Due to the nature of our consulting business and the reputations of the companies we work with, we have eliminated the names of our clients from testimonials. References will be provided upon request. Thank you for your understanding.


“I was extremely pleased with the trainer/consultant provided by ICG Consulting. Cliff brought the optimal mix of business planning, accounting knowledge and real world experience. He asked the right probing questions and really listened to our answers to ensure that he was meeting our needs.”

– Executive Vice President and CFO, Corporate Finance


“Doug has been very professional in his work with us. Doug was able to quickly grasp what we wanted to accomplish and had some great ideas on how to achieve our goals. The hands-on learning experience was very well received. It generated a lot of interest from our Executive team. I highly recommend Doug for any of your consulting projects.”

– Director of Business Development


“I couldn’t have had a more experienced and resourceful consultant, for the implementation of business expansion plans, than Tammy. She was incredibly thorough in making sure all of the bases were covered and that we understood which new products would need what processes, and the reasons for it. In several weeks the work had been completed. I truly appreciate the commitment and guidance. In the future, we’ll being using ICG Consulting to help us.”

– Founder, CEO and President


“We will continue to use your ICG Consulting for supporting our Executive Team. The depth and validity of the consulting team’s knowledge base is exceptional. The ICG Consultants have made an immediate impact on our projects. In addition, they have made sure that they left us self-sufficient in those areas. Second, the value provided by your organization strikes the right balance. Your associates keep a firm understanding of our needs at the center of their work at all times. They have been excellent at advising us on several possible courses of action while helping us determine which direction most closely aligns with our abilities and system plans. We will not hesitate to contact your team for our future Consulting work.”

– Director of IT


“Hiring Cliff Locks as my business coach is without a doubt the best decision I have made since starting my company. I have been working with Cliff since 2013 and have come to rely on his weekly advice as an invaluable part of my organization. “Cliff’s approach to coaching is not just about the professional, but takes all of my goals in life into account in helping me make the best decisions and adopt the best approaches for my team. The best testament to his coaching may be that as issues come up that I want input on, his voice is inside my head telling me the questions to ask, how to approach the issue, and asking me what I want from the outcome.”

“His coaching style is to constantly ask questions to help me work through the issue – he listens exceptionally well, and encourages me to talk through the challenges we all face but are afraid to discuss in the practice of law. Then he provides his perspective. I would liken his ability to cut through the noise and to hone in on the real issue to a CEO of major Fortune 500 company ability to cull an enormous set of facts into a workable vision. He’s that good. Cliff is professional, thoughtful, experienced, grounded and real.”

“I had no real understanding of how coaching worked when I started looking for a coach, but knew I needed someone to help me guide and focus my practice. I would recommend Cliff to any business executive I know who wants to increase their business in a manner that’s consistent with what they want from life — whether you are in your own company, or a small or large firm.”

– Vice President


“Although Tammy has many clients, she always takes the time to stay current and focused on the specifics of what is happening in my life and company. She not only gives me strategies for changing old habits, but constructively challenges my preconceptions so that I see the value and productiveness of new approaches to practice management, client relations and marketing. Tammy is just as open to change as she expects me to be, and if certain strategies do not fit my circumstances or personal strengths, she works with me to develop ones that do fit.”

“Tammy stays in my corner, but never tells me only what I want to hear. She always makes the effort to accommodate my ever-changing schedule. I value her insight and personal attention.”

– Executive Director


“I was skeptical about professional coaching until I tried it and it worked! When I started coaching with Tammy, my company depended on channel partners in my industry. I wanted to develop additional revenue streams, while at the same time balancing my family life with a husband and two children under the age of seven. I exceeded my goals through Tammy’s coaching, growing my annual sales from $22 million to $35 million.

“I could not have done this without Tammy’s help. She pushed me to take actions outside my comfort zone. Some examples include building a direct salesforce, using stocking distributors, and asking existing clients for more business. Tammy coached me through my resistance to engage in business marketing activities. Working with Tammy made me think “wider” and develop a more successful law practice.”

