Jessica E.
Founder & Principal at Practical Management & Leadership Consulting
Leadership
Bourne, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA
Biography
Jessica Ellis-Wilson, FACMPE, is the founder and principal of Practical Management & Leadership Consulting. With audiences on all seven continents (albeit some virtually!), Jessica is regularly invited to speak internationally on a variety of healthcare, leadership, creative, and humanitarian topics with Fortune 500 companies, US-based and global brands - so far, nothing has topped speaking at San Diego International Comic Con 2023! With a special focus on equity, inclusion, and belonging, Jessica guides organizations through periods of uncertainty and upheaval, collaborating with leadership teams to bring about transformative change.
Passion
Equity in all its forms is my passion. Whether it's helping doctors identify and eliminate bias from their daily practice, coaching actors into consent-based, trauma-informed safety practices, guiding non-profits towards becoming more welcoming organizations, inspiring conference attendees to be the best versions of themselves, or anything in between, sowing the seeds of empathy, kindness, and compassion helps create a more equitable world for everyone!
Featured Video
I am willing to travel
More than 100 miles
When it comes to payments
I generally get paid for speaking but make exceptions
Topics
Best Story
I recently gave my keynote talk "Ally is a Verb" at a small healthcare conference in California. The talk is designed to give attendees an understanding of how to be an ally to marginalized groups, and simple action steps they can take on a daily basis to be an ally and help move the needle forward toward a more equitable world. Afterward, a woman came up to me in tears (I'll call her Jane). Jane told me that she and her sister had a very strained relationship - they would argue frequently and hadn't even spoken in about 6 months. Why had they argued? Because her sister (who was in an interracial marriage) kept trying to talk to Jane about white privilege and being a better ally - and Jane couldn't understand. Jane told me something in the way I had explained the issues had made them "click" for her. "I get it now," Jane said, "and I can't wait to call my sister."
It's incredible to be able to inspire and educate people. I love being able to speak to groups of people, to connect with them, to plant the seeds of ideas, even if those ideas take a little while to sprout and blossom.
Origin Story
I had a long, successful career in healthcare, both as a community health worker and later as an executive leader. Following a catastrophic car accident in 2016 (after I'd re-learned how to walk and mastered the worst of my post-concussion syndrome), I decided I couldn't go back to working 80 hours a week for someone else's success. I'd been moonlighting as a consultant under the banner "Practical Management" since 2011, and I made it official and transformed my business into a full-time passion, "Practical Management & Leadership Consulting" in 2018. The pandemic disrupted pretty much every small business across the world, including mine, and I am proud to say we are still here and going strong!
The primary focus for "Practical Management & Leadership Consulting" is advancing equity through empathy and education. We focus on mentoring organizations and leaders through periods of growth, transformation, and evolution – which is a fancy way of saying we help leaders get through the hard stuff, so they can get to the good stuff. I do a lot of speaking, with topics that center around transforming healthcare, leading with empathy, and becoming our best selves. In conjunction with WatermelonAlligator Theatre Company, which I founded in 2008, we also inspire audiences creatively with keynotes like "Improv Your Leadership" and "The Artist as Advocate."
I work just as much now, but everything I work on brings me joy in one way or another - and, really, that's priceless. So here I am, a queer, disabled, femme non-binary business owner, working to leave the world a bit better than I found it. I hope you'll join me!
Example talks
Testimonials
The following are comments given by event managers who have hired me to speak:
"Professional and pleasant to work with. Jessica always gets the job done."
"[Jessica’s] leadership skills are exemplary."
"[Jessica] cares deeply about people and endeavors to make the world a better place."
"[Jessica’s] native intelligence and ability to engage individuals with good natured humor and sensitivity was critical during complex and uncertain times."
The following are comments from audience surveys:
"Engaging, enlightening and helpful. [Jess is] awesome!"
"Informative and engaging!"
"In recent months we have been exposed to numerous [anti-bias] presentations. I really think this particular speaker was the most effective for physicians."
"What a positive and thought-provoking presentation!! Thank you!!"
"Awesome speaker with lots of knowledge."
"A ROCKSTAR!!"
"This was one of the best talks I've ever seen. Life-changing. It was like a master-level TED talk!"
Workshop: Improv Your Leadership
Who: This talk is designed for leaders at all levels - break free of your routine thinking and learn practical examples of how play and improvisation can change your behaviors and your leadership!
Where: Conferences, board retreats, classrooms, professional associations, membership organizations, company learning/development, and leadership/professional development tracks (and more!) Bookings have included a featured pre-conference workshop at the MGMA Medical Practice Excellence: Leaders national conference (Boston, MA, Oct 2022) and an extended keynote at the New York Medical Group Management Association's Annual Conference (Verona, NY, Jul 2022).
