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Please
click a name for a full biography:
Tom
Peters
Chairman
Fortune
called Tom Peters the "Ur-guru" of management, and
compares him to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau,
Walt Whitman, and H.L. Mencken. The Economist tagged him the
Uber-guru; and BusinessWeek's take on his "unconventional
views" led them to label Peters "business's best
friend and worst nightmare." In 2004, the Bloomsbury
Press book Movers and Shakers: The 100 Most Influential Figures
in Modern Business reviewed the historical contributions of
pathbreaking management thinkers and practitioners, from Machiavelli
and JP Morgan to Tom and Jack Welch. The summary entry on
Tom's impact:
"Tom
Peters has probably done more than anyone else to shift the
debate on management from the confines of boardrooms, academia,
and consultancies to a broader, worldwide audience, where
it has become the staple diet of the media and managers alike.
Peter Drucker has written more and his ideas have withstood
a longer test of time, but it is Peters—as consultant,
writer, columnist, seminar lecturer, and stage performer—whose
energy, style, influence, and ideas have shaped new management
thinking."
When
Tom & Bob Waterman wrote In
Search of Excellence 25 years ago, they introduced the
world of business to the idea and value of Excellence per
se as an inspiring and profitable aspiration—at a time
when America's competitiveness was under fullblown assault.
The world and management practice have changed in the years
following Search, and although the companies profiled have
adapted remarkably well along the way, the challenges today
are more daunting than ever. Excellence as a way of life and
an unmatchable competitive advantage has never been more important
In
1999, Search was honored by NPR as one of the "Top Three
Business Books of the Century"—and ranked as the
"greatest business book of all time" in a 2002 poll
by Britain's Bloomsbury Publishing. Tom followed Search with
over a dozen additional international bestsellers. Among them:
A
Passion for Excellence (1985, with Nancy Austin); Thriving
on Chaos (1987); Liberation
Management (1992: acclaimed as the "Management Book
of the Decade" for the '90s); the millennium troika in
1999 on Reinventing Work in the face of new global competition
(The
Brand You50, The Project50, and The
Professional Service Firm50); and, in 2003, the provocative,
colorful Re-imagine!
Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age. He is currently
working on a book that renews and strengthens his clarion
call for Excellence.
Two
Tom Peters biographies have been published: Corporate
Man to Corporate Skunk: The Tom Peters Phenomenon and
Tom Peters: The Bestselling Prophet of the Management
Revolution (part of a four-book series of business
biographies on Peters, Bill Gates, Peter Drucker, and Warren
Buffet). In a 2002 in-depth analytic study, Accenture's Institute
for Strategic Change scored Peters 2nd among the top 50 "Business
Intellectuals."
Tom,
who is widely credited with almost single-handedly launching
the "management guru industry," now billions of
dollars in size, writes, reflects, and then presents some
60 or so major seminars each year, more than half outside
the U.S. He estimates that since 1978, when the work on Search
began, he's given about 2,500 speeches, flown 5,000,000+ miles,
spoken before 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 people, and presented
in 47 states and 63 countries. Since 2004, Tom also has devoted
significant energy to his award-winning (a “Top 500”
designation) blog—www.tompeters.com.
Leadership
guru Warren Bennis, the only person close to both Tom and
the late Peter Drucker, told a reporter, "If Peter Drucker
invented modern management, Tom Peters vivified it."
In fact, as even Tom's book titles indicate, his passion is
passion: Destruction & Re-imaginings ... liberating talent
for a hypercompetitive world ... the Herculean task of sustaining
Entrepreneurial Excellence. Among Tom’s newer passions
& provocations are: Women-as-Leaders particularly suited
for these times; the supreme role of Design in differentiation;
gaining advantage in the enormous, underserved market represented
by Women (controllers of 3/4 of the world’s wealth)
and the burgeoning, financially potent Boomer-Geezer population.
