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Val Ries
👩🏻💻Leadership Trainer / Executive Coach / Creating highly engaged employees. 📕Upcoming book "Chief Inspiration Officer"- coming spring 21
Professional Background
Val Ries is a dedicated leadership trainer and executive coach who has made significant inroads into the realms of corporate development and team engagement. Her impressive career journey began in the healthcare sector as a registered nurse, where she gained invaluable insights into the intricacies of human interactions and emotional intelligence in high-pressure environments. With a career that spans over 15 years in various leadership roles, Val transitioned from nursing to medical sales before discovering her passion for leadership training.
In her first management role, she faced a critical juncture that required quick learning and adaptation to avoid failure. Val embraced this challenge and honed her skills in cultivating employee productivity and loyalty. This defining moment set the tone for her future work in guiding leaders in creating engaging and motivated teams. She is now the proud founder of Executive Muse, a consulting firm dedicated to leadership training and executive coaching.
Education and Achievements
Val has a strong educational background that complements her practical experience in leadership training. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from Towson University, providing her with a solid foundation in healthcare and empathy-driven communication. Following her nursing degree, she pursued an MBA from the University of Phoenix, equipping her with essential business and management principles needed to thrive in corporate environments.
Additionally, Val has studied to become a Certified Professional Corporate Coach at the Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching, further refining her coaching capabilities and solidifying her methodology in executive leadership.
Throughout her career, Val has occupied several key positions, amplifying her expertise and visibility within the industry. She served as Director of Clinical Services at CareHere, where she directed clinical operations while developing leadership strategies that yielded measurable success. Following that role, she was the Director of Sales & Training at Heska Corporation, where her leadership acumen flourished in a corporate sales environment.
Val's work transcends industries. She was also a Territory Manager for Medical Devices at SRSI and demonstrated her clinical expertise as a Registered Nurse specializing in neuroscience and labor & delivery at the renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Notable Achievements
Val Ries’s impact on the organizations she collaborates with is remarkable. She has worked with various esteemed clients, including Citrix, First American, Gonzaga University, Curriculum Associates, and Boehringer-Ingelheim. These leading companies have benefited from her expertise in creating 'people first' leaders who prioritize employee engagement and create a culture of trust and loyalty.
Among the tangible outcomes of her training sessions, Val's clients have reported:
- A staggering 50% increase in new hire success rates
- A notable 40% decrease in employee attrition
- An impressive 85% increase in leadership confidence among participants
- An enhanced 75% improvement in work/life balance for employees
- A substantial 62% elevation in employee engagement scores
Her engaging and impactful methods have succeeded in transforming workplaces from simply surviving to thriving. This impact is backed by testimonials from her clients, showcasing the fundamental shift in their organizational culture and employee morale.
For instance, Dori S, an Associate Vice President for Organizational Effectiveness at Gonzaga University, praised Val as an “incredible partner” in enhancing their team culture and increasing employee engagement. Tracy B, Sr. Vice President of Sales & Talent Development at First American, noted the tremendous growth she experienced with her team thanks to Val’s coaching, emphasizing her ability to respond to the unique needs of the staff during training. Kim D, Sr. Editorial Director at Curriculum Associates, highlighted Val's skill in making the learning experience applicable and memorable for their leadership team.
Upcoming Work and Future Endeavors
Val's commitment to enhancing leadership practices does not stop here. She is set to release her forthcoming book titled Chief Inspiration Officer: How to Lead the Team Everyone Wants to Be On. This book promises to provide readers with insightful strategies to foster a more inspired and engaged workforce. Readers interested in building better teams are encouraged to visit www.executive-muse.com, where they can find a free chapter of her upcoming book, offering a glimpse into her innovative thinking on leadership.
Val is committed to being accessible to those looking to improve their leadership skills and those interested in her coaching methodologies. She actively encourages potential clients to book a complimentary chat with her, fostering an approachable environment for those seeking to enhance their own leadership journey.
Conclusion
In summary, Val Ries stands out as a dedicated and effective leadership trainer and executive coach. With a strong foundation in nursing, robust corporate experience, and a commitment to fostering capable leaders, her approach to leadership training is refreshingly people-centric. Val’s clients consistently report increased success in leadership confidence, employee engagement, and overall organizational effectiveness. Her contributions to leadership development and coaching continue to pave the way for a more engaged and committed workforce. Through her firm, Executive Muse, and her upcoming book, Val will undoubtedly reach many more leaders eager to inspire their teams in meaningful and effective ways.
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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 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.
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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 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.
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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.