Leni Schwendinger Light Projects, Ltd

The business is personal.

Situation

Leni Schwendinger Light Projects creates lighting environments for architectural and public spaces all over the world. When company founder and CEO Leni Schwendinger first met with PerformXcellence in June of 2004, she had enough business, but noted that, “our internal business processes needed help.” She was happy with the direction of the company but was tiring of her administrative role and wanted to devote more time to her passion: creative and visionary lighting work.

Solution

“What was most useful for me was the personal, almost psychological support, and how that intertwined with business,” Schwendinger says. “PerformXcellence President Mark Monchek has a way of digging into the very basic issues, and he always says the business is personal, and that’s absolutely true.”

A seminal moment for Schwendinger came when Monchek told her that she had to turn the light onto herself. “I started crying, basically,” she said. “He felt I needed to focus on my leadership and promote myself as the business owner and lead creative. It’s funny to be hiding from the limelight when you’re in the limelight. I’m not shy and retiring, but to come out from behind the curtain hiding my own creativity made a huge difference

Monchek also helped the company manage its HR operations as it expanded, and worked with Schwendinger on a business plan, which she said, “was a great exercise to distill our mission and objectives down to a single page.” Based on that plan, an advisory board was convened to further define the company’s goals and objectives. “I’ve always been very goal-oriented and strategic in a way,” said Schwendinger, “but Mark helped me focus more and make an action plan.”

Results

Working with PerformXcellence generated tremendous results – both personally and professionally – for Schwendinger. “Our revenue doubled in the first year,” she says. “We more than doubled in size and moved to a really fantastic space. The management and financial systems now have a real base, and have been a great launch point for the future. It all came from thinking about what we wanted to do. Mark provided a really good context to do that research and discovery, and helped us implement the strategic plan that made it all possible.”

“Most importantly, we’ve been able to focus on our ideal clients and markets, which was tremendously important. Now we’re doing amazing projects all over the world that are imaginative and innovative. We have the work we want to have. We get all the phone calls, and now we’re turning work down.”

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