Now, Tom is once again pursuing, with characteristic determination
... Excellence, variety 2007. "There is no higher aim,"
he says, "than the relentless pursuit of Excellence.
On the 25th anniversary of our book, I am re-dedicating myself
to the search that began in 1982. That is: The search continues
..."
Born
in Baltimore in 1942 with lacrosse stick in his hands, and
residing in Silicon Valley from 1970–2000, Tom now lives
on a 1,600-acre working farm in Vermont with his wife, the
artist and entrepreneur Susan Sargent. He is a civil engineering
graduate of Cornell (B.C.E., M.C.E.) and earned an MBA and
Ph.D. at Stanford; he holds honorary doctorates from several
institutions, including the University of San Francisco and,
oddly, the State University of Management in Moscow. In the
U.S. Navy from 1966–1970, he made two deployments to
Vietnam (as a Navy Seabee) and "survived a tour in the
Pentagon." He was a White House drug-abuse advisor in
1973–74, and then worked at McKinsey & Co. from
1974–1981, becoming a Partner and Organization Effectiveness
practice leader in 1979.
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Valarie
D. Willis
Have
heels, will travel! A shoe consultant at heart, Valarie has
a passion for anything that has a shoe on it—from ornaments
to soap—and she has an extensive shoe collection to
prove it. In addition to shoes, Valarie has a high-stepping
passion for working with organizations that are ready to take
the big strides into innovation, branding, and leadership.
Valarie
is a noted speaker, consultant, and writer. Known for her
passion, energy, and detail (she’s been described by
one client as “smart and sassy”), Valarie has
earned her reputation as the Queen of WOW! She pounds the
pavement looking for opportunities to engage clients in re-imagining
their business in a disruptive age. Armed with a background
in Information Technology and Customer Service, Valarie has
countless client success stories to show for her efforts,
including …
-
Providing leadership and arbitration between technical and
non-technical staffs in a billion-dollar merger.
- Marshaling
collaboration of cross-functional groups and executives
to successfully integrate six brands.
- Consulting
with a major health care provider to improve talent development
and training.
- Transforming
a lethargic customer service group into an energetic team,
delivering “legendary” customer service and
far exceeding performance goals.
- Delivering
keynotes on leadership, innovation, brand alignment, customer
service, women’s issues, and more, to Fortune 500
companies, colleges, churches, and others.
Valarie
has worked in a wide range of industries, including finance,
technology, retail, and manufacturing. She draws from a multi-faceted,
25-year-plus work history—in the trenches, in countless
layers of management, in the executive office, as a church
and community leader, and as an entrepreneur.
Some
of her ecstatic clients include the US Army, Teva Pharmaceuticals,
Anthem, Medical Management Group Association, New York Life,
Green Square Inc., Credit Union National Association, Bendix,
and Memorial Hospital.
Valarie
holds an MBA from Xavier University. She is also a member
of the National Speakers Association.
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Mike
Neiss
Michael
T. Neiss specializes in leadership and talent development.
For the past twenty years, Mike has educated, coached, and
counseled leaders at all levels worldwide. His primary focus
is helping organizations and the leaders therein grow their
leadership strength, and therefore, the capability to create
and sustain change.
Mike’s
background and experience in operations management at United
Parcel Service, CMS Energy, and General Motors give him a
real world perspective and a practical approach that clients
love. He prides himself on becoming a trusted advisor to his
clients, and most of his clients are long term partners.
Mike
has been associated with the tompeters!company for eight years.
As an Sr Consultant he develops and delivers experiences that
help organizations attain excellence using the research and
writings of Tom Peters. Michael is also a Master Facilitator
of the Leadership Challenge, based on the great work of Jim
Kouzes and Barry Posner.
His
clients cross over many classes of organizations from profit
to nonprofit to government. Mike recently partnered with professionals
within Herman Miller, Inc to develop and implement a leadership
strategy that was recognized as a national Optima Award winner
for leadership development. He combines experience, academic
learning, and research with the dirt under the fingernails
practicality that comes from a career that included first
line supervision to executive positions.
