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Leslie Ryan
Owner at S2S Strategy, LLC
Professional Background
Leslie Ryan is a distinguished executive coach and business strategist with extensive experience in organizational design and executive management. As the owner of S2S Strategy, LLC, Leslie leverages her diverse background to provide tailored coaching and strategic guidance to organizations looking to enhance their performance and employee engagement. Leslie is renowned for her expertise in talent development, talent management, and succession planning, making her a sought-after consultant for businesses aiming to cultivate a thriving corporate culture.
Before founding S2S Strategy, LLC, Leslie spent over two decades at Procter & Gamble, where she held several impactful roles in human resources and strategic planning. As Vice President of Human Resources for Global Health Care, Leslie spearheaded initiatives that transformed the way the company engaged with employees and managed talent across its global workforce. Her strategic insights were instrumental in guiding P&G through various acquisitions and divestitures, ensuring seamless transitions and organizational harmony.
Leslie’s expertise extends beyond conventional human resource management; she is adept in change management, building cultures of diversity, and fostering effective employee-manager relationships. Her work in performance coaching has helped numerous leaders unlock their potential, driving positive change and sustainable growth within their organizations.
Education and Achievements
Leslie Ryan began her academic journey at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and Government. This foundation not only equipped her with critical thinking and analytical skills but also instilled a strong sense of leadership and service that would guide her professional pursuits.
Throughout her career, Leslie has been recognized for her significant contributions to the organizations she has served. At Procter & Gamble, she rose through the ranks from an Associate Manager in North American Employee Relations to Vice President, leading various divisions to enhanced operational efficiency and employee satisfaction. Her work on integration management during the acquisition of The Iams Company showcases her ability to navigate complex corporate structures and align diverse teams towards a common goal.
Leslie’s earlier experiences with the U.S. Coast Guard provided her unique insights into the management of human resources in high-stakes environments. Serving as an Assistant Gender Policy Advisor and as an Executive Assistant to the Assistant Commandant of the Human Resource Directorate, she developed valuable skills in strategic planning, programming, and budgeting that have proven beneficial in her subsequent roles.
Achievements
Leslie's achievements are not confined to titles and roles but are reflected in her impact on organizational culture and employee engagement across various sectors. Some of her notable contributions include:
- Successfully leading human resources functions for significant divisions at Procter & Gamble, resulting in a heightened focus on performance management and employee satisfaction.
- Driving the strategic alignment of human resource initiatives with business objectives, particularly in healthcare, which is noted for having rigorous compliance and operational standards.
- Spearheading significant changes in employee engagement strategies that increased retention rates and fostered a culture of commitment among employees.
- Influencing diversity management practices within Procter & Gamble, ensuring an inclusive work environment that celebrates differences and empowers all employees.
In her current role as an executive coach, Leslie utilizes her wealth of experience to assist leaders and organizations in realizing their potential, embracing change, and cultivating a positive, productive work environment. Her credibility and strategic foresight position her as a respected figure in the realm of business strategy and human resource management.
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Leslie Ryan: Executive Coach and Business Strategist
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.