Alan was hired by General Dynamics Canada to act as my Leadership coach as part of GD Canada's Leadership Development Program. Alan was also one of the course facilitators. Alan provided a valued and trusted relationship to discuss and look at ongoing issues in a different way. Alan and I have held many stimulating and lively discussions as he has got me to work through alternate views. He was very successful in making me more aware of understanding different points of view and how to use those alternate views to provide more informed planning. As a result of Alan's coaching I now take more time to analyse how a plan to proceed will be percieved by, and its resulting impact on, other stakeholders. I value Alan's input and we occasionally still get together to touch base."

Top Qualities: Great Results, Expert, Creative

- Brian Booth, Director, Technology, General Dynamics Canada, November 2009

I have had the privilege and the pleasure of benefiting from Alan’s unique skills for a number of years. Alan is an exceptional facilitator and a highly perceptive and value added management coach. Alan’s grasp of leadership issues and learning techniques is as good as I have seen, and he operates with very high levels of morals and ethics. I strongly recommend Alan to any business that is serious about investing in its management team.

- Gordon Frosst, Managing Consultant at COGINT Ltd., November 2009

Alan Sobel has provided wise counsel to me and my executive group at General Dynamics Canada since 2001. He was a partner in the design and delivery of our Leadership Development Program, which helped to propel the firm into the ranks of Canada’s top 100 employers; and he has contributed strategic business, human resources and organizational development insight as a trusted consultant. We value having him with us.

– John Watts, Former President, General Dynamics Canada, December 2007

(General Dynamics Canada has been recognized as a Financial Post Top 10 Employer in Canada, a Top 100 Employer in Canada for 5 consecutive years, and an Ottawa Top 10 Employer for the past six years.)

I have worked with Alan Sobel now for over four years in several different contexts. He has facilitated many sessions in which I was a participant, he has designed and delivered learning programs for my organization, and he has worked with me as a personal executive coach. However, the greatest value I have derived from my long term relationship with Alan comes from my work with him as a non-partisan adviser and counsellor in strategic planning and organizational alignment. Alan and I have worked together to design and implement strategic planning initiatives built around developing approaches that achieve organizational goals, but also provide significant personal and group development opportunities in the process of doing so. My work with Alan has been much more about developing a relationship with a trusted and respected counsel who can add long term value to my company through increasing intimacy with our way of being, than a mere peer to peer relationship with a consultant.

 – David Ibbetson, Vice President, May 2006

Mr. Sobel served as lead facilitator of a food safety initiative between our industry and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.  Mr. Sobel's coordination and structure of our working schedule was only eclipsed by his ability to bring out the best of our group skills, and by his ability to translate the tangible findings that are sometimes so difficult to extract.  I would credit our success and be so bold to state that we unanimously felt the project would have taken more of the team’s resources without Mr. Sobel, if we would have been able to complete the project at all.

- Adam Koven, President, Canadian Association of Ice Industries, October, 2007

On behalf of LEAD NY and AALP, I would like to thank you for taking time ... to conduct the conflict resolution workshop. Often the fate of a relationship is determined by how the parties deal with conflict. In many situations, one has literally seconds to make the right decision on how to approach the conflict. Your workshop dissected those seconds into parts that we can use to develop better relationships as we confront conflict with individuals and between groups. We appreciated your enthusiasm very much. ...With you approach we can turn differences into opportunities for Canadian and American farms.

 - Brad Rauch, LEAD NY Class 12, Project Manager, Cornell University - Quality Milk Production Services, November, 2008

As the chair of a diverse group of players, including international pharmaceutical companies, Canadian farm producers, feed manufacturers and federal government inspection and enforcement agencies, I have worked closely with Alan Sobel as we jointly sought to achieve consensus on a series of long standing disputes.

Alan facilitated a number of multi-stakeholder sessions.  He also mediated many internal sectoral differences which had completely stalled efforts to focus on common interests shared by all players.  His success in these latter endeavours was largely responsible for our overall success in bringing about a positive working relationship among the various players.

Alan’s skills are based on his sincerity, his warm personality and his ability to put himself in “the other party’s shoes”, as it were.  He brings out the best in people after he draws out their frustrations with his understanding approach to their feelings.

I have dealt directly with the public for all off my working life.  I began as a rural veterinary practitioner, held elected office in all three levels of government - municipal, provincial and federal - for over twenty years, and finally, in upper management and policy with the federal government.

I have been embroiled in many disputes from those involving two individuals to those involving province wide strikes in my days as a provincial minister of the Crown.

I have made use of mediators and I believe strongly in mediation.  I can say with sincerity I wish I had met Alan Sobel years ago.  He is tops.

Yours truly

Cliff McIsaac

October 19, 1998