“You can’t take politicking out of people. We’re wired to want to come out on top,” says Coach Penny Marquez of Penny Marquez, Unlimited. But, there is a way to create win-win environments. That’s what I do.

While her goal may sound idealistic, Penny is no starry-eyed crusader. She comes to the field of corporate coaching following a 30 year career leading the charge in high-tech manufacturing, where GIGO came to mean “good (stuff) in great (stuff) out.”

In her student days at UC Berkeley, Penny double-majored in political science and anthropology, with the intent of pursuing international relations. She didn’t have to go far to find a foreign culture, though. “I found corporate cultures to be fascinating studies. Each company I worked in – IBM, Applied Materials, National Semiconductor among them – had its own language, traditions, rituals. And yet, as most American companies do, they would constantly pit people and teams against each other. I could never understand that.”

Getting her MBA at Santa Clara University helped Penny move up the ranks. Ultimately, it afforded her the opportunity to head her own department and implement her vision of a win-win workplace. “Instead of fitting people to a job description, I assigned responsibilities to match the skills of my staff. I was able to increase productivity by 50% through that one change alone.”

Like everyone, Penny had the opportunity to re-examine her priorities following the dot.com bust. While she could have continued to create her vision inside the corporate environment, she felt an urgent need to introduce it to a larger audience.

“The authoritarian model of management isn’t working for us on any level,” she says. “Not in companies. And not in our country. I believe that companies can better serve themselves and the society at large when they respect the dignity of the individual. That means finding common ground, negotiating and bridging conflict – which opens the way to creative, courageous and powerful solutions.”

“When we come together as powerful people to create a win-win world, the potential is unlimited,” says Penny.

“I’m doing everything in my power to help companies make that happen.”