12/2002 – Thomas D. Kuczmarski

Thomas D. Kuczmarski

PGF has chosen Thomas D. Kuczmarski, Senior Partner and President of Kuczmarski & Associates as its person of the month for December 2002. PGF takes a unique approach to the global community, building on the strengths of each culture and sharing the good we can do to build mutual understanding and respect together. A brief search in your local library or on the Internet on innovation and values will lead you to Mr. Kuczmarski.

In the book Values-Based Leadership: Rebuilding Employee Commitment, Productivity and Performance (Prentice-Hall, 1995), co-authored with Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski, the authors speak to the lack of purpose, identity, or values in a society – feelings of disorganization, detachment, and rootlessness which they refer to as anomie. Among the solutions offered to address societal and personal anomie are: The establishment of a nationally celebrated family values weekend; Identifying and consistently activating family rituals with all family members; Initiating an in-depth relationship with someone from a diverse group; and Holding a party and inviting ten people who live in your neighborhood. These are ideas and ideals that PGF works toward each day.

We at PGF seek to look forward, learning the lessons from a year racked by business scandal and uncertainty, to a future that confronts issues innovatively. We look to a future based in the values of family and community. Therefore, we honor Thomas Kuczmarski as a leader, innovator, educator, writer and for his community involvement.

About Thomas D. Kuczmarski:

Mr. Kuczmarski is a nationally recognized expert in the management of new products and services innovation, and marketing strategy. During his career of helping hundreds of companies grow their businesses, his leading-edge work has forged a new meaning for “innovation” throughout corporate America. His extensive work in advising clients on leadership in innovation serves as the foundation for the firm’s values-based leadership expertise. He has successfully developed new products and business strategies for a comprehensive range of industries, from small businesses to Fortune 100 corporations.

Before he founded Kuczmarski & Associates more than a decade ago, he was a Principal at Booz * Allen & Hamilton. While there, Mr. Kuczmarski assisted more than 100 U.S. consumer and industrial goods companies in the areas of marketing, new product development, strategic business analysis and organizational planning. In addition, he led the firm’s in-depth research of the best practices employed by more than 700 U.S. firms in their new product management processes. His prior experience as a brand manager at Quaker Oats Company also provided a solid and broad-based foundation unique to his consulting specialty.

Mr. Kuczmarski’s book, Managing New Products: The Power of Innovation, 2nd Edition (Prentice-Hall, 1992), is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive treatises on developing new products. His second book, Values-Based Leadership: Rebuilding Employee Commitment, Productivity and Performance (Prentice-Hall, 1995), is co-authored with Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski. Innovation, was co-published in 1995 by NTC Publishing Company and the American Marketing Association. His most recent books, Innovating the Corporation, was published by NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group in fall 2000 and reveals the seven steps for achieving growth through innovation. Managing New Products: Using the Map System to Accelerate Growth, third edition, was published by Book Ends (and endorsed by the American Marketing Association) in March 2000. It is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive treatises on developing new products.

He is also extensively published and cited in radio, television and leading-edge national periodicals including The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Newsweek, Planning Review, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, Marketing News, Advertising Age, Crain’s Chicago Business, CIO Magazine, Sales and Marketing Management, Technology Review, Business Marketing, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. He has just published a chapter on new products and services in the just-published book Marketing Encyclopedia, from the American Marketing Association. He serves on the editorial review boards for the Journal of Product Innovation Management and the Journal of Consumer Marketing. In addition, Mr. Kuczmarski is a highly regarded speaker on innovation management and leadership, and lectures nationally and internationally to a broad range of corporations and associations.

Mr. Kuczmarski is an Adjunct Professor of New Products and Services at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He is a member of the board of Oil-Dri Corporation, the Chicago Children’s Museum, and The Economic Club of Chicago.

He earned an M.B.A. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, and holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University’s Graduate School of International Affairs, where he was named an International Fellow of the University. He received a B.A. in French.

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