Our clients are senior executives in industries where frontline performance significantly impacts business success. These leaders know that lower turnover and more stable, capable frontline teams are a prerequisite for strong, long-term performance. But they struggle to see how they can offer and afford the pay, stable schedules, and career paths necessary to support a high-performing, low turnover workforce.
The Good Jobs Strategy offers them a path forward.
Values: 100% commitment to
customers, employees & improvement
The Good Jobs Strategy is a system, rooted in theory and practice, that combines investment in people with operations and job design choices that raise productivity, contribution, and motivation of employees. Companies have used the Good Jobs Strategy to increase productivity, improve customer service and sales, reduce turnover, and build a long-term competitive advantage.
Since our founding in 2017, we have worked with over 30 companies across industries like retail, hospitality, food service, call centers, distributed services, and healthcare. We bring decades of research and consulting experience to each of our partnerships.
build a system that lasts
with us.
Zeynep is Co-Founder and President of GJI, where she advises executives on how companies can design and manage their operations to drive value for customers, employees, and investors simultaneously. She is the author of The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits and The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay, and Meaning to Everyone’s Work, which was named one of Financial Times’ Best Books of 2023.
Zeynep serves as Professor of the Practice in the Operations Management group at MIT Sloan School of Management and previously spent seven years on the faculty at Harvard Business School. Her research has been published in managerial and scholarly journals including Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, and Organization Science. Her work has been featured widely in the media, including The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The New York Times, PBS, CNN, and NPR. She has received numerous teaching awards at Harvard and MIT and won the Thinkers50 Talent Award in 2023. She received her BS in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering there and her DBA from Harvard Business School.
Dan directs product development at GJI, focusing on refining and expanding the Institute’s toolkit to help companies translate the principles of the Good Jobs Strategy into action. Prior to joining GJI, Dan was a consultant at Boston Consulting Group, where he contributed to business strategy and investor due diligence projects across industries including industrial manufacturing, B2B services, consumer goods, and financial services. He holds a degree in Government from Harvard and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Sandhya helps executives at frontline-intensive companies use the Good Jobs Strategy to enhance employee, customer, and business outcomes. Previously at Sol Systems, Sandhya worked with business leaders to implement onsite solar and battery storage projects to meet their carbon management goals. Sandhya holds a BSFS in Science, Technology, and International Affairs from Georgetown University and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.
Su Jean applies the GJS to help companies design and implement systems that thrive-operationally, financially, and socially. Prior to joining GJI, Su Jean worked closely with local grocery stores at the City of Boston Mayor’s Office. Her previous work in consulting at PriceWaterhouse Coopers and Grant Thornton involved major digital transformations across healthcare, hospitality, and retail. Su Jean holds a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Caroline is a Consultant at GJI, helping companies put the Good Jobs Strategy into practice as they transform their operations. Before joining GJI, she built a career in operations across a wide range of industries — including defense, retail, and energy — with roles spanning manufacturing and quality at SpaceX, new product introduction at Nike, and supply chain leadership at Heila Technologies. Caroline holds a dual MS in Mechanical Engineering and MBA from MIT’s Leaders for Global Operations program, and a BS in Materials Science and Engineering, also from MIT.
Professor Roger Martin is a writer, strategy advisor and in 2017 was named the #1 management thinker in world. He is also former Dean and Institute Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in Canada.
BJ Hess was Senior Vice President of Global Operations for Arrow Electronics, Inc. until her retirement in 2004. She participated in or directed all of Arrow’s system conversions, mergers and acquisitions. She served on the Boards of ServiceMaster, Dentsply, and Harvest Power, and currently serves on the Boards of Cott Beverages (NYSE) and Cairn University.
José Alvarez is clinical professor of business administration at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a visiting senior lecturer at Harvard Business School. Prior to his academic career, he spent nearly 20 years in the supermarket industry, culminating in his tenure as president and chief executive officer of Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover. He currently serves on the boards of numerous corporate, nonprofit, and educational organizations, including The TJX Companies, United Rentals, The Joyce Foundation, and Princeton University.
Chris Bierly leads Bain and Co.’s Global K-12 Music and Restaurant practices. He has more than 35 years of management consulting experience, advising leaders across the private, public and non-profit sectors on their most complex management challenges.
Jamie Bonini is president of Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC), a not-for-profit corporation affiliated with Toyota Motor North America (TMNA), headquartered in Plano, Texas. In his role, Bonini provides Toyota Production System (TPS) expertise to North American organizations, including nonprofits and businesses, with the goal of building high-engagement, high-performing cultures that improve quality, productivity, and reduce lead time.
Jan W. Rivkin is a Professor in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School. In the past, he has served as Faculty Chair of the MBA Program, Senior Associate Dean for Research, and head of the Strategy Unit. His research, course development, and teaching focus on two topics: business strategy and U.S. competitiveness.
Mary Alice Vuicic is the Chief People Officer at Thompson Reuters. She has over 20 years of experience working in senior human resources positions at leading international organizations. Previously, she served as the Chief Human Resources Officer for L Brands, a portfolio of retail brands with nearly 90,000 associates. She has also held senior roles at Loblaw Companies Ltd., Shoppers Drug Mart, Walmart Canada, and Chapters/Indigo.