John Kotter

John Kotter, is widely regarded as the world’s foremost authority on leadership and change.  His is the premier voice on how the best organizations actually “do” change.

In his newest work, A Sense of Urgency, Kotter shows what a true sense of urgency in an organization really is, why it is becoming an exceptionally important asset, and how it can be created and sustained within organizations.

Professor Kotter is the author of seventeen books, a collection that has given him more honors and awards than any other writer on the topics of leadership and change.  In fact, his books are in the top 1% of sales from Amazon.com.

John Kotter’s international bestseller Leading Change, which outlined an actionable, eight-step process for implementing successful transformations, has become the change bible for managers around the world. Our Iceberg Is Melting, the New York Times bestseller, puts the eight-step process within an allegory, making it accessible to the broad range of people needed to effect major organizational transformations.  Professor Kotter often talks to groups and has only one goal: to motivate action that gets better results.

John Kotter’s articles in The Harvard Business Review over the past twenty years have sold more reprints than any of the hundreds of distinguished authors who have written for that publication during the same time period.

Professor Kotter’s honors include an Exxon Award for Innovation in Graduate Business School Curriculum Design, and a Johnson, Smith & Knisely Award for New Perspectives in Business Leadership. In 2003, a video version of a story from his book, The Heart of Change won a Telly Award. In 2006, Kotter received the prestigious McFeely Award for “outstanding contributions to leadership and management development.” In 2007, his video “Succeeding in a Changing World” was named best video training product of the year by Training Media Review and also won a Telly Award.

John Kotter lives in Cambridge Massachusetts and Ashland, New Hampshire.

Dr. Spencer Johnson

Dr. Spencer Johnson is one of the world’s most respected thinkers and beloved authors. He is often referred to as “the best there is at taking complex subjects and presenting simple solutions that work.”

You might recognize Dr. Johnson from his bestselling books, Who Moved My Cheese?®, An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change and  The One Minute Manager®.  His newest book, Peaks And Valleys: Making Good And Bad Times Work For You, is being hailed as “the right book at the right time.” His books reveal universal principles that can be used by people in every culture in every part of the world.

Dr. Johnson earned a B.A. degree in Psychology from the University of Southern California, an M.D. degree from the Royal College of Surgeons, and medical clerkships at The Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School.

He has served as Medical Director of Communications for Medtronic, the original innovators of cardiac pacemakers; Research Physician at the Institute for Inter-Disciplinary Studies, a medical-social think tank; Consultant to the Center for the Study of the Person, and to the School of Medicine, University of California and Leadership Fellow at the Harvard Business School. He is currently an Advisor to the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

His work has captured the attention of major media, including The Associated Press, the BBC, CNN, Fortune, the New York Times, the Today show, Time magazine, USA Today, and United Press International.

Join us on Thursday, January 14th at 8:00pm (YOUR Local Time).

During this final free access “discovery” session, our expert panelists will focus completely on YOUR challenges as a small business owner. They will address the most vital aspects YOU need to focus on to succeed in today’s challenging economy.

The expert panel for your “Master Your Universe: How to Manage, Maximize and Master the Opportunity That Constant Change Presents” Discovery Session includes:

• Dr. Spencer Johnson… discussing one of the biggest mistakes you can make in these “troubling times”…
• John Kotter… sharing how you can do very well right now by doing things differently than everybody else…

Plus LOTS more…

Be sure to register right now for our free “League of Extraordinary Minds” Panel Discussions, so you get to experience every word from these “business success” experts…

… And apply their strategies to your specific situation for higher positioning and higher profits!

Don’t miss out on even one minute of what this high-level group of “business-building power” has to share with you… for free!

It’s all happening on Thursday, January 14th at 8:00pm (YOUR Local Time).

Register here right now!

To your business success,

Jay Abraham
Rich Schefren

Tony Jeary

Tony Jeary, America’s “Master Strategic Facilitator”, has personal experience with both success and failure. Tony made and lost several million dollars before he was 30.  Today he walks the talk and practices the distinctions that characterize Communication Mastery and Strategic Acceleration, both personally and professionally.

Tony developed Strategic Acceleration, a leadership methodology that combines awareness, operational practices, and powerful informational resources.  It is designed to produce “strategic  speed” and superior results within time frames that exceed traditional expectations.

Tony’s latest book, Strategic Acceleration: Succeed at the Speed of Life, details a methodology that will help you get clear, stay focused, and efficiently execute relevant, high-value activities… thereby getting you the results and success you really want …. faster!  It is destined to become the ultimate success guide for corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, athletes and other individuals seeking success.

