It’s December 31 and the New Year is almost upon us. So, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest and support throughout 2011.

For those of you who blog, you know it isn’t easy keeping it going. But, it’s much easier with readers like you. Your ideas, encouragement and just plain words of support keep me writing, putting my ideas out there.

This year of 2011 was an important milestone at The Solutions Group – we had our twentieth anniversary. So, as we begin our 21^st year, I wanted to give you some idea of where we’ve been and where we’re going.

The last twenty years have resulted in a growth in our client base – we have now consulted to over 200 companies, and have a growing number of companies using our services outside the Rochester region. Our prehire testing services have grown beyond the executive and mid levels, to entry level and individual contributor positions. And, our ability to influence culture has also matured through the years as I have learned more about what makes a group of people best come together and execute to get a job done, the right way.

This past year I have continued being the usual voracious reader I’ve long been. In particular, I’ve been heavily influenced by a variety of Seth Godin’s books. Being a person who procrastinates, I’ve been struck by two simple truths he’s talked about.

First, the notion of “shipping.” What he means is sometimes you can’t think something to death, you just have to do it. Clearly a similar message to Nike’s “just do it.”

Second, in “Tribes,” he talks about the importance of putting your ideas out there because it’s important for you (me) personally to do so.

In the coming year, my plan is to “ship” more – trying new things (some of which you may see test driven in my blog). And, I plan to write more. Funny thing is that I have no shortage of things to write about – I plan to make a stronger commitment to sharing those ideas with all of you.

One other source of inspiration has been the latest biography on Steve Jobs. You can love or hate his management style (lots of both to go around). But, he did live his credo of being focused doing things because they are the right things to do. In that regard, I plan on doing that with my service offerings. By the way, as always, I tremendously value the input some of you have given me in the last year – both positive and constructively critical (I value both, a lot).

So, in that vein, I plan to examine our testing services for prehire, development and succession – seeing what you all like and find effective in what we offer, and what you’d find more helpful. For our very successful individual executive leadership programs, I plan on looking at what might come after a one year program is completed – some of you have expressed interest in this and I plan on exploring it. Third, I continue having a very strong interest in culture development and enhancement. There is a growing and fascinating literature on culture – I plan on sharing more of that with you as I continue to explore it myself.

And so, as The Solutions Group enters its third decade, I begin by thanking you all as part of the TSG blogosphere, for your ideas and encouragement.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful New Years and a great 2012!