JHJ Collective is a consulting firm dedicated to supporting organizations that do good for others. Specializing in cause-related marketing strategy and leadership coaching, the firm helps clients amplify their positive impact. With a focus on Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead™ methodology, JHJ Collective offers leadership development services that include workshops, team development and personalized coaching for both executives and emerging leaders. JHJ’s approach emphasizes self-awareness, courage, empathy and purpose-driven leadership.
“After decades of serving others in the nonprofit sector and working with several media companies throughout my career, I decided I could make an even larger impact on my own. Over the past few years, I helped build a startup where I learned more than I realized about starting a business,” says owner Jill Hawkins Johnson, who founded JHJ Collective in December 2024.
The biggest challenges in starting and growing this company have been “time, time and time,” Hawkins says. As a venture studio, JHJ Collective was supporting entrepreneurs from the ideation stage to the validation stage and then, eventually, to commercialization. Simultaneously, Johnson was training in Houston, Texas, on the principles of Brene Brown’s leadership. “With so much need in our community, there is only so much time in the day. I lead with vulnerability and pour my soul into what I am doing, for every meeting and every client.” At the same time, she set boundaries for herself. “I have a daily checklist; I have a very good routine and close my computer in the evening.”
Johnson emphasizes success is personal and looks different for everyone. Noting that some people view success as a number in their bank account and others on the amount of hours they put in per day, she shares, “For me, I wanted to have time wealth. I have had the opportunity to do just about everything I have wanted in my career. I have been in the wealthiest rooms and in the most poverty-stricken communities. I have celebrated with celebrities and helped others begin their career. There wasn’t much left on the list except being my own boss and being a present mother. That is my personal success.
“Once you figure out what your success looks like, you build from there.”
Johnson believes there will never be a shortage of businesses that want to give back to their community (even in the toughest times) and there will never be a shortage of good stories to share publicly. “Someone must always connect the dots for both and be a good leader while doing it,” Johnson says. “I believe that that is the sweet spot for JHJ Collective: Do Good. Go Far.”
