Who is Paul Thallner?

A recognized organizational development expert, advisor, executive coach, and facilitator, Paul Thallner is a change navigator. His surname (pronounced TALL-ner) comes from an Austrian occupation meaning, “one who guides from one valley to the next.” He has been guiding organizations to become more resilient as a consultant, partner, and executive director for decades.

Today, he is a Principal at Daggerwing Group, a global organizational change consultancy whose Fortune 500 clients hire the firm to "do change right the first time." In his previous experience, Paul led major culture integration, transformation, and workplace analysis projects at his own consultancy, High Peaks Group. He has extensive experience working with executive teams to identify and implement strategic change initiatives. Paul began his career mobilizing change at scale in the public education sector and has held leadership positions in non-profit, government, and private-sector organizations.

Paul wrote Reinventing Resilience because of the way he, the people around him, and the world reacted to the pandemic. Setbacks were becoming the new normal. He then asked a fateful question that led to the book: if all we're experiencing are setbacks, how do we move forward? He then wondered how might we think about scaling resilience to the organizational level?

In his free time, he enjoys learning to play guitar, long-distance cycling, and rescuing dogs (41 so far). He has a wife and son who love travel experiences as much as he does.He has served in a number of senior-level roles in the private, non-profit, and government sectors. He was a partner at Great Place to Work - famous as the data source for the annual Fortune 100 Best Places to Work list - where he managed a $3M portfolio providing employee engagement solutions to global companies in retail, marketing, healthcare, entertainment, and technology. Earlier, he led regional business development at K12 (now Stride Inc.), expanding market share in the highly competitive virtual learning space. He also led complex global change management projects as a managing principal consultant for BroadVision’s Worldwide Professional Services group. He was also president of School Performance where he led the development of products and services to increase student achievement in low-income areas.

He was also a founding executive coach and faculty member for the Presidio Institute’s Cross-sector Fellowship Program, a program designed in partnership with BlackRock, McKinsey and Company, and the White House Office of Social Innovation. 

Paul was awarded a Fuse Corps civic innovation fellowship in 2015 to coach and support non-profit and community leaders focused on raising high school graduation rates across the country. As a result, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded his host organization – America’s Promise Alliance – a substantial grant to sustain the work.

Paul has a master’s degree in Positive Organizational Development & Change from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University - home of the top organizational behavior faculty in the world.

Paul’s Journey to Reinventing Resilience

I was sure I was going to die. I could not take another step. We arrived at a particularly difficult section three days into my hike through the Grand Canyon. It was like we were hiking laterally across a vertical wall. To the right of the twelve-inch wide footpath was the soaring face of the canyon wall so steep my shoulders brushed against it as I walked. To the left, a sharp drop-off of about 600 feet into a yawning chasm below.

Something happened. I stopped. I couldn’t move my feet. I started hyperventilating. I could feel the sweat on my brow for the first time in the arid daytime sun. I looked up, attempting to gather my thoughts, and all I saw was an eagle gliding effortlessly in the sky. It brought a sudden memory of my late brother-in-law Rick who died in a paragliding accident. I began to unravel at the unfairness of his death, and my nerves began fraying fast. “Oh shit,” I thought. “I’m going to die. I’m going to fall right into that chasm, never to be seen again.”

Our guide, Adam, noticed I was in trouble and walked back to where I had stopped. He asked if I was okay. “Nope, I’m having a panic attack,” I told him. I was terrified and didn’t think I could move. He said, “Okay. No problem. This happens a lot at this part of the trail. It’s pretty intimidating. But everyone gets through it just fine, and you will too. I’ll help you.”

Adam got to work helping me regain control of my triggered brain. He asked me questions and got me to talk about people I loved, skills I have, or groups I like hanging out with. We kept talking as I shuffled through the tricky part of the trail. It was masterful how he kept me out of react mode by bringing my thinking brain back online. He helped me see the possibility of getting through that section, and he did it by being honest about the reality of the situation.

Adam didn’t give me anything I didn’t possess already, but he helped me find my footing. He helped me summon the courage to face the harsh reality of the situation—it was seriously dangerous—as well as the triggers that paralyzed me. He also enabled my confidence to access the resources I had at hand: him, of course, but also my hiking ability, the fact I’d already survived several days below the rim, and the ground was solid beneath my feet.

The experience on the trail changed something in me. Proceeding from that point felt like bonus time—like I left an old version of myself behind and walked forward with a new belief and purpose. I had changed.

I began to think about resilience in the context of my experience in the canyon. Bouncing back seemed to mischaracterize the experience. I didn’t simply survive that moment. I grew because of it.

- Excerpt from Reinventing Resilience