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Sometimes a disagreement with a superior can be good for one’s career.Before she founded Meridian Associates in 1987, Diane Meister was working for a major advertising agency, and she and her boss could not agree on the direction to take a client. This experience has influenced her business practices ever since. “It was a fun ride, but I decided to get my MBA and go out on my own,” said Meister.

Meridian Associates consults middle-market companies with revenues ranging from $30 million to $100 million a year, offering services in strategic growth planning and execution. That includes facilitating team strategy sessions, identifying novel growth opportunities, strategically assessing risk, tracking predictive trend indicators, and other services that keep senior business executives on top of changes in their external environment.

Meister says the company’s fluidity and adaptability set it apart from its competitors. “It is our ability to change with clients’ needs and our ongoing dedication to helping clients prepare for the future in unpredictable times,” she says, that defines Meridian.

Innovation drives her success. Ten years ago, Meister had a client who was unable to halt a decline in sales. So Meridian helped the business reinvent itself, before its competitors adapted to changing trends. “We’ve taken what we did with that company and developed a dynamic new practice area around it,” said Meister. She calls this practice ‘scenario planning,’ which involves making flexible contingency plans for alternative future scenarios. Meister says scenario planning had usually been the purview of large companies. “Very few people are doing that for middle market companies,” she said.

By delivering proven new methods for smaller clients to prepare, in advance, for an uncertain future, Meridian has found a niche with incredible potential for continuing growth.

For more information please visit: www.meridianai.com
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