“I can recommend Tammy without hesitation.”

– CEO and President


“I recommend Tammy as a business coach since she has been a tremendous help to my business and personal life. Tammy has gently pushed me over the past 3 years to get out of my comfort zone and grow both personally and professionally. She has helped me keep calm and think positive through this rocky economy. With Tammy’s background as an accomplished executive and not-for-profit businessperson she brings a lot of experience and wisdom to our conversations.”

– Founder and President


“Doug took a risk with me — I’m a writer, not an executive. I found that his coaching experience and techniques are just what I needed! Writing a book is hard work and can take a long time. So I had to find, inside myself, the motivation and persistence and determination to keep going, week after week, chapter after chapter. When I was down, distracted, and convinced I could never finish this project, Doug helped me think through my values and plan my time. His most lasting influence came when he introduced me to the idea of listening to my inner voice, those nasty voices inside your head that hold you back. He showed me how to tame my inner voice. For that, and all his other help, I am very grateful! Thanks to him, I finished my novel, and it was chosen by Doubleday Publishing for publication in January 2015. Happy ending!”

– Author


“I was facing a career change and met with Doug on the recommendation of a friend. At the time, I was opening up a new business and wanted ideas of how to go about it. Doug was the perfect fit. As a seasoned executive, he had just the insight and advice I needed. Time went on and I realized that being an executive, I needed a technical partner. Doug helped coach me in the area of job searching and vetting new potential hires. His advice and encouragement helped me build a very successful company. He is great at clarifying your vision of where you want to go and providing you the steps to get there.”

– President


“Cliff’s coaching resulted in my challenging assumptions I had no idea I had — assumptions about what success was supposed to look like, and what I needed to do to achieve that success. Our coaching sessions resulted in my having a more authentic life, both at work and outside of work. Cliff garnered an accurate understanding of my situation through intense listening and intuition, asked questions where I needed to be challenged, and provided valuable suggestions when I needed practical advice. I would recommend Cliff’s coaching for any lawyer or other professional seeking focus and clarity for their professional life.”

– Vice President of Operations and Engineering


“Cliff is incredibly easy to work with. He approaches each client and their business individually. There is no one-size-fits-all approach with Cliff. He listens and then tailors recommendations for each client. He is knowledgeable and his creative encouragement is a must for new and experienced business owners alike.”

– Director of Sales


“Doug’s coaching is insightful, incisive, and extremely helpful. He quickly gets to the heart of the matter in a manner that is energizing and productive.”

– Account Manager


“Thanks for your ongoing support and assistance. I appreciate your time and interest in my progress and development. The process of growth and change is an interesting one. At times very slow, other times quite dramatic. I am moving forward and continuing to see real growth in both my professional and personal development. I wish you every success.”

– Director of Engineering


“Your coaching has made a massive difference in the way I see my worth to clients. Thanks to our work together, I’ve hit professional and financial goals that once seemed out of reach. Imagine – paying off one’s student loans in two years rather than in the nine left on my payment plan. A real achievement!”

– Call Center, Customer Service Manager


“Doug’s expertise with simple, yet powerful, questions always brings clarity and focus to my thinking. It may be unusual for others, but I consistently have an “ah ha” moment in my calls with Doug. He truly believes in my best self and helps me bring that forth even more. I am addicted to the effectiveness of this process. All executives should be so lucky as to have a coach as excellent as Doug.”

– Operations and Supply Chain Manager


“I just had to say a special ‘thank you’ for the coaching over the last few months. The changes I have made as a result of the coaching have brought peace into my daily life and allowed me to creatively express myself again in my work, with my clients and with my staff. “For the first time in five years, I am taking a real one week vacation – no work! With the new sales program in place, the company will be fine financially. With my better managed schedule, work will be busy before and after, but it is manageable and reasonable. With my self-care in place, I am not heading into vacation completely exhausted. Woo Hoo!”

