Dr Denny Coates
Dr Denny Coates

Dr. Denny Coates
Chief Wordsmith

As Chief Wordsmith of Grow Strong Leaders for over 30 years, Denny has published articles, books, and online programs for workplace communication skills. You could say he's our Ernest Hemingway of content!

When he co-founded the company, Denny wanted to know how learning actually happens; so he launched what has become a lifelong study of brain science, which influenced his writing, including the recent book, Connect with Your Team: Mastering the Top 10 Communication Skills.

Denny’s understanding of leadership and team performance comes from experience. He graduated from West Point and the Army Ranger School in 1967, commanded a missile battery in Germany and an infantry advisor team in Vietnam, and eventually retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1987. He earned his Ph.D. from Duke University (1977) and has served on the faculties of the United States Military Academy, the Armed Forces Staff College, the College of William and Mary, and the Center for Creative Leadership.

Denny and his wife Kathleen live in the Texas Hill Country. When he’s not writing, he does the heavy lifting for their gardening projects. He’s an obsessive Duke basketball fan and movie watcher when he’s not playing with their cats. His two sons are successful IT executives.

Meredith Bell
Meredith Bell

Meredith Bell
The Heart-Centered Connector

Meredith is a true people connector and often gives value to people in the most astonishing ways. If you ever have the opportunity to connect with her, be prepared to take plenty of notes and be awed by her expertise.

Meredith always knew she wanted to be a teacher. But after receiving her Masters in Education from Virginia Tech (1977), she realized that teaching in the public school system wasn't for her. That's when she became an entrepreneur and began using her excellent communication skills and wisdom to help companies develop the people side of their business.

As President and co-founder of Grow Strong Leaders, Meredith leads our marketing and sales efforts. It’s a natural fit for her to apply her teaching skills when discussing and demonstrating the benefits of our offerings. She loves building strong relationships with our clients, resellers, and vendors. She’s proud of the fact that many have chosen to work with us for more than 20 years.

Meredith and her husband Lee live near Williamsburg, Virginia. They spend as much time as they can with their two precious grandchildren (and their parents). She and Lee have been avid bird watchers for more than 20 years, and Meredith has coordinated field trips for the Virginia Society of Ornithology since 2009. They love creating a habitat that’s critter-friendly, so they have free entertainment whenever they look outside.

 

Paula Schlauch
Paula Schlauch



Paula Schlauch
Support Wizard

We don't call Paula "Support Wizard" for nothing! Our customers love working with her. She realized years ago that she loves puzzles, and believes that's why she's a master at sleuthing out technical issues. If she doesn't know the answer to your question, she'll doggedly stay on the trail until she finds the answer!

Paula has many other creative talents and puts them to use in numerous ways, including building websites and editing and publishing books for new authors on Kindle Direct Publishing.

Paula has had a deep passion for working with subtle energy therapies and has studied them for more than 20 years. She's a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner and RoHun Facilitator.

A graduate of The College of William and Mary, she has over 30 years’ experience in banking and business management.

As Vice President and co-founder of Grow Strong Leaders, Paula is the CFO. Her executive responsibilities include administration of financial, legal, personnel and resource programs within Grow Strong Leaders.

Paula lives in Ohio with her husband Robert where they enjoy the seasonal changes. They're the proud parents of 4 cats that keep them pretty busy and entertained.

Grow Strong Leaders
Grow Strong Leaders

For over 30 years, we’ve been giving people the resources they need to discover their strengths and create new ones.

In the early years, we discovered something disturbing…

Denny and Meredith delivered training programs to hundreds of organizations. While participants were enthusiastic about the skills they learned, under the day-to-day pressures of the job, the old familiar patterns resurfaced – and the new skills were soon discarded.

So we created solutions.

Over time, we developed a family of resources to help people focus on the most crucial skills and get coaching support while doing the long-term work to change.

First, we created GSL 360, which evolved from 20/20 Insight, the world’s first versatile, customizable and affordable multi-source feedback system. Organizations can now control the technology to give employees a reality check—identifying both strengths and areas for improvement.

To get feedback about teams and customers, we introduced GSL Surveys, powered by a robust survey library.

While feedback is crucial, what needs to come next is far more important: the long-term follow-through, people actually using their new skills on the job until they become ingrained behavior patterns.

To help learners stay the course, we developed Strong for Performance, an innovative online technology that connects learners with people who want to help. The current version of this service is GSL SkillBuilder, which empowers a learner to get feedback and long-term coaching support from coworkers.

We wrote two books to support this process:

Connect with Your Team describes in detail the ten most important leader and team communication skills. It’s the key reference for staying focused on the fundamentals during follow-through.

Peer Coaching Made Simple is a brief guide that explains how any caring person can use skills they already have to help someone else stay motivated and on track while turning new skills into habits.

The GSL family of resources is backed by 30 years of experience delivering affordable assessment and development technologies that help organizations achieve higher levels of performance.