Meet
Karen Phelan
Karen Phelan
Business Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, and Management Consultant
My Values
Be self-reliant - I like to be able to do things for myself, or at least, know how to do them, so I don't have to be dependent on others. I think there are lots of opportunities in our community to improve our own lot. We only need to work together to start addressing them.
Focus on what you can do - I believe that there is always something you can do, even if it's just playing a small part in a much bigger whole. I don't waste my energy worrying about things beyond my control and prefer to focus on the actions I can take.
Bring people together - Margaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has." In my work with organizations, I've experienced the wisdom of this saying and the great things that happen when ordinary people come together with a common purpose.
Karen Phelan started her career as a research scientist in a military think tank, but needing more interactivity, she became a business consultant, first, at Deloitte, and then at Cap Gemini E&Y. Karen's expertise is in business transformation, especially by helping companies streamline operations and cut costs while improving innovation and collaboration.
Karen has also held management positions in training, IT, and marketing at Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson where she led those organizations through major change initiatives. After she left J&J, she founded two consulting companies, one specializing in post-merger reorganization and the other focusing on an innovative leadership development and team building technique.
Her bestselling business book, I’m Sorry I Broke Your Company (BK Books 2013), is a humorous dissection of why common management practices often go awry and has sold over 70,ooo copies worldwide. You can find interviews or articles about Karen's work in Fortune, Leadership Excellence magazine, the Toronto Globe & Mail, the AMA Newsletter, as well various business blogs and podcasts online.
On the personal side, Karen moved to Awosting in West Milford with her family in 1999 and often brags to her colleagues about living in a little slice of paradise. Her two sons have been educated in the West Milford public schools, and her husband is the president of Jersey Off Road Mountain Bicycle Association, an organization that builds sustainable trails throughout NJ. She believes that West Milford could be a hiking and mountain biking destination by building more (and better) trails that connect the existing parks and trails into a continuous network and, more importantly, connecting them to town center so tourists can shop and eat here.
Once she stopped traveling for work, she volunteered on the Economic Development Commission, the Awosting Governance Committee, and took on leadership roles within the town's Democratic party. She is also serving as the President of the Board of Directors of BK Authors Inc., a non-profit affiliated with BK Publishers.
Karen is currently writing a follow up book and bringing an innovative communications, team building, and personal development tool, called Act like an Icon (actlikeanicon.com), to market. She also holds two degrees in engineering from MIT.