Mike
is a graduate of Michigan State University and completed postgraduate
studies at Aquinas College. Along with his passion for improving
organizational performance, he also loves golf and rock and
roll, although he is not nearly as skilled in those areas.
Michael makes his home with his wife, Pam, and assorted members
of the animal kingdom in beautiful South Haven, Michigan.
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LJ
Rose
She’s
a world traveller. For 2 years LJ Rose circled the globe on
a solo mission of exploration through 29 countries spanning
Oceania, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Central America.
Her experiences along the way with life and death inspired
her to work in Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying in
Calcutta. Her passion for indigenous areas of the world deepens
annually with solo expeditions off the beaten path. Encouraged
to share her stories, LJ has had poetry and personal narratives
published in numerous journals and gives speeches on the topic
of Exploration.
Insomnia hit in 1992. Hearing compositions in her head, LJ
recorded her first CD, “Peripheral Vision,” and
is currently producing her second CD of original songs. Street
singing in San Francisco, improv classes, and sea kayaking
also keep the creative juices flowing.
Business
acumen always helps. LJ has been one of the nation’s
youngest business school deans, the first female Sales &
Marketing Area Manager for Krofta Engineering, and a business
coach since 1998. She has 15 years’ experience with
precedent-setting leadership and is now a Facilitator and
Speaker with The Tom Peters Company.
High
energy and humor help, too. LJ has used her strategic and
tactical mindset to work cross-functionally with emerging
leaders and executive teams to achieve aggressive goals. She
has also worked with employees at numerous organizational
levels, in functions as varied as Finance, IT, Sales, Marketing,
R & D, Engineering, Operations, Manufacturing, HR, and
Customer Support. Passionate about ideas, talent, and results,
she is accustomed to facilitating difficult business and people-driven
issues. Working with organizations ranging in size from 20
employees to 150,000, she has helped clients implement leadership
competencies, shift cultures from compliance to commitment,
and re-work business-as-usual ideas into high-impact projects.
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Susan
A. Murphy
Susan
Murphy has been a sought-after Speaker, Business Consultant
and Author for 2 decades. Her captivating presentation style
is humorous and high energy, yet packed with information.
She’s known for her “Wit and Wisdom” as
she combines research and theory with real life experiences.
As a Speaker, she has the unique ability to engage and inspire
audiences of all backgrounds and educational levels.
Susan’s extensive background consists of 3 worlds –
Executive Leader in Fortune 500 Corporations, Faculty Member
at a major university and over 20 years of international experience
Consulting to a variety of industries. Clients include the
U.S. Air Force, Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), Caterpillar/ Solar
Turbines, and Stanford University.
Susan’s most requested Specialties are: Leadership,
Generational Differences, Gender Differences, Mentoring, and
Branding.
Susan has co-authored numerous books including: In the
Company of Women, Aligning Employee Performance with Organizational
Goals, Conversations on Success and Leading a Multi-Generational
Workforce. In the Company of Women, co-authored
w/ Dr. Pat Heim, has been featured on “Good Morning,
America”, Time Magazine, USA Today.com, and BBC. It
was selected as Harvard Business School’s “Book
of the Month” and has been translated into several languages.
In 2004, Vanderbilt University honored Susan with a “Lifetime
Achievement Award” and Palm Springs Life recently selected
her as one of “The Influencers”.
Selected Speech Topics:
Four Generations, One Workplace
For the first time in history, four generations are working
side by side in one workplace. This research-based presentation
reveals what shapes our values and how to attract, hire, and
retain talented members of each generation. Susan explores
top attributes of current generations as well as communication
style differences and strategies for success.
