What Clients are Saying

Together we Inspire and innovate
Client testimonials on working with unthinkable 

Choosing a business advisor and coach to partner with is no small decision.

At unthinkable, we understand that.

That’s why we want to share feedback from ongoing and past clients so you don’t have to go into this blindly. If you have any questions at all, please reach out. We are here to calm your fears about working with unthinkable and to help you create the unthinkable.

What Our Clients Are Saying

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As President and CEO of [our organization],  I have been working hard to take [us] to the next level to be bold and brave in elevating our mission and charting a new strategic direction to ensure everyone has a safe, welcoming, and affordable place to call home. A large part of my success in moving the 50-year old organization forward can be attributed to my work with Ross Polvara, my strategic advisor and executive coach.

Ross has helped me tremendously in developing clear goals and outcomes that can be easily understood across [our organization], building unity and cohesion at the executive level, solving for organizational challenges, and creating a high-performing, value-based teams. He provides helpful tools and guidance and is also willing to have the tough conversations about what is really needed to be successful. Ross’s strategic thinking and business acumen combined with a wonderfully fun and positive disposition make him an optimal choice for any executive.

President & CEO, Affordable Housing Organization

Leadership / Strategy / PERFORMANCE / Development

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At [our company] we pride ourselves on combining science and technology in the people space, delivering agile talent solutions to organisations globally. All of our technology is proprietary, and our science is a heavily guarded secret. So, we not only needed an advisor who could quickly understand our business, but who we could trust unreservedly.  unthinkable helped to facilitate and guide our strategic thinking during the start up phase of our business, in particular helping to refine our marketing and growth strategy. Our relationship has not stopped, as unthinkable continues to have a seat at our management table bringing market insights, experience and know-how to our decision making. unthinkable’s input has been invaluable to our business, our people and our clients. 

CEO & Chairman, Innovative Tech Company

Product DESIGN & Development / Technology / GROWTH STRATEGY

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I’ve had the opportunity to work with Ross Polvara and unthinkable on several projects in my community. In a short amount of time, Ross has helped make significant improvements in terms of enhancing organization visibility, effectiveness, collaboration as a result of his executive coaching. Co-chairing an organization that was at a tipping point in regards to scale, capacity, and relevance; Ross designed thoughtful solutions and systems that will have long lasting impact on our organization and in the community. We have been coached, encouraged, and challenged in a thoughtful and intentional way and I strongly believe as an organization we would not be where we are without the support of unthinkable.

Chair Coalition & Coordinator Family & Partnerships, School District/Coalition

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT / STRATEGY / SOCIAL IMPACT

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Unthinkable came to help us with framing how our homelessness coalition could evolve in a sustainable way. It involved looking across our community a gathering information across sectors, some of which we had not reached to before. At the end of the day, we wound up with new ways to create programs and ensure that they are filling gaps in the community using our clients voices as the primary source of program development. In addition, they helped us orient projects towards fundraising and within the first year we were able to increase our fundraising by about 350%. Unthinkable also worked with me as a leader to coach leadership skills and help me find ways to improve my team and my effectiveness. They come highly recommended!

CEO & Chairman, Nonprofit

Strategy / Product Development / Social ImpacT

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I want to be honest. I don’t tend to be a fan of consultants. I also have come to realize that I don’t think of Ross and unthinkable as consultants because it’s a genuine and authentic relationship. Working with Ross Polvara felt like I extended my senior staff with someone whose sober-minded, but never dispassionate, approach consistently called us to the core of our mission – the community we serve. Usually, rigidity is a frustration in these kinds of engagements. But because Ross’ focused on the relationship, as our understanding deepened, the scope shifted, focusing on a priority if impact that led to support outside of the expected parameters. What at first felt like one of my team members had an ally in her work soon turned into me feeling like I had an ally and that meant the organization had an ally. It’s good to be able to have someone to bounce ideas off of, and not worry whether or not I’m “on the clock” or having to focus explicitly on the plan…I had someone focusing on us, and a broader understanding of success.

President & CEO, Nonprofit 

Strategy & Social Impact

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As our organization contemplated a merger with another similar community health focused non-profit organization we knew we needed an experienced consultant to help us guide us through the process of due diligence and discovery. Ross Polvara was recommended by another non-profit organization who had similarly merged with another affinity organization. The process that Ross developed helped ensure that all stakeholders and invested parties felt they had an opportunity to truly vet the pros and cons of the merger from the financial, legal, human resource, and most importantly – community perspective. Ross was skilled in his facilitative process and easy to work with throughout. I highly recommend unthinkable and Ross for merger related consultative services!”

CEO & Chairman, Healthcare

Strategy

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Unthinkable. That was my reaction when my staff suggested we really needed a new strategic plan. I have done many in the course of my career and never enjoyed them. Hours were spent parsing mission statements and stakeholder goals that seemed to stray farther and farther from the daily reality of our work. Consultants strained to fit us into the latest planning paradigm. Perhaps it was a necessary exercise on some level, but the result never seems to fit. They felt strained. Too often, implementation required changing our corporate culture rather than building on the strengths of what we had. We never seemed to fit in the cookie cutter.

Luckily, this time around we engaged Ross Polvara. His focus was on understanding our situation and then applying planning techniques to build a picture of where we need to go. We were in a time of transition, with pending retirements and many new programs on the horizon. To a great extent, he presided over meetings while we talked our way through our own observations. He didn’t impose a strategy, he drew one out of us. He served as an advisor more than as a traditional consultant. The result was a plan that will make our organization stronger. In fact, it made so much sense we started implementing it before it was even formally done. That’s how effective Ross was. Unthinkable!

Executive Director, Regional Authority

STRATEGY

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We were in the midst of strategic planning when the pandemic derailed our both our process and our priorities. When we tried picking it up again, we were off base. We were stuck and needed a fresh perspective. I was lucky to work with Ross as he lead a coalition through a complex strategic plan. It was such a thorough and human approach that I reached out to Ross for guidance in the development of our plan. Ross quickly identified our problem and is expertly coaching me through the next phase of our planning.

Executive Director, Education/Non-profit

EXECUTIVE coaching

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Unthinkable provided key support to my organization at a time of significant growth and evolution. When I first engaged Ross, I was the new CEO of a 5-decades old organization and wanted to set a bold strategic direction for the organization, that affirmed our founding principles while positioning us to meet new community challenges. Our strategic plan hit that mark. One of the key outcomes of our plan was a merger with a closely aligned fellow affordable housing organization. Unthinkable has played a key role in the due diligence, merger, and post-merger integration activities. Beyond his business acumen, Ross has a genuine commitment to advancing opportunity for marginalized communities. His authenticity (and sense of humor) make him a great partner to work with!

CEO & President, Not for profit

Strategy and Organization Change

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