Co-founder and CEO of three businesses, Jill Taylor has devoted her career to fostering unique methods of transformation for individuals, teams and companies.
Jill co-founded The Taylor Group with her mother, Carolyn Taylor, at the forefront of wellness and leadership, helping clients understand the nature of the changes confronting them and how to become new inside those changes. Then as CEO of Burgerville, Jill helped the company navigate COVID with strategic flexibility while strengthening local economies by working with local farmers to the benefit of all. Together with Shelly Cooper and Daniel Goodenough, in 2023, Jill co-founded the HuPerson Project to transform a leader’s awareness and presence, and to open a new structure of thinking needed to navigate the world emerging. Jill’s changemaker spirit was recently recognised as one of Portland, Oregon’s most influential women by the Portland Business Journal.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.
I started as a pediatric nurse and then saw an opportunity to develop wellness systems in an integrated wellness clinic. This readied me to create the Taylor Group with my mother, a nurse practitioner, to support transformation and wellness in business. I joined with Daniel Goodenough, cofounder of the Way of the Heart, who designs systems and processes for people to live more fulfilled, purposeful and intentional lives. Together we co-founded The HuPerson Project to change the way business does business.
What inspired you to co-found the HuPerson Project, and how do you envision it transforming leadership in the coming years?
After my mother died, I saw beyond the way we had presented the Taylor Group. I was ready for the next step. Burgerville, a US Pacific Northwest quick service restaurant company, had been a client of the Taylor Group for many years, and long before I was CEO, it became clear we wanted to provide training in a whole new transformative approach to thinking about and being in business. We ask three crucial questions about our life mission. Why am I here? What does that call me to do? Who do I become by doing that? The company also asks itself these three questions: Why was this company created? What does that call us to do? Who do we become by doing that? This ongoing inquiry helps us create a way for business to become a remedy the world needs today.
As someone who has led multiple successful businesses, what do you believe are the core qualities of an effective leader in today’s rapidly changing world?
Effective leaders show poise, awareness, presence, and commitment to serving the whole community; we care about future generations. We find clarity in what matters to us.
Your work with The HuPerson Project focuses on “leadership 6.0.” Can you explain what this concept entails and how it differs from traditional leadership models?
Business leaders can be tempted to leap into new leadership models, without developing presence and awareness oriented to the future. The art of 6.0 leadership is being able to access what exists behind what appears and to work with it. By using presence—stillness, poise, and a true sense of timelessness—we gain a fulness in our perspective, integrating a centre focus with an awareness of the periphery, unlike outdated leadership models.
Can you share a specific example of a challenge you faced while leading and how it shaped your approach to leadership?
At Burgerville, during the pandemic, we lost 40 per cent of the business in three days. Fortunately, we’d already been working with our employees and leadership to create mini-business units, called constellations. A constellation of three to five restaurants, linked in a neighbourhood, allowed for an intersection of skills and resources across the restaurants and the company. We could recalibrate our service, and within a week we restored profitability. Also, rather than trying to figure out how our local suppliers could better meet our needs, we asked instead, “What can we do for you?” We were then able to create changes in our menu, supporting our suppliers and keeping them and us in business during the pandemic.
What are some key strategies you use to help leaders develop a new structure of thinking to navigate the emerging world?
In America we’ve built up the idea of the hero, the leader, who will carry the way, failing to see that this is not helpful. Instead, a leader’s willingness to be a learner, to be intimate with the team, to learn with and from each other—this is the way of the future, being more relational, becoming ready. This readying requires clarity about who we are. A team is critical for this: rather than hierarchy, we want wholearchy.
You’ve been recognised as one of Portland’s most influential women. What does this recognition mean to you, and how do you use your influence to inspire others?
I’m honoured to be recognised in this way. What’s important to me is working with business leaders who do want business to be a remedy in our challenging world. This approach can have a tremendous impact. I’m all about inspiring others to step up to greater awareness and meaning. To me, this means factoring life with all its richness and surprises into the equation of business and being open to an incoming future that wants to happen.
The HuPerson Project works in a very bespoke way with leaders. Can you describe an instance where a tailored approach significantly impacted a client’s leadership journey?
Solutions are made to measure. We had a client who was dissatisfied with his job. In addition to inquiring into his life mission, he also moved into a new way of doing business, integrating business design questions with the question of meaning. This process changed his perspective. When a friend of his died, he realised that what mattered most to him was this relationship, so he created a podcast, “What would Dave say?” He’s now a COO in the technology sector and his podcast is in the top 100, directions he did not foresee when he started working with us.
As a changemaker and a futurologist of leadership, what trends do you foresee in the future of leadership and organisational development?
I see organisations supporting people coming together, having a future aligned with life, and a thriving community. The future is about how well we can cultivate awareness and presence as fundamental in the way we do business.
This attitude is important for those considering leaving the tech sector, especially women. If we realise that redesigning our sense of self and our understanding of our purpose in the tech community could change the way tech does business, we can remedy business-critical needs.
What advice would you give to aspiring female leaders who aim to make a significant impact in their industries?
I would first ask, What is the significant impact you want to make? Why—so that what? Who is that calling you to be? Find a guide to support making your vision happen. Also, find someone to help you deepen your conscious awareness of the meaningful work you’re made for. Then bring these same questions to your business.