She Said/He Said: Gender Differences in the Workplace
Men and women are raised in different cultures, have differences
in brain structure and hormones, and genetics. This humorous,
high-content presentation spotlights differences in leadership,
team development, problem solving and communication. Both
genders will gain insights about the strengths of the other
in order to build winning teams at home and in the workplace.
She Buys/He Buys: Gender Differences in the Marketplace
Men and women have differences that are hardwired in their
genes, brain, and hormones, and then reinforced during childhood.
They buy products, services and ideas for different reasons,
and can be turned off by marketing approaches that clash with
their gender culture. This humorous, informative presentation
explains how to influence men and women in their buying decisions,
whether it be for buying your ideas or your products.
In the Company of Women: Women Working with Women
Women hold half of the professional and management positions
in the U.S., and they bring different strengths, expectations
and challenges with them. This illuminating presentation,
based on the best-selling book, explores the Power-Dead-Even-Rule
and the Golden Triangle as well as research findings –
biological, genetic, and sociological – that explain
female behavior. Includes steps to turn workplace conflicts
into powerful alliances.
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Robert
Thompson
Like
you, leadership expert and business author Robert Thompson
has seen the word leadership defined numerous ways over the
years. Is it charisma and positive thinking? Pinstripes and
red power ties? Decisiveness? Is it all about the situation?
Is it meant only for the chosen few who rise to the top? Or,
is there a different story?
With over three decades of executive coaching, speaking, and
most importantly, real-life, in-the-trenches business experience,
his view is radically different. Robert appreciates, and shares
with listeners, that leadership is a moment-to-moment choice
and not about title, tenure or position. Leadership is for
everyone, everyday. It's how we should live our life.
Robert, sometimes referred to as the “Provocateur”
for his ability to stir up a group or as the “People
Whisperer” for his coaching skill that brings out the
best in people, is known for his practical, street-savvy style;
Robert's fusion of real-life stories and his conversational
techniques connect with his audience at an intimate, intense
and individual level.
Robert has served as a senior consultant with the U.S. based
Tom Peters Company for several years. He is a Certified Master
Facilitator of the The Leadership Challenge Workshop™,
and continues to work with the best and brightest in the leadership
development field.
The author of the best selling, The Offsite: A Leadership
Challenge Fable, Thompson's penetrating conversations have
been shared with folks from around the globe.
His successes include: AT&T, Amgen, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson
& Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Qwest, Sony, Sun Microsystems,
The Cheesecake Factory, The Gap, Visa and numerous U.S. city,
state and federal agencies to name a few.
Prior to his leadership efforts, Robert, a journalist by education
and passion, created, managed, and sold a successful U.S.
regional newspaper publishing company and a national advertising
sales company. As the founder of a corporate nonprofit exchange
program for aspiring post-communist business professionals,
Robert attained a key role in the Clinton-Yeltsin “Business
for Russia” initiative. He has served on the board of
advisors for a successful Internet start-up company and assisted
the group through their initial public offering
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Richard
King
Managing Director, International
It
was a sign of things to come when Richard was sent home from
his first scout camp at age 11 after an altercation with his
patrol leader. Always an independent minded lad, he played
youth soccer internationally at 14, had bought himself a Lambretta
and fashioned himself a “mod” by 16, and now lists
Henry Ford, Winston Churchill, and Alf Ramsey amongst his
leadership heroes.
It might be a stretch to claim that Richard’s post graduate
study of Tribology (friction, wear and lubrication) at Brunel
University has been the secret to his success in helping individuals
and teams to work more productively. He has certainly been
effective at harnessing the “creative abrasion”
in the businesses he works with. His East London roots, working
class upbringing and an early career spent in industrial relations
in the automotive industry have served him well in learning
how to relate to and deal with a wide variety of business
leaders working in extremely challenging situations.