Description:
Our world moves at a lightning pace. Successful leaders can adapt quickly to steer their organization through the currents of change. Neuroscience shows that exposure to improvisation and other creative imagination exercises increases adaptability, improves creative thinking, and breaks people out of old habits and learned behaviors! This course contains a basic introduction to the art of improvisation and demonstrates how participants can apply its principles to become stronger leaders and build a culture of innovation and agility. Course work includes games and exercises exploring awareness, relaxation, observation, the senses, voice, and physicality. Students should dress comfortably and be prepared to move, because anything can happen in improv! This course can be adapted to accommodate a fully inclusive experience for students of all levels of experience and abilities, so please reach out if any special accommodations are needed. Students are encouraged to bring any and all questions regarding all aspects of improvisation and its application in leadership.
Objectives:
• Review the basics of the art of improvisation and its application to leadership.
• Practice rehearsal techniques participants can use to strengthen their improv skills.
• Build trust, encourage risk-taking, increase collaboration, and promote creativity within your team.
Learn more:
https://pmalconsulting.com
https://linkedin.com/jessicaelliswilson
Keynote: Ally Is A Verb
Who: This talk is designed for anyone who wants to be a better ally to marginalized people and progress along their journey to Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging.
Where: Conferences, board retreats, classrooms, professional associations, membership organizations, company learning/development, and leadership/professional development tracks (and more!) Bookings have included keynote engagements at both the New England Regional MGMA Conference (New Hampshire, May 2022) and the California Medical Group Management Association Annual Conference (Sonoma, CA, April 2022).
Description:
Healthcare focus:
The science is clear: bias in healthcare can be linked to poor patient, employee, and provider satisfaction, suboptimal treatment outcomes for patients, and higher rates of burnout and moral injury for providers and staff. The best leaders are aware of their own biases, and those embedded in their organizations, and have strategies to identify and neutralize any disparities those biases may have contributed to, in order to ensure an inclusive culture for staff, providers, and patients.
Non-healthcare focus:
The science is clear: bias in the world around us can be linked to socioeconomic disparities, health inequities, systemic and structural injustices, and the growing empathy deficit in the US. The best leaders are aware of their own biases, and those embedded in their organizations, and have strategies to identify and neutralize any disparities those biases may have contributed to, in order to ensure an inclusive culture that is welcoming to all.
Objectives:
• Explain the concept of unconscious or implicit bias and how it upholds and entrenches institutionalized, structural, and systemic bias.
• Interpret how systemic bias can be linked to lowered mental and physical health quality metrics/outcomes among marginalized populations.
• Identify strategies to reduce or eliminate structural bias to mitigate disparities within our organizations – for our customers (or patients!) and our teams.
Learn more:
https://pmalconsulting.com
https://linkedin.com/jessicaelliswilson
Podcast Guest Appearance: Health & Fitness Connector Podcast
Listen here:
https://lnkd.in/euMXU3eu
Title: Is There Bias In Healthcare?
Who: This talk is designed for anyone who wants to better understand the obstacles that bias in healthcare present to marginalized communities.
Description:
Recent events have shone a spotlight on some of the nation’s most entrenched societal divides, and have reintroduced the concepts of implicit bias, unconscious bias, and anti-bias into mainstream conversation. This conversation will explain what biases are, how they come to be, how they have allowed us to achieve remarkable cognitive advancement, and ultimately, how they can cause unconscious discrimination. We should all be aware of ourown biases and have strategies to identify and neutralize any disparities those biases may have contributed to, in order to ensure an inclusive culture for all.
Objectives:
• Explain the concept of unconscious or implicit bias and how it upholds and entrenches institutionalized, structural, and systemic bias.
• Interpret how systemic bias can be linked to lowered mental and physical health quality metrics/outcomes among marginalized populations.
• Identify strategies to reduce or eliminate implicit and structural bias to mitigate disparities within our organizations – for ourselves, our patients, and our teams.
Learn more:
https://pmalconsulting.com
https://linkedin.com/jessicaelliswilson
Masterclass: The Actor As Advocate
Who: Actors, dancers, musicians, models, and other visual or auditory performers.
Where: Conferences, classrooms, training programs, and leadership/professional development tracks (and more!) Bookings have included The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (Hyannis, MA, Jan 2024) and Wellesley College Upstage (various student productions in 2023).
Description:
This is a high energy, fast paced masterclass in self advocacy, and consent-based practices, including intimacy and fight safety, designed to motivate the participants and encourage them to make themselves priority one. The focus is empowering each person to advocate for themselves with confidence, flair, and ease. Leading the class is professional actor, teaching artist, and Intimacy & Fight consultant Jess Wilson of WatermelonAlligator Theatre Company, who has many years of experience as advocates for individuals, organizations, and social causes. This class is a fully inclusive experience for students of all levels of experience and abilities, so please reach out if any special accommodations are needed.
Learn more:
https://pmalconsulting.com
https://linkedin.com/jessicaelliswilson
https://weebly.com/watermelonalligator