Testimonials
“As a recruiter, I periodically encounter executive coach and leadership development consultants. I first met Sam Mazzuca more than a year ago. He was working with an old friend at a community hospital in Georgia. I was leading a search for a new CNO for the hospital. The client, a seasoned and highly successful CFO, had just transitioned to the CEO position and Sam had been engaged by the Board to coordinate the transition following the departure of the previous CEO, to advise the board on the CEO selection process, to help with organizational development as well as coach the successful candidate through an onboarding process.
Watching Sam work through several complex organizational issues, and to coach my friend, was a pleasure. He is one of the most intuitive and effective coaches I know, and I am fortunate to know several of the best in that field. His sense of compassion and commitment to the client, for the leadership team, and the organization as a whole was impressive. The executives viewed him as a valued member of their team. They clearly respected Sam and trusted his counsel.
One of Sam’s real strengths is his profound passion for his work. It is clear that he loves what he is doing. Another important strength is that Sam is very authentic. That is one of several reasons that people trust Sam and why he is seen by his clients as a trusted advisor and a member of their team, not as an outsider who is a consultant. His style allows him to move effortlessly between the boardroom, executive suite and medical staff leadership in a wide variety of organizations.
I am delighted to recommend Sam because I trust that he will always deliver his best, not just best effort, and that he will always be honest and forthright with his clients.
He is a trusted advisor and valued friend.”
John G. Self, Chairman & Senior Client Advisor
JohnMarch Partners, Inc., Dallas, Texas
“I have sat on several boards which required the services of a consultant for a variety of reasons. I have never seen anyone with Sam’s ability to listen, help isolate issues, allow the Board to reach positive conclusions and come away from the process so pleased with itself and with the results. We as a Board not only resolved our issues. We became much stronger.”
David Pederson, Board Chair
Great Plains Regional Medical Center, North Platte, Nebraska
“Sam assisted our board members, medical staff leaders, and hospital management realign their relationships, roles, and responsibilities with each other. This realignment assisted the Medical Center to move forward on a number of strategic initiatives. Sam’s assistance was invaluable.”
Cindy Bradley, President
Great Plains Regional Medical Center, North Platte, Nebraska
“Working with Sam was a rich and rewarding experience. His great strength was the ability to turn our vision into an actionable product. His ability to communicate with all levels of the organization was key to gaining the company-wide-buy-in necessary for any change plan to work. He was tireless in effort and flawless in execution. What set Sam apart is his commitment to delivering a product that is sustainable by the organization long after he has left the property.”
Randy Youngland, Senior Training Specialist, 1999
Pamida, Omaha, Nebraska
“Lucent Technologies, Learning & Performance Centre had a business imperative to transition its operations in order to create a global service delivery powered by a culture and structure that enabled high performance teams to develop. Sam provided the thought leadership and coaching that guided the management team through a turbulent period to successful implementation. Sam’s organizational development experience, insightful analysis of emerging situations, and stakeholders’ intervention kept the project on track tactically and true to the strategic direction set out by Lucent’s leadership.”
Malcolm Bland, Head of Associate Development, 2000
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hills, New Jersey
“I had the pleasure of retaining Sam to implement an organizational transformation. We began working with him to understand our culture and to map a strategy for change. In this process, we created a highly committed cross-functional team that worked with the management team to create a desired future state for the culture. At the same time, he assisted us reorganize the management team, creating alignment among its members. Sam also worked with several of our executives as a coach; bring them to new levels of awareness and effectiveness. In sum, Sam’s engagement was highly successful. He made a dramatic effect on the company and on the lives of the people that worked with him. His insight, passion, candor and commitment to results were highly effective and valued.”
Paul Knutson, Former, Senior Vice President, HR & OD
Pamida, Omaha, Nebraska
“In 2003, the warehouse had just completed a major change management project in the form of performance management effort, which produced phenomenal operating results in terms of improved customer service and reductions in fulfillment cost. This came at a time shortly after a corporate change in ownership and management.
Despite the great results, the changes created anxiety at all levels within the warehouse. As we proceeded through the planned changes, I sensed periods where misalignment of goals and objectives challenged the entire management team resulting in strong differences of opinion. In short, we had become the perfect dysfunctional team.
Sam Mazzuca was Godsend. After outlining a simple, but very powerful approach of utilizing personal introspection and discussion, Sam facilitated a process that allowed all participants opportunities to participate in a non-threatening atmosphere. Slowly we developed a template of the cultural mindset within the organization and strategies for dealing with them.
Within days, it was apparent that the atmosphere in dealing with members of the management team had changed. The conflicts, finger pointing, and misalignment of goals began to subside, replaced by better communication and respect for one another that continues today. I’m convinced that without Sam’s assistance I would not have survived.”
Vincient Guerreiro, Warehouse Director,
Omaha, Nebraska
“It is amazing how Sam came into our organization, assessed our situation, identified key stakeholders’ relationship issues and recommended solutions that actually have worked. Dealing with multiple personalities and egos can be difficult, but Sam managed this well, recommending the right people in the right positions to solve operational problems. This has made a huge difference in our organization and the inroads we made in the past couple of years have been remarkable.
We continued to move forward with our medical staff development plan. The changes that Sam recommended have snowballed into the development of a Quality Committee that is physician-led and driven, as well as our Peer Review Process. The physician involvement has increased unbelievable with the implementation of the changes. Communication with the Board, hospital management and medical staff has changed dramatically for the better.”
Dr. Clint Schafer, Chief of Staff, 2004-2006
Great Plains Regional Medical Center, North Platte, Nebraska
“There was a history and a culture within our institution where the medical staff leadership was split and dysfunctional. Some networks of physicians made it a daily practice to play the medical staff off against the hospital and to play the hospital off against the medical staff.
Our board made the decision to deal with the increased physician tension and the struggle for control. We engaged the services of Sam Mazzuca to ascertain what it would take to improve communications, accountability, and establish functional working relationships between the board, medical staff, and hospital management.
He identified and facilitated concrete strategies that the hospital implemented and are using to date, to establish functional relationships, new attitudes and behaviors, and role expectations between board members, physicians, and hospital management. Mr. Mazzuca’s coaching enabled the board to move our organization forward with increased confidence and effectiveness in strengthening critical relationships.”
Sammy Jackson, Board Chair
Johnston Memorial Hospital, Smithfield, North Carolina