Tony Jeary’s  thinking is sought after and used by the presidents of the world’s top companies, like Wal-mart, Bridgestone-Firestone Diversified Products, Qualcomm, and even the U.S. Senate. Many of the world’s top achievers fly to his back yard to learn from him on how to make things happen.

Tony was raised by entrepreneurial parents who thrived on identifying and pursuing new opportunities to serve others. Tony’s father taught him the powerful principle that has driven Tony’ professional and personal life: “Always give more than expected.” Exceeding expectations is the common thread that every Tony Jeary client experiences first-hand.

Dr. Paul Schoemaker

Dr. Paul J.H. Schoemaker is the founder and Executive Chairman of Decision Strategies International, Inc., a consulting and training firm specializing in strategic management, executive development and multi-media software.  He also serves as Research Director of the Mack Center for Technological Innovation at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches decision making and strategy as a part-time professor.

Dr. Schoemaker took an extended sabbatical with the scenario planning group of Royal/Dutch Shell in London, and has since worked with over a hundred organizations around the world.   He’s written more than 100 academic and applied papers, including multiple articles in the Harvard Business Review. He’ has also (co)-authored of several books, including Profiting from Uncertainty and Peripheral Vision.

His 1995 article, “Scenario Planning”, was the second most reprinted publication in the 42 year history of the Sloan Management Review, and is listed by among the most highly cited scholars in terms of academic publications in business and economics. Paul Schoemaker is also an active private investor in new technology-based ventures and serves on the Board of Directors for several of these, including the Decision Education Foundation.

His hobbies include tennis, golf and piano. He lives with his wife Joyce in Villanova, Pennsylvania and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in the winter; they have two kids just out of college.

Greg Hicks

Greg Hicks is an internationally recognized pioneer in the field of happiness.  Along with his business partner, Rick Foster, their extensive and acclaimed research has taken them to six continents where they spent years interviewing people who are thriving and happy, even under the most adverse circumstances. Their early findings culminated into a  system of nine choices, which are continually being studied by mind-body researchers at leading institutions, including The Mayo Clinic.

Greg and Rick’s first book, How We Choose to Be Happy, became an immediate national bestseller and has been on bestseller lists ever since. Hicks went on to write LeaderShock — And How to Triumph Over It, which revealed a new brand of behavioral leadership.  It was chosen as the #2 Best Business Book of 2003 by Amazon.

In their newest book, Happiness & Health, they present the first practical guide to the new science of positive emotions and how anyone can choose thoughts and behaviors that enhance our brain function, pump up our immune systems, and bring vitality to our lives.

With a reputation for dynamic and transformational presentations on health, happiness, leadership and team productivity, Greg has taught the Brilliant Health program to over 10,000 doctors and nurses, to patients battling serious illness, and to countless others in organizations such as G.E., Mercedes-Benz, Wells Fargo, and AXA-Financial and are on the faculty of the Health Research and Educational Trust Fellowship programs.

Hicks and Foster are often sought out by the media for their advice and have appeared on numerous national T.V. and radio shows and featured in such magazines as Health, Fitness, Self, Good Housekeeping, Fit, Working Mother, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, and Readers’ Digest.

Herb Cohen

Herb Cohen has been called “the world’s best negotiator”  and is internationally renowned as a corporate and governmental consultant on negotiating strategy, commercial dealings and crisis management.  As a U.S. presidential advisor, he has helped formulate policy on hostage negotiations and terrorism.   His clients have included business executives, entrepreneurs, sports and theatrical agents plus large corporations as well as governmental agencies, such as The Department of State, F.B.I., C.I.A., The U. S. Conference of Mayors and The U.S. Department of Justice.

Cohen’s analysis, insights and humorous view of many of these high-level happenings have appeared in many international publications, and he himself has been the subject of articles in Time, People, The Economist, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Rolling Stone and even Playboy magazines.  He is considered “America’s foremost convention speaker, presenting serious subjects with such humor and dramatic flair that they become pure entertainment”.

He is the author of You Can Negotiate Anything, which was on the New York Times Bestseller List for almost one year and has been translated into twenty-one languages.  His latest book, Negotiate This! By Caring But Not T-H-A-T Much is written in the same humorous style as his first book.  Critics have said, “It’s a must read for not only business people, but parents, politicians and consumers”.

Cohen has lectured at many educational institutions and enterprises, such as The Harvard Negotiation Project, Yale Law School, The Kellogg School, Wharton, the University of Wisconsin, the University of California-San Diego, McGill University, UBC and the Columbia University and Chicago University Schools of Business.

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz explores the social and psychological effects of free-market economic institutions on moral, social, and civic concerns. In his book, The Costs of Living: How Market Freedom Erodes the Best Things in Life, Schwartz finds that market values undermine morals and community-building.

