Since 2009
Grand Rapids Area Professionals for ExcellenceMore About GRAPE
Our Mission
“To build a community of professionals who inspire others to reach their fullest potential: personally, professionally, and neighborly!”
Connect With Us
CLICK here to get our APP for easy convenient access: user friendly, no downloading necessary!
Sign up for real time text message alerts. Simply text GRAPE to 313131.
Become A Sponsor
We appreciate your support. Click here for more information. We are always looking to promote area venues too!
Meet GRAPE’s Leadership Team
Carolyn Lund
Board President
Co-Founder & Managing Partner with Earnest Apps (A division of Earnest Enterprises)
Lisa Kosak
Social Media Consultant
Horizon Bank
Patty Vanderklok
Board Secretary
Real Estate Investor
John Potter
Executive Director
Academic Librarian
GRAPE Events
Inspire Event December 14, 2017
What a gift...to the children in our communities! 12/14/17 11:30-1pm Olivet Nazarene University 625 Kenmoor SE GR Event tickets just $15, purchase here... Join GRAPE for our very first Inspire Event! This is going to be so special. We have partnered with Hand2Hand...
Connect Event November 16, 2017
Connect with GRAPE for WMTA Special Security Event sponsored by Connection.com Click here to RSVP! 84th Street Pub & Grille 8282 Pfeiffer Farms Drive Southwest, Byron Center, MI Thursday November 16, 2017 6-9pm * * * A great evening to include networking,...
Educate Event October 19, 2017
Join us for this CEO Panel 'Educate' Event Staffing & Employee Retention We are pleased to present... Floriza Genautis - Management Business Solutions Blythe Kazmierczak, EVP HR Solutions, Axios Inc Amy Kraal - HR Solutions Group of West MI as our guest panelist!...
Connect Event 9/21/17
GRAPE's new annual sponsor... a service administered by The Rapid, provider of a variety of public transportation services for the Grand Rapids metro area and beyond. Want to save money on gas, do a favor for the environment, or a little of each? West Michigan...
Educate Event 8/17/17
Join us as we present to you "Healthy, Wealthy, & Wise" Benjamin Franklin, one of our country's founding father's, said, "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise". That statement still holds true today for you and your business. Come...
Connect Event July 20, 2017
Connect with GRAPE on Thursday 7/20 from 5-7:30 Click here to RSVP BRAVO Cucina Italiana Knapp's Crossing 2078 E. Beltline Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49525 ( map) We are planning to have some games along with open networking. This event will be sponsored by Jessica...
Join our GRAPE Sponsorship program
Support. Recognition. Appreciated.
Please visit our sponsors.
What we do
Creating a Community of Excellence
Connect
Connect events are opportunities for entrepreneurs to meet and build relationships with others in the Grand Rapids area.
Educate
Every quarter, GRAPE hosts special meetings that provide members with relevant and helpful information.
Inspire
Annually, GRAPE highlights an issue or charity that members can learn about and support.
What Drives Us
Our Mission
To build a community of professionals who inspire each other to reach their fullest potential: personally, professionally, and neighborly!
Get Involved
As a non-profit organization, GRAPE always appreciates the support of volunteers!
Our Next Event
Educate Event Thursday February 20, 2020
JOIN US for our 1st Event of the decade... We are excited to welcome guest speaker Troy Baker, Communications Manager, with the Better Business Bureau presenting... "Increasing your Influence through Moral Authority: The 5 Gestures of Trust!" * * * * * Thursday,...
Read
Articles
Your Next One-on-One With Your Boss
Whether you're on your way to your annual performance review or reporting the status of your projects, a little preparation will make you the star of the meeting. At the very least anticipate questions that may arise and make a list of what you need to know to...
Emulsifying Leadership: How Social Intelligence is Like an Egg
Like eggs in mayonnaise, leaders use their social intelligence to bind their teams together in order to accomplish the tasks set before them.
Leadership: On Cultivating a Beginner’s Mind
In a prior article, I wrote about being trained in basic first aid and I have applied that training at various times in my life when the situation warranted. In this article, my intention is to invite your awareness to another valuable leadership skill – that being the beginner’s mind.
Is hidden talent being overlooked in your workplace?
Late in the year 2011 I read Outliers, a book by Malcolm Gladwell that chronicled the lives of successful individuals. Gladwell wrote that much of their success was due to advantages they were subject to, without even realizing it. His premise was that success is impacted by culture, generation, idiosyncrasies, and surprisingly – for hockey players even the month of their birth.
What’s your favorite business book?
What has been the most influential business book you’ve read?
Why did it resonate so powerfully? Was it closely related to your profession? Or, was it very different? Did it present thinking that was closely aligned with your personal business philosophy? Or, did it open your eyes to a new way of thinking?
In an article in Wall Street Journal, Bill Gates reports on his favorite business book — “Business Adventures” from the 1960s.
3 reasons for over-the-top job postings and how to respond
Have you ever come across a job posting that makes you stop and say, “what?!”
Today’s post is dedicated to understanding a little more about why there are so many impossible job postings.
Jane Anderson, Blog Editor
What is it that gets me up in the morning? Having work that includes writing, editing and using social media as a vehicle to knowledge and understanding of organizations and the people who comprise them. Learn more at http://insiteskill.com/about/ "if you get the...
Think Twice About That Meeting
Early in my career, it seemed like there was a meeting every hour. I often was heard saying ‘When do we break for work?’ Seriously!
This article reminded me of three important things to assure meetings are not dead weight but instead are the building blocks to successful communication.
6 ways to achieve your goals (for real this time!)
It’s been a while now, but my memory of that grueling 2-day event to identify The Next Big Thing still gets stuck on auto-play in my mind; especially during times when creative thought and implementation magic are required. I’m talking about a two day event that didn’t really unfold so much as it became an avalanche of ideas bouncing around the room while our team feverishly took notes and posted questions to the parking lot. There was no lack of ideas as the project team concluded the event. What happened next? Well – nothing. Maybe if we had acted out the steps Emily Bridson recommends in her article How To Jumpstart Your Next Big Idea my ‘well – nothing’ answer could have been vastly different.