successfully drive innovation and change, something that has benefited many AWS customers pursuing digital innovation and transformation. His expertise has been invaluable to the EPIC innovation program.
Rich Hua, Worldwide Head @ Amazon Web Services | Innovation Ambassador | Emotional Intelligence Evangelist

Bill worked with Cross Compass AI's executive leadership team to take a step back and examine together the values and priorities of the organization, how they mapped to the current organizational structure, and how they should be adapted in the future to best navigate the challenges of innovation, employee engagement and managing complexity specific to the AI and advanced technology space. We felt that Bill's way of thinking and interacting with us and our business domain was exceptionally helpful from the start, and we were impressed with the gift he has to catalyze our own critical and creative thinking process in a distinguishably different way from other consultants. I would recommend his help to any organization in search for a massive rethink to their large picture strategy, for a thorough, painless, and deeply people-driven process.
VP of Research, Cross Labs (Tokyo, Japan)

Bill is an exceptional consultant and facilitator, one whose expertise and passion for transformative experiences were clear during our organization’s annual retreat. Bill was engaged and intentional during the preparation for the retreat, and while on-site he led us through a series of exercises that examined our personal and organizational values and gave us tools to manage complexity and cultivate generative disagreement. With his blend of leadership acumen and mindfulness practices, Bill created an environment for our team that fostered introspection, communication, and cohesion and allowed us to achieve our challenging AI innovation goals.
Katie Zaharian, CEO, Earth Species Project

I can vividly remember the first executive offsite led by Bill. Our company was facing consequential decisions at the transition from an R&D to a product oriented and commercial enterprise. In the span of a few hours, Bill empowered us with a concrete and sensible decision making framework and guided us through its application to the matters at hand. The session was so effective that by the end of it we were engaging in strategic thinking and walked out of the room with concrete next steps. The framework and principles that Bill introduced have become a cornerstone of our company’s approach to risk management. We still look back at those days and regard the decisions made in that room and the subsequent course of events as a success story at a critical juncture in the history of our company. Bill’s inimitable style combines breath and insight in executive strategy and management with hands-on engineering experience and a facility for empathy and human connection, which is quite rare. I have attended many coached executive sessions and the ones with Bill were in a league of its own.

Co-founder and Senior VP of Software and Analytics, Green Grid Storage Stealth Startup


You bring magic to the room. We could not have had a better speaker to lead our offsite discussion around transformation. Everyone appreciated your insight, and you made it real by relating to your prior Google experience. You delivered with heart and my team loved it! Thanks for the push on the leadership and afternoon workshops. It really made a difference.
You create psychological safety for all participants and demystify the overall importance for mental well being in the workplace.
Vice President, Global Partnerships, Google (Seattle)

I have rarely seen such a meaningful and sustained impact on team dynamics, productivity as well as wellbeing based on a single talk followed by a workshop session to dig deeper. I can only recommend this to other teams and thank you for being an amazing presenter.
Group Product Manager, Google (virtual)

Bill has the innate ability to frame problems and solutions in a way that is accessible and relevant. He thinks like a senior leader and has the empathy and understanding of the employee workforce to be able to cut through issues and identify the key issues related to the business and establish, adapt or refine solutions that work. His thought partnership, systems thinking and quick understanding of the corporate culture were an asset and led to some really good breakthroughs.
Senior Manager, Roche (virtual)

The human:human connection you established (not easy over Zoom) and balance of science, compassion and practical tools and tips with regard to how we can move from 'survive' to 'thrive' were spot-on and very well received by our global audience. Cannot think of anyone else who could have conveyed such important ideas and modalities better. Your background and experience combined with your knowledge of the science and scientific mind allowed for that great relationship and knowledge transfer to transpire. Your elaboration during the Q&A on the key points resonated as shown by the comments. Thank you!
Senior Manager, Product Development, Genentech (Virtual)

I sat during Bill Duane’s talk titled “Tools for happiness and accomplishing amazing things” in awe. This is a man who has self-taught himself to code, became a senior engineer at Google for 12 years and has come from telling hippies who meditate to “take off” to be one of the most engaging speakers I have possibly ever seen when talking about meditation and happiness in the workplace. His vision and his mission are to help Googlers live and work in sustainable ways that allow them to be their most effective and happy selves, as individuals and as an organisation. And to ultimately, create a better world.
So for 2 hours on a cloudy north Californian morning, I sat watching a man talk about well-being in awe. I was transfixed. I could have sat there for 24 hours and still craved for more.
Executive Director, Genry Capital (Google SF)

You are a speaker who really makes an impact on the participants! I remember the World Business Dialogue 2018 when you impressed our delegates twice:
1. Your talks and panel discussions always created a special atmosphere among the audience. It was an atmosphere in which everybody could feel the importance of resilience and well-being in our modern lives. You did this with great authenticity and very personal insights in your past. It was amazing!
2. You impressed us not only on stage but also in numerous personal talks during the conference days. It is really amazing if a speaker does not only deliver a speech or participate in a panel discussion but dedicates yourself to create a real dialogue with the participants. When I talk to participants about the 21st Word Business Dialogue, they often mention your public and private talks as one of the greatest experiences at the conference.Inviting you has been one of my best decisions in the preparation of the 21st World Business Dialogue!
Managing Director, World Business Dialog (Cologne, Germany)

I had the joy of hearing Bill's talk on "4 Skills for Happiness and Doing Amazing Things" at the Google For Startups Trailblazers conference. It was truly one of the most impactful talks I've seen at Google or otherwise. Bill's dynamic style combined with his actionable expertise made the session energizing and impacted how I approached my work and well-being. If given the opportunity I'd love to attend another session led by Bill.
Account Lead, Google (Napa)