His more recent work, The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less is More, examines the often-paralyzing effects on consumers of a marketplace offering a bewildering array of choices.  He  explains at what point choice (the hallmark of individual freedom and self-determination that we so cherish) becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being.

In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, Schwartz shows how the dramatic explosion in choice – from the mundane to the profound challenges of balancing career, family, and individual needs – has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution.  By synthesizing current research in the social sciences, Schwartz makes the counter-intuitive case that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives.

Schwartz, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971, has been awarded several grants by the National Science Foundation over the last three decades.  In addition, he is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and the American Psychological Society, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

The experts assembled for The League Panel 8 … “Fast-Tracking Your Business: Accelerators That Drive Rapid and Soaring Success” Discovery Session include:

• Dr. Paul Schoemaker… discussing why you can’t just deal with the symptoms of a problem…
• Herb Cohen… revealing how YOU can become a masterful negotiator…
• Greg Hicks… shares 9 behaviors leaders MUST adopt to reduce stress…
• Barry Schwartz… discussing why offering as much variety as you possibly can will LOWER sales drastically…
• Tony Jeary… on dealing with distractions so you can be more focused with your efforts and get better results…
• Paul Zane Pilzer… sharing why every entrepreneur needs to see themselves as one link in a chain…

And there’s LOTS more from this stellar lineup!

Make sure you made the wise decision to register for our free “League of  Extraordinary Minds” Panel Discussions, so you can experience every word from these “business success” experts…

… And apply their strategies to your specific situation for higher positioning and higher profits!

So you don’t miss out on even one minute of what this high-level group of “business-building power” has to share with you… for free!

Paul Zane Pilzer

Paul Zane Pilzer is a world-renowned economist, a multimillionaire software entrepreneur, an adjunct professor, and the author of eight best-selling books and dozens of scholarly publications.

Pilzer completed Lehigh University in three years and received his MBA from Wharton in 15 months at age 22. He became Citibank’s youngest officer at age 22 and its youngest vice president at age 25. At age 24, he was appointed adjunct professor at New York University, where he taught for 21 consecutive years.

Over the past 30 years, Pilzer has started and/or taken public, five companies in the areas of software, education and healthcare. He is the Founder of Zane Benefits, Inc. and Extend Health, Inc., the nation’s two leading suppliers of individualized health benefits to corporate America.

He was an appointed economic adviser in two presidential administrations and warned of the impending $200 billion savings and loan crisis years before official Washington was willing to listen—a story that he later shared in Other People’s Money, which was critically acclaimed by The New York Times and The Economist magazine.

Pilzer is a prolific author, and in one of his most recent books, The New Health Insurance Solution he sets forth a bold new direction for U.S. health insurance and explains how individuals can now get affordable health insurance independent of their employer.  This book also explains how employers can end their health insurance nightmare while still being able to hire great employees by providing the same health benefits for less than half the cost they are paying today.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, where he has taught since 1979.

Pfeffer has published extensively in the fields of organization theory and human resource management. His current research focuses on the relationship between time and money, power and leadership in organizations, economics language and assumptions and their effects on management practice, how social science theories become self-fulfilling, barriers to turning knowledge into action and how to overcome them, and evidence-based management and what it is, barriers to its use, and how to implement it.  Pfeffer’s latest book, tentatively entitled Power Rules: An Organizational Survival Guide, will be published in early 2010 by HarperCollins.

Pfeffer currently serves on the board of directors of the for-profit company Audible Magic as well as nonprofits, Quantum Leap Healthcare and The San Francisco Playhouse. Pfeffer has presented seminars in 34 countries throughout the world as well as doing consulting and providing executive education for numerous companies, associations, and universities in the United States.

Brian Tracy

Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.

Brian’s goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined.

Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 4,000,000 people in 4,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 40 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year.

He has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 45 books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

He has written and produced more than 300 audio and video learning programs, including the worldwide, best-selling Psychology of Achievement, which has been translated into more than 20 languages.

He speaks to corporate and public audiences on the subjects of Personal and Professional Development, including the executives and staff of many of America’s largest corporations. His exciting talks and seminars on Leadership, Selling, Self-Esteem, Goals, Strategy, Creativity and Success Psychology bring about immediate changes and long-term results.

He has traveled and worked in over 80 countries on six continents, and speaks four languages. Brian is happily married and has four children. He is active in community and national affairs, and is the President of three companies headquartered in Solana Beach, California.

Brian is also the President of Brian Tracy University, a private on-line University for sales and entrepreneurship.

