About Us:

Over the Top Management (OTTM)was organized by Bob Small with the purpose of giving middle managers the knowledge needed to generate bottom up growth by using the existing human capital in today’s matrix organizations. 

Bob's extensive experience in turn around and brand rebuilding proved to him that the knowledge to grow a established business usually resided in the existing staff but that managers in failing organizations did not have the techniques needed to access or utilize it.

• In the pre PC age, middle managers supervised groups of employees-they were in the middle between worker bee employees and upper management. 
• Now middle managers utilize computers to do most of the work so they no longer have experience in generating problem-solving ideas in a group setting. 
• The solution in many companies is to hire outside consultants to do this problem solving. These consultants simply do internal data mining, hence the old joke: A consultant is a guy who borrows your watch to tell you what time it is.

Rather than using consultants, companies can teach their employees the techniques of bottom up problem solving and innovation.

Current staff includes:

Robert (Bob) Small

Bob Small, the founder of OTTM, has over 25 years of experience in brand management, business development and brand rebuilding. While you might not have heard of him, you've probably benefited from some of the innovations he's done for STP, Pittsburgh Paints, Glidden and other national brands. Most recently, Bob established the Car Talk radio show Vehicle Donation Program which has distributed over $4 million to public broadcasting stations. Bob's specialty is rapid turnarounds of declining, but established, brands where he utilizes the bottom up innovation techniques taught at OTTM. Bob likes to credit his business understanding to the combination of an Economics BA (UNC-C) and an MBA (Columbia University) where he completed the requires for separate concentrations in Finance, Marketing and International Business. Click here to download Bob's complete resume.

Deborah Small, RN, BSN, MSN, NE-BC

Deb Small has over 25 years experience as a nurse, nurse administrator, adjunct professor of clinical nursing and expert witness. Currently, she is Associate Chief Nursing Officer for Clinical Practice and Research at the Cleveland Clinic. Prior to this system level position, she was the Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services at Robinson Memorial Hospital (RMH). Under Deb's leadership RMH attained Magnet recognition as a center for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, one of only 306 recognized hospitals in America. Deb's qualifications include a RN/BSN (UNC-G), MSN (Duquesne University) and NE-BC (Nurse Executive-Board Certified) from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Deborah has extensive public speaking experience and is available for large or small group presentations on most Nursing issues. Samples of some of her specific sessions are listed under the Services tab.