Phillips has consulted with business, government and hospitals as well as a broad range on non profits. He has led 18 major change efforts and participated in dozens of others for clients world wide. His skill in building positive relations with top managers and union leaders as well as with workers, supervisors, and union stewards has enabled him to help organizations develop realistic strategies for simultaneously improving organizational performance and fostering human effectiveness.

Known as a dynamic and stimulating presenter, he is a frequent lecturer to national associations, Chapters of the Young Presidents Organization, the Executive Committee, groups of company presidents, and at top level management and board retreats.

His skills in team work developed as a chief instructor of wilderness trips for the Outward Bound Schools. He also led major mountaineering expeditions to remote areas of the world. In response to the catastrophic earthquakes in Peru in 1970, he organized, funded, and led a 30 person emergency medical expedition to the most inaccessible villages on the Eastern slope of the Cordillera Blanca.

His next venture was starting the nation's first environmental consulting organization—Habitat, Inc—in Boston. As director, he led a team of PhDs in solving environmental problems only to find that the greatest challenge was not designing a technical solution, but fostering the changes in human behavior necessary to implement the solutions.

In order to focus on human change, Phillips became Associate Director of the New England Labor Management Center in the late 70's. He designed the Center's strategies and process for the creation of joint labor-management Quality of Work Life (QWL) programs in a number of municipalities and manufacturing businesses in New England. Phillips developed the concepts and training materials for use with these labor-management problem-solving committees. He also edited the Center's Newsletter for four years that reported on QWL programs throughout the US.

Building on this foundation, he joined the Adizes Institute in the early 80's, and was in charge of developing the training materials for certification of the Institute's 35 consulting associates throughout the world. He continued this role as a senior consultant for the Faust Management Corporation where he developed and published training materials for problem solving, conflict resolution, team work and process change.

In 1984 one of Phillips clients, McGladrey and Pullen, the nation's 9th largest CPA firm, invited him to become a partner. He developed the firm's strategic planning service and proprietary manuals for entrepreneurial businesses in the United States.

After leaving McGladrey and Pullen, he worked independently to develop a unique, low cost system for diagnosing an organization's health. This approach uses a powerful card sorting method and was pilot tested with over three dozen workshops with CEO's in the TEC (The Executive Committee) organization in the mid 80's. Phillips then teamed with Gerry Faust to develop this technology into Executive Insight™and launch a business which licenses this tool along with other significant change technology to over thirty consultants around the world. Phillips and Faust continute to partner in serving clients directly. Most recently they teamed with Dick Lyles, CEO of Blanchard Training and Development, to write "Responsible Managers Get Results" published by the American Management Association in 1998.

He is the founder and director of Qm². In 1995 he developed a unique assessment and planning tool for non-profits that was sponsored by the American Association of Museums and supported by the Pew Charitable Trust. These materials were published as the New Visions Process." Phillips trained over 150 individuals across the US to use this change technology in their organizations.

Phillips has used large group processes for planning and decisions making. He is a member of SearchNet which is a group of professionals who collaborate in delivering Future Search Conferences around the world. He has led seven Future Search Conferences.

Education and Training
Phillips received a BS from Haverford College in 1963. Since that time he has participated in over 2,500 hours of CEU professional training in organizational health and change. In additon as the founder and director of a small non-profit consulting firm he suffered the slings and arrows of meeting a regular payroll.

Publications
In addition to the publications mentioned below and the various editorial roles he has filled, Phillips has published eleven articles in various professional and trade journals in the US, Canada and Spain. In addition, he has authored over 40 Management Briefings on special topics for clients. He and Mary Case currently publish NoIT—The Newsletter on Institutional Transformation. His current book—Responsible Manager's Get Results—was published by the American Management Association in the Spring of 1998.

Fostering Common Goals Keeps Differences from Festering, by Will Phillips. Certified Accountant Magazine, April 1985.

Institution-Wide Change in Museums by Will Phillips. Journal of Education, Vol. 18, #3, Fall 1993.

Museums Grow Old and Calcify - Here's Why by Will Phillips and Mary Case. REGISTRAR, Winter 1993, Vol. 9, #2, Pages 3-12.