Founded in 1984, Root works with Global 2000 companies across all industries - from multi-billion dollar fast food franchises to manufacturing facilities to energy companies – helping them engage their people as the engine for change. We’ve connected with millions of people and helped more than 500 organizations worldwide deploy thousands of strategies.
At Root, we believe analytics, inspiration and business know-how need to be connected in order to get people engaged. Root has a proven framework to solve meaningful business problems where your people are the critical lever to your execution success. Our eight-step Strategic Change Process® and blended approach promotes individual emotional and intellectual ownership of the strategy. This enables people to be that driver of change, so companies can see results faster.
Root Publishing is founded.
Our founders transform their ideas into consulting products and services, and realize that the combination of business analytics and artistic illustration create breakthrough possibilities.
The Root Strategic Learning Map® process is launched. Our first client: Preston Trucking.
Strategic Learning Map® solutions become a larger part of the business, which is still chiefly consulting and research. Our visualization and dialogue begin to fuel our growth rate and we employ five Rootsters.
We serve our first Fortune 500 client, Harley-Davidson, and are featured in More Than a Motorcycle: The Leadership Journey, a book by Harley-Davidson CEO Rich Teerlink. Our annual revenue tops $1 Million.
PepsiCo begins a longstanding relationship with Root that continues today. Root expands globally and culturally by working with Mercedes-Benz in former East Germany shortly after the Berlin Wall comes down.
Root employs 18 Rootsters. Our Fortune 500 clients include PepsiCo, Hewlett-Packard, Bergen-Brunswig, Maytag, Boeing, and PacifiCare Health Systems.
Root enjoys steady growth, leading to larger clients, including IBM, Taco Bell, and Dow Chemical. We experiment with digital technology with MichCon and implement our first giant rollout: 400,000 UPS employees participate in a strategy activation process.
Root’s work with Sears appears in Harvard Business Review, engendering a wave of new clients. Root is chosen “Supplier of the Year” from a list of 10,000 suppliers at Sears Roebuck & Co.
We expand in two ways – opening satellite offices in Chicago and London, and introducing eLearning as a line of business. We establish a set of values and present the inaugural Rootie Awards to honor those who best live out Root’s core values.
Large same-day strategy rollouts become more common - 16,000 Dresdner Bank employees in four locations in Germany experienced a Strategic Learning Map® solution in one day, as did 50,000 Charles Schwab employees in 3 countries.
3,000 civil servants in Hong Kong participate in a one-day Strategic Learning Map® session – our first foray into government affairs rather than business, and our first Asia Pacific rollout.
Root wins awards from two magazines – HR Executive and Training.
We begin a multi-year project to completely redesign a client's learning curriculum digitally. Since then, we have expanded our digital solution capabilities for clients like Holiday Inn Express and Panda Express restaurants.
Our first year on the Top 25 Best Small Companies to Work for in America list by SHRM and the Great Places to Work Institute.
We introduce the Strategic Engagement Process® to help clients assess their strategy execution strengths and weaknesses. It evolves to become our Strategic Change Process℠.
We publish the first issue of our bi-monthly newsletter, The Watercooler®.
Root moves to our Sylvania headquarters, designed as a client destination and more-creative home for Rootsters. Over this time, Root has been spotlighted in 12 business books.
We launch our frontline manager development program – Root Compass and develop a video department to offer cinematic storytelling for client solutions
The Art of Engagement: Bridging the Gap Between People and Possibilities, by Jim Haudan, CEO of Root, is published by McGraw-Hill and named on USA Today's best-seller list.
Root is named one of the Top 15 Small Workplaces by the Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces.
Our client, Outback Steakhouse Inc. (OSI) names Root "Purveyor of the Year," an annual award given to partners who demonstrate service excellence. Root receives the same award again in 2011.
Root's solutions are translated into more than 30 languages.
The Association of Learning Providers (ISA) names Root "Business of the Year" for exemplifying financial success, quality solutions and culture that fosters employee development and satisfaction.
Root hosted 552 guests from 87 client organizations at our corporate headquarters in Sylvania throughout the year.
Hampton partners with Root to launch "Sharecast" an online social site for Hampton franchisees to collaborate.
Recognized for the Eighth Consecutive Year, the Company is Ranked Eighth on the Prestigious List
Root Publishing is founded.