“The best part of this entire experience is how I feel about me – I am delighted with living my own dream and energized by how I feel inside of me!”

– Sales Director


“What I liked most about Cliff is his passion for his work and the obvious care he has for his clients. He listens and pays attention to who you are as an individual and caters his coaching to fit your specific needs. His skills in coaching helped keep me on track and focused on my goals. He also helped me face realities that I sometimes wanted to ignore, and I was clearly better off for facing them straight on. His consistent ‘can do’ attitude and encouragement were invaluable to my success. I wholeheartedly recommend Cliff to anyone in transition, considering making a transition or just trying to grow or improve any situation, personally or professionally.”

– Customer Service Manager


“When initially embarking on my career, my first thought was to find a Career Coach to help me in this daunting endeavor. My extensive search came to an end the moment I spoke with Tammy. Being a successful executive gives Tammy an advantage over most professionals in her industry because she intimately understands the business world. She is able to readily connect on a personal level as well, and was a pleasure to work with. After every session I was armed with a definite path to reach my goals, and felt better for having talked with her. Tammy made me think, then stop to look at my life from a different angle—my view of the world was always clearer after every session. She was not afraid to give an honest opinion, and always helped me find more than one way to turn a negative into a positive. She did not stop at employment counseling however; her analysis covered all aspects of my life and made me accountable for changes I wished to make in my personal life as well.”

“Tammy taught me to aim high and find the job I deserve. She taught me how to balance my personal life with my professional world. Most importantly, Cliff always put things into perspective for me. She is, without a doubt, worth her weight in gold!”

“I can enthusiastically recommend Tammy Severino to anybody seeking a better professional and personal life!”

– Account Representative


“It has been such a valuable experience for me, both personally and professionally, to experience your unique and effective coaching service. I found your ideas would shift my thinking outside of the box, and help identify creative solutions myself in an empowering way. Being able to turn to you each week has provided me with a perspective that encouraged discipline, self-respect, responsibility and inner strength to know how to handle the inevitable problems that come with owning a small business. You have been like a solution-oriented Board of Directors for me at a fraction of the cost.”

“Thank you for your valuable support these past months. I will continue to implement your techniques and ideas long into the future.”

– CEO and President


“I really benefit from knowing that our convenient weekly phone call is scheduled as a “standing meeting,” and that I’ll come out of the discussion with very concrete goals for the coming week and can use Cliff to keep myself accountable for making real progress each week. You don’t miss a thing when it comes to continuity of direction and goals. You call my bluff, pull no punches, and are very frank and quick.”

– Office Manager


“Some executives have studied motivation, know that helping their customers is key, I go to the office every day eager to meet their career goals and aspirations of looking after my customers. Most of us would benefit from the professional services of a personal coach, who is a successful executive. We would benefit from someone who has a breadth of experience setting your personal chemistry just right for maximum performance and satisfaction. Cliff Locks will study your practice, help you find your motivational engine and help you point your career towards greater effectiveness, income and satisfaction. In most of our businesses, even a few percentage points of improved performance translates into substantial gains in income and success. Cliff helped me achieve substantial performance improvements with commensurate personal and professional success. He can help you get there.”

– Director of Sales


Group Coaching Testimonials


“The workshop for my district Managers was fabulous. Everyone says that they want to do this again, and I think that the repetitiveness of it is very, very helpful and effective. Your skills really shine and I think you are making a very big difference for them. The things they’re getting out of this are skills they can take with them throughout the rest of their work life – and they are really lucky.”

– Executive Vice President


“Cliff really is insightful and a good mediator. He offers a really good forum for us to meet weekly to discuss short & long term goals. I find that I hear things from my associate that I didn’t know he was thinking. It’s an organized weekly phone call … geared toward corporate direction and individual leadership growth. Cliff … draws the answer and direction out of each client and helps them move themselves forward. The weekly consistency really drives the process forward effectively.”

