Equipping the world’s top change agents to deliver legacies of accelerated results.

Equip Yourself Today

I didn’t intend to spend my career focused on unleashing results acceleration in struggling organizations, but then the world changed with the terror attacks on September 11th, 2001.

April Mills

headshot-scaled

About April Mills

April found her calling as a change agent and results accelerator while working as a civilian nuclear engineer at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She watched as the shipyard struggled to respond post-September 11, 2001.

“You don’t choose a calling, you find it. Once you find it, your challenge is living up to it and leaving a legacy.”

April qualified to lead aspects of reactor maintenance and testing—qualifying 40% faster than average—then moved on to solving the challenge of how to accelerate nuclear maintenance planning. She designed and implemented changes that accelerated some workflow up to 3X and drove on-time delivery to 100% in key functions.

MORE

After a short tour to Washington, DC, April was back in the shipyard to lead shipyard strategy.  First in partnership with a brilliant consultant, Dennis Goin, then on her own, April built the Guiding Coalition into the shipyard’s engine for change. The Command’s Guiding Coalition was based on John Kotter’s 8-step model from his book, Leading Change. Leveraging leaders from all shipyard levels and functions, the Guiding Coalition unleashed so much discretionary energy and achieved so many results that John Kotter asked to see it for himself.

“Only 15 percent of all organizations are really trying to understand how to live with and respond to the rate of change.  Of the organizations, 15 percent are trying to move in a direction that they know works, 14 of the 15 percent are struggling because of the culture or environment that drives them.  Only 1 percent of the organizations in the world are making progress; they are doing what you all are doing,” said John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor and creator of the Guiding Coalition concept, during a recent visit to the shipyard.

Kotter later shared his insights from his research and shipyard visit in his 2014 book, Accelerate.  Also in 2014, April left civilian service for a position in Intel Corporation.  Before departing the shipyard, April was recognized with a Meritorious Civilian Service Medal.  Her citation read, in part,

Ms. Mills’ dedication and forward thinking have resulted in developing a contingent of employees who believe they can affect real change in their workplace, no matter what their title or pay grade.  By strongly believing that driving change is more effective than driving people to change, she has started shifting the way we think about transformation.  Her actions have brought great credit upon herself as well as Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility.

At Intel Corporation, April brought the concept of Driving Change and her seven Change Agent Essentials to Intel’s global workforce.  Consulting, training, and speaking around the world, April influenced a generation of Intel’s top change agents, who are now amongst engineering and leadership ranks of countless leading-edge companies worldwide.

Get Started Today

Contact April
Browse Books
Scroll to Top