“What I like about working with Ann is how she keeps a group strategically focused while making the process engaging, easy, and humorous. She uncovers common ground, creates opportunity, and guides the group to new shared conclusions in remarkably little time.”
Laurie Fenlason, Vice President for Public Affairs, Smith College
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“I wish everyone read this book. Ann Latham’s “Uncommon Meetings” is a quick read, packed with substantive ideas on how to get more out of meetings in less time. Everyone who runs meetings should read it!”
Janet Warren, President, MarCom Capital
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“Ann Latham is one of the best business speakers I have heard. She is very experienced, the quality of her thinking is extremely high, and she knows how to deliver her message in an entertaining, concise, and convincing way.”
Dr. Alan G. Robinson, Isenberg School of Management, Author - "Ideas Are Free"
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“On a collaborative project with Boeing Phantom Works, Ann did a tremendous job in identifying the cost drivers, producibility issues, and productivity barriers of a supplier organization, all of which were impeding the success of our project.”
Ed Gerding, Chief Engineer C-17 St. Louis, The Boeing Company
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“Ann can help you identify the crux of a problem and solutions that will work for you. While others may be good, my 35 years of experience tells me that no one is better.”
Perry Walraven, President and CEO, Performance Controls, Inc. a Subsidiary of Hitachi Medical Corporation
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“Ann’s ability to simplify complex issues such that everyone understood their respective roles was a key part of her success. She truly helped us achieve profitable and predictable growth while improving the quality of our methods and processes.”
S. W. Emery, Jr., Chairman and CEO, MTS Systems Corporation
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“I would recommend Ann to anyone who wants to make better plans and decisions in less time and with better confidence in the outcomes.”
W. Lowell Putnam, Chairman/CSO, VCI (Video Communications, Inc.)
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“Working with a diverse group of manufacturing and design team members, Ann was able to gain consensus for improvement initiatives, win over even the skeptical, and move the team forward toward production-readiness.”
Dana Badgerow, General Manager, AeroMet Corporation
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“’Wow’ sums it up nicely. The way Ann works is impressive: she has a great handle on people, makes everyone want to work together, ensures meetings are focused and valuable, and simplifies the challenges and options so all can reach shared conclusions.”
John Heaps, President, Florence Savings Bank
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“You are clearly a gifted facilitator and helped us achieve some important outcomes. The ROI was there.”
Bob Fazzi, President & CEO, Fazzi Associates
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“Ann’s book, Clear Thoughts, is the fresh, grounding breath of perspective that every executive needs in order to see clearly despite the daily chaos”
Jane Lansing, VP Marketing, Emerson Process Management
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“After working with Ann, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to anyone in need of a strategy, plan, arbitration, facilitation, etc.”
Chuck McCullagh, CFO, The Williston Northampton School
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“Ann Latham transformed our thinking about how our organization works. This discovery led us to a strategic model that solves our pain and opens new opportunities. She truly lives up to her brand of ‘uncommon clarity.’”
Suzanne Beck, Executive Director, Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce
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“Ann is a captivating speaker, providing important principles in an approachable, common-sense way. Our audience enjoyed her depth and breadth of knowledge.”
Aimee Griffin Munnings, Esq., Director, Western New England College Law and Business Center for Advancing Entrepreneurship
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“The process that our committee engaged in was outstanding and the outcome of our work is truly exceptional.”
Russell Peotter, General Manager, WGBY - Public Television for Western New England
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“Ann’s work with us helped change the direction of three units very set in their ways and has opened up a myriad of possibilities for growth in the future.”
Joan Schuman, Executive Director, Hampshire Educational Collaborative
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“The time and stress saved by one phone call with Ann was astounding.”
Rev. Johanna McCune Wagner, Director of Religious Life, The Culver Academies
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Every organization would benefit from the material found in Ann’s audio seminar, “Meeting Mastery.”
Chuck Hatch, General Manager, Packaging Corporation of America
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Ann Latham
Ann Latham creates clarity.
Before quitting her job after 20+ years in corporate America, Ann sent an email to many colleagues asking what she did particularly well that was most uncommon. The answers all pointed to the same thing and she named her company Uncommon Clarity based on those answers.
As a consultant, Ann creates the clarity that helps corporate giants like Hitachi and Boeing achieve superior results faster and with greater confidence. She also helps smaller businesses and non-profits see their organizations, people, opportunities, and next steps in clear and new ways. Ann's clarity has contributed to the success of organizations with a wide range of specialties. For example:
- Laser additive manufacturing
- Force and motion control testing systems for materials, cars and more
- Earthquake simulation
- Energy management systems
- Professional services
- Education
- Service companies
- Not-for-profit organizations
As a master facilitator, Ann creates the clarity that brings teams and committees to a common understanding so that they can set aside their differences, develop an inspired and shared vision, and make dramatic progress toward achieving their objectives.
As a writer, Ann creates clarity for thousands worldwide who have discovered the value in her Clear Thoughts™ newsletter, books, articles, and comments in publications such as The New York Times, Forbes, BusinessWeek, and Inc.
As a speaker, Ann creates clarity for audiences who want clear, pragmatic, immediately applicable ideas that will help them speed and improve results. Her value-packed and entertaining presentations, whether to small CEO roundtables, students of organizational behavior, or large business gatherings, inevitably garner enthusiastic reviews along with statements of "she really is uncommonly clear."
Prior to founding Uncommon Clarity, Ann acquired tremendous experience in high-tech companies, beginning as a software engineer. Upon leaving, she saved only one framed certificate: “Most Likely to Dispute Recognized Authorities,” a good-humored acknowledgement of her constant questioning and challenging of assumptions. This spirit, coupled with her talent for creating clarity and her wide-ranging experience, make Ann unusual and unusually effective. As Alan Weiss, the Million Dollar Consultant®, recently said during a professional development session with many top notch consultants, “Ann has tremendous insights. It's very impressive. She listens, watches, and picks up on something everyone else has missed. I love that stuff."
Ann graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University with a degree in mathematics. Her work and travels have taken her to 36 countries and 48 states. She is a board approved Master Facilitator, an honor bestowed upon an elite group of global consultants by the Society for Advancement of Consulting®. Ann serves on the Board of Directors for the Regional Technology Corporation and the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce, belongs to The Society for the Advancement of Consulting and the Human Service Forum, and is a member of the finance committee for the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts.
In her spare time, Ann enjoys sports and outdoor activities, some quite unusual. She is an expert wilderness canoe guide and, if that weren’t unusual enough, she has been seen carrying her canoe down the highway while riding a unicycle. She took up ice hockey at age 42 when she got tired of watching her daughters have all the fun, a humbling experience mostly spent skating toward where the puck used to be. She also enjoys quieter activities like watching wildlife and curling up with a good book in front of the fire.