Now well into his second decade in Tom Peters Company, Richard
focuses on performance improvement through people. He works
strategically with leaders and business teams who know that
“making the work matter” to people is the key
to performance improvement and building sustained success
in so many tough situations. His work life is founded on an
ability to build strong relationships with clients and colleagues
around him, and he takes great pride in the longevity of his
relationships with senior people in the likes of Rolls-Royce,
Virgin, Sainsbury’s, Avon, Royal Bank of Scotland and
Rank Group.
In his private life, Richard is a passionate West Ham fan
and an equally passionate avoider of all things related to
DIY. He lives with his wife Sue in Billericay in Essex and
maintains a wide social circle, which definitely includes
his sons Will and Tom who have both returned to their home
locality after University.
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Nigel
Barlow
Nigel
May Barlow is an Agent Provocateur, Creative Coach, and Business
Rocker. He is a founding director of the Tom Peters organization
in Europe, and currently owns and runs Service Legends Ltd
and the Re-Think Project.
He
has applied Creative Rethinking to topics as diverse as:
-
Careers and Personal Development
-
Markets and Brands
- The
Customer Experience
- Innovative
Leadership
- The
Joys of Work/Life Imbalance, and
- Creativity
for the Hell of It!
Nigel
has helped many of the world’s leading organizations
on every continent to rethink their lives and businesses.
His clients include:
AGA,
American Express, Anheuser-Busch, Barclays, BBC, BP, BT, Cabinet
Office, Carnegie, Clifford Chance, Eli Lilly, Ericsson, First
Choice, GKN, Hewlett Packard, ICI Paints, John Lewis Partnership,
J P Morgan, Lexus, Lloyds TSB, L’Oreal, Merck Generics,
Nestle, Rockwool, J Sainsbury, SAP, S-E-B, Shell, SKF, Trinity
Mirror, and Unilever.
He
is one of the world’s most dynamic conference speakers,
favouring the after-lunch spot. He also works on creative
retreats with top teams helping to rethink whatever they’re
stuck on.
Re-Think
– How To Think Differently draws on Nigel’s
experience, successes, and failures. Whether you’re
wanting to rethink your life situation, relationships, personal
creativity, or a new business idea, Re-Think is designed
to provoke your creative self into coming up with the answer
you already have inside you. Buy Re-Think.
Nigel’s
last book was Batteries Included! – Creating Legendary
Customer Service. Some successful service brands like
Lexus have adopted his theme of aiming to become legendary
for the experience they give their customers. Buy Batteries
Included!
Nigel
lives in Oxford, England and Heathrow Departures Lounge.
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Chris
Nel
Not
many business consultants can boast of having 20 grams of
steel plates & screws in their bodies! But Chris has used
his experience in competitive sports and military training
(he has broken his spine twice at the same point) to toughen
him to the challenges of business. He has competed on the
British Triathlon team and been an officer with the Royal
Marine Commandos—seeing service in Northern Ireland,
Hong Kong, Cyprus, Norway, Belize, Brunei and more recently
in the first Gulf conflict—before bringing his leadership
experience into civilian life 12 years ago.
Chris
spent four years as an operations manager, culminating in
a regional management role for one of the major FTSE 100 businesses.
There he recognised the importance of focusing leadership
on both the systems and the passion side of business. In his
seven years with the Tom Peters Company he has applied this
learning to more than 25 major client projects, including
ASDA, CPP, Lloyds of London, Norwich Union, Rolls-Royce Aerospace,
Sainsbury’s, TMP Worldwide, Texas Instruments, Unilever,
Virgin One Account, and Zurich Financial Services. He has
also been doing speaking engagements in the Balkan nations
on creating an entrepreneurial spirit in organisations.
Chris’s
basic approach is to build trusting relationships, understand
the client business, and to clarify required outcomes. This
he sees as essential to surviving the inevitably bumpy ride
of business transformation and “getting beyond partnership
to provocation” wherein real value is added. His style,
as expected from someone with his background, is energetic,
pragmatic, and results-obsessed.
When
not at work, Chris lives amphibiously—and his definition
of happiness always involves water.
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