The AJO Story
We Help Organizations Succeed by Helping People Succeed.
Andrew O’Connor Sr. was a proud and ethical individual who with his wife, Betty, raised a family of seven children; six sons and one daughter.
AJO was established in 1983 by the grandparents of the current President, Shannon O’Connor Bock. In common with many outplacement industry “founding fathers,” Andrew Sr. and Betty O’Connor coupled their human resources background and expertise with a desire to provide assistance to individuals in career transition during the recession of the early 1980s.
They embarked upon a journey to create a very special company that would deliver a service to individuals who were in need of emotional, strategic and transitional support to get them through a very difficult time in their lives and careers. Services initially included help with resume preparation and other self-marketing tools, but quickly broadened to address needs for vocational/educational guidance, career assessment, entrepreneurial interests, networking, interviewing, and job offer negotiation.
Today AJO partners with individuals, teams and organizations to reach broader goals, resulting from expanding services into executive coaching and team and leadership development. This expansion also extends to our geographic reach as we serve the delivery needs of our clients in national and international locations.
The company moved to its current location at 6 Century Drive in Parsippany, NJ in 2008, to accommodate the growing team of executive coaches and consultants.
Impact of Family Values on the Business
With values instilled by respective parents and grandparents, Andy Sr and Betty shared a love of our country and the opportunities afforded to all Americans. Coupled with their deep spirituality, a strong work ethic, integrity, respect and discipline, they balanced a hectic work/life by sharing equally in day-to-day operations of running a start-up company while concentrating their love and time on their children, several of whom were in high school and college in those early years, never missing a family celebration, holiday or commitment to church or community.
It’s those values the company is built on: honesty, empathy, emotional support, hard work, dealing with reality and, most important of all, accountability and responsibility for oneself. In combination with the support and resources the firm provides, AJO continues to support individuals through a trying time in their lives.
Gratitude as a Leadership Discipline
Over time, the way leaders pause to acknowledge people becomes part of the culture they’re creating. In the day-to-day cadence of balancing priorities and responding to pressures, those pauses are often the first thing to disappear. Gratitude can feel personal, informal, or even optional compared to the constant pull toward results and urgent priorities. But […]
The Anatomy of a Great Offsite
For many leaders offsites have become a familiar ritual. You step away from the day-to-day, gather your team in a different setting, clear the calendar for a day or two, and hope something meaningful comes from it. Sometimes it does. Often, it doesn’t. The difference usually isn’t the venue, the agenda template, or whether an […]
Human-Centered Leadership Is a Non-Negotiable
Human-centered leadership is often framed as a response to the moment like a reaction to shifting employee expectations, new ways of working, or a tight labor market. But that framing misses the point. Human-centered leadership is no longer optional or situational. It has become a baseline requirement for effective leadership, regardless of where the market […]
Are you ready to transform? Contact us today.
