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Leading a Business in Anxious Times Book

Meet the Authors


Leslie Ann Fox
   Leslie Ann Fox



Leslie Ann Fox, MA is a leadership consultant and coach to organizations and individuals interested in adopting Systems-Based Leadership™, an approach to leadership and consulting in organizations based on Bowen Family Systems theory. She is a pioneer in the development and application of SYSTEMS-BASED LEADERSHIP®, a framework that addresses the challenge of managing anxiety in the fast paced modern business environment, which is characterized by rapid technological and regulatory change, increasing competition, scarce resources, and frequent consolidation of industries through mergers and acquisitions.


On the faculty of the Center for Family Consultation in Evanston, IL, she teaches the application of Bowen Family Systems Theory as a framework for leadership and consulting in the post-graduate education program; Leslie is also a member of the Bowen Theory in Organizations Steering Committee at the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family in Washington, DC.


Ms. Fox was CEO and co-founder of Care Communications, Inc., a national healthcare consulting and staffing company, where for 39 years she applied systems-based leadership as a consultant and as a leader in the company. She is the co-author of Leading a Business in Anxious Times: A Systems Approach to Becoming More Effective in the Workplace, and frequently presents at national and local meetings on the systems-based framework for leading change.


She is also the author of numerous articles and publications on best practices in health information management. She serves on the advisory board of the Health Information Technology program at Oakton Community College in Niles, IL; she is a former adjunct professor of Health Information Management at the University of Illinois and served on the Board of SAVE THE PATIENT, a patient advocacy organization in Chicago, IL.


Ms. Fox is an active member of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), where she has held numerous leadership positions including being a founding member of the AHIMA Practice Council on Personal Health Records. She received AHIMA’s highest honor, the Distinguished Member award, in 2007.


You can also follow her on twitter Twitter.



Leslie Ann Fox on Leadership











Leslie Ann Fox
   Katharine Gratwick Baker



Katharine Baker is the co-author of Leading a Business in Anxious Times, published in 2009 by Care Communications Press. She has published additional book chapters and articles on a wide variety of business topics. She co-authored an article in Family Business Review entitled "Leadership, Legacy and Emotional Process in Family Business." She has also written an article entitled "Family Business in the New Russia" for Families in Business Magazine, and co-authored "Giving Harmoniously as a Family" for More Than Money Journal.

In addition to her publications, Dr. Baker is an experienced business consultant who has worked with family enterprises and closely held firms, providing executive and leadership coaching, strategic planning, organizational learning services, and time management seminars. She is tuned to the complexities of companies that operate in the global marketplace, and understands the historic multicultural, linguistic and systemic challenges of international business.

Dr. Baker currently is an independent scholar and executive coach with a solo consultation practice based in Western Massachusetts, but she includes national and international clients in her work. She is a former business partner with Kathleen Wiseman, MBA, the founder and director of Working Systems in Washington, DC, and she was senior consultant for The Metropolitan Group/Relative Solutions in New York from 1998 to 2006.

One of Dr. Baker’s particular interests is working with family foundations and family philanthropies. She facilitates family board meetings that deal with wealth management issues, and she coaches and trains family leaders and the non-family middle management of family businesses. She also coaches family businesses going through organizational shifts, such as rapid growth, downsizing and generational succession.

Baker is the subject of a Harvard Business School Case Study, "Carol Brewer's Investments," and has developed this experience into a service called, "Getting Your Financial House in Order: A Consultation Service for Widows and Divorcees." Through this individually tailored service she coaches clients to build competence and confidence in effectively managing the emotional aspects of financial, business, and philanthropic decisions following divorce or the death of a spouse.

She graduated from Harvard/Radcliffe College, and received her master's degree in Russian Studies from NYU. She also holds masters and doctoral degrees in social work from Catholic University. Baker received many years of post-doctoral training at the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family in Washington, DC, where the focus is on understanding families, the workplace, and organizations through the lens of Bowen theory, a natural systems-based theory of human behavior.

She was a member of the Family Firm Institute for ten years and currently serves on a number of Boards, including the Planning Board of Northampton, MA.

Katharine Baker on Leadership