Marshall Goldsmith

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority in helping successful leaders get even better – by achieving positive, lasting change in behavior: for themselves, their people and their teams.

Marshall’s newest book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, is a New York Times best seller, Wall Street Journal #1 business book and winner of the Harold Longman Award as the Best Business Book of 2007.

Recently, the London Times named Goldsmith one of the top 50 most influential living management thinkers. The American Management Association named him as one of 50 great thinkers and leaders who have influenced the field of management over the past 80 years and Business Week listed him as one of the most influential practitioners in the history of leadership development.

Dr. Goldsmith’s Ph.D. is from UCLA. He teaches executive education at Dartmouth’s Tuck School and frequently speaks at leading business schools. His work has been recognized by almost every professional organization in his field.

Over two hundred of his articles, interviews, columns and videos are available for viewing and sharing online (for no charge) at www.MarshallGoldsmithLibrary.com.  Visitors to this site have come from 188 countries and have viewed over 2.1 million resources.

Goldsmith is co-founder of Marshall Goldsmith Partners, a network of top-level executive coaches and is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities in helping leaders achieve positive, measurable change in behavior: for themselves, their people and their teams. In 2000, Forbes listed Marshall as one of top five executive coaches and Human Resources rated Marshall as one of the world’s leading HR consultants. He has also been ranked by the Wall Street Journal as one of the “Top 10″ executive educators. He has written and co-edited over 15 books on leadership development including “The Many Facets of Leadership” and “Coaching for Leadership.”

Joseph Grenny

Joseph Grenny is Cofounder of VitalSmarts and an acclaimed keynote speaker and business strategy expert. For the past 25 years, he has designed and implemented major corporate change initiatives. He has advised thousands of leaders on every major continent, from the board rooms of Fortune 500 companies to the slums of Nairobi, Kenya.

Grenny was formerly president of California Computer Corporation and an executive for the Covey Leadership Center.  He coauthored the New York Times bestseller, Influencer: The Power to Change Anything, Influencer teaches anyone—executives and front-line employees, mothers and fathers, community and political leaders alike—not only that it is possible to influence change, but also that it can be done quickly and produce sustainable results.

Influencer brings together the breakthrough strategies of modern-day influence masters. By drawing from the skills of hundreds of successful change agents and combining them with five decades of the best social science research, Influencer creates a coherent and portable model for changing behaviors—a model that nearly anyone can learn and apply.

His other books are noteworthy as well – Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High and Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior.

Joseph cofounded Unitus, a nonprofit organization that helps third-world poor achieve economic self-reliance.

Fran Tarkenton

Fran Tarkenton played in the NFL for eighteen seasons and has founded and built twelve highly successful companies. A consultant to numerous Fortune 500 firms, he lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Drawing on his experience as a top entrepreneur, and displaying the energy and grit that saw him through dozens of professional ups and downs, Football Hall of Famer, Fran Tarkenton presents field-tested guidelines that anyone starting a business will value. Offering inspiration, insight, and practical know-how, he shows you how to:

Build victories and knowledge upon mistakes and failures

Take wise risks without gambling

Create value in personal and professional life by building trusting relationships

Think like “All-Star Outside-the-Box” thinkers, such as his friends Ted Turner and the late Sam Walton

Choose heroes and develop “magnificent obsessions”

Practice leadership and employ teamwork to accomplish all your goals

Fran wrote the book, What Losing Taught Me About Winning: The Ultimate Guide for Success in Small and Home-Based Business, which illustrates key steps to small business success with real-life experiences.  Distinguished by Tarkenton’s finely tuned business acumen, his book gives you all the guidance you need to make the most of your entrepreneurial ventures, whether you’re just starting out or facing new challenges.

Sam Deep

Sam Deep launched his speaking career in 1986 after 15 years of teaching and administration at the University of Pittsburgh. Since then, he has spoken in front of over 100,000 people, his internationally published books have sold over 1,000,000 copies, and his last four audio tapes have been featured on USAir’s EntertainAir.

When Dennis Waitley said that Sam’s books brilliantly cut straight through to the core values and actions that produce results, he was referring to Smart Moves (now in fourteen printings and thirteen languages), What to Say to Get What You Want, Yes You Can!, Smart Moves for People in Charge, Power Tools, Close the Deal, Act On It! and his latest, Lost & Found.

Sam’s ideas about management have been quoted in newspapers and magazines throughout the country as well as on CNN-FN, CNBC, and WGN radio Chicago. On top of his consulting practice, he is an adjunct professor of leadership at the Tepper Scholl of Business of Carnegie Mellon University. For five years he hosted “Following the Leader” a weekly radio program in Pittsburgh that focuses on