– President


Meeting Facilitation Testimonials


“You played a large part in helping us to achieve our goals. You were able to maintain some degree of order while allowing all the participants to contribute in a way in which they felt recognized and their input valued…. Your perseverance would not allow us to rest on our insights. We appreciate your gentle insistence on our devising a concrete plan of action.”

– First Vice President


“The tools that Doug shared with our management group during a business planning session enabled us to quickly identify core areas of focus. He also provided very simple ways for us to continue growth and accountability of our services.”

– Licensing Manager


Presentation Testimonials


“I like the methods you use to keep everyone involved in the discussion. I learned from observing your good listening and communication skills.”

– Account Executive


“I enjoyed your presentation last evening and took the opportunity to discuss its content with my staff this morning. Now that we have identified a possible underlying reason, I am hopeful that we will work toward achieving the solution. I appreciate you providing the catalyst for the discussion!”

– Vice President


Corporate Client Testimonials


“My personal thanks for the coaching you have provided for our company. In the very short period of two months, you were able to facilitate our management group by teaching them to examine their strengths and weaknesses and set measurable goals for their future. Some of the specifics include: Increasing their awareness of their own behavior instead of pointing fingers at each other. Instilling discipline and timeliness in those who lacked these skills. Guiding those who felt inferior and unsure of themselves. Creating awareness in those who were intimidating and highly assertive. Helping them set up a continuing plan for conflict resolution. It has been a great pleasure working with you and, again, I want to thank you for the skills you have taught our management group.”

– Human Resource Manager


“Doug is the person to call about project management or hiring technical people. His breadth of knowledge and experience is amazing, and sure to hold something extremely helpful to you.”

– President


I have worked with Cliff over the past 3 years on a wide array of projects and I have been impressed with each and every project he has worked on for me! His recommendations are insightful and actionable. He is a very reasonable person and considers constraints when giving business advice.

– President and CEO


“Tammy is a no nonsense, direct and factual based consultant. She can speak on the most technical of levels as well as a business level. She understands all the disciplines within the software development lifecycle and has been a practitioner of most of them. I will tell you what I was told: If you have a project that needs help, at whatever level be it team, corporate, program, call Tammy and then consider it done. I wish I had heard about her 14 years ago when I started doing such things back in the mid 90’s!”

– Director of Customer Care


“Cliff understands that one needs to understand the system in order to solve a problem, and not just focus on immediate issues. He has an excellent (and unique) ability to be direct while not putting people on the defensive. Cliff helped me to take technical leadership techniques I thought that I knew and learn how to apply them more effectively. Cliff brings a unique set of skills, an effective style, and an excellent base of experience to her writing, her presentations, and her coaching and consulting engagements. Cliff can help teams work better.”

– President and CEO


“Doug’s informal coaching was one of the factors that helped us make our R&D team’s transition to Scrum very successful. At first, we reduced overall stabilization time from 2 months to 3 weeks. Now, our stabilization is part of our sprints. The team advocates for practices that help, including continuous integration, small chunks of work. Our product quality improved and we can release when we want to.”

– Vice President of R&D


“I’ve asked Tammy to consult, assess, and teach in several organizations. I’ve seen her excellent project and program management skills, and I’ve seen her transmit them through coaching and teaching to other people. When I’ve described a problem to her, she sees the heart of the problem and offers multiple avenues to manage the problem. Tammy is a dynamic speaker and teacher–my staff always came away with new skills and attitudes.”

– Managing Director


“Tammy has worked with me in several capacities: as a coach for me and my management team, as a consultant where her assessments helped us determine where to go next, and as a workshop leader. She has the ability to help us see and solve the problems at hand.”

– Vice President


“I have already used some of the information from your presentation in coaching one of our project managers. You have a talent for clarifying concepts and delivering them with humor.”

– Director of Project Implementation


“Thank you very much for your wonderful article Onboarding People into the Organization. I’d like to get as good at welcoming someone into my department as I have been about recruiting to get them here in the first place.”

– Engineering Manager