Helping a K-12 publisher get on the Same Page

In 2023, after almost 50 years of history, BJU Press began to be led by a leadership team, under the direction of new CEO Steve Dickinson. The business was already a 9-figure company with nearly 500 employees, but this leadership change signaled a new chapter in their life together.

So we worked together — over more than a year — to create a new, powerful, authentic Same Page that the new leadership team could be on together, a Same Page that could also help leaders to take new, clarifying kinds of leadership.

Identity is the long-term Same Page of any business, so we discovered it and captured it together on a deeper level than had ever been done before at BJU Press. We also began some new practices that could help the team use the Identity, and make it a normal topic of conversation with those they led.

Planning is the short-term Same Page of any business, so we set aside a 100-page binder that had served as the company’s previous, largely unused Plan … and we began a new practice of Planning together, including Annual Planning Days, Quarterly Updates, and captaining parts of the Plan, to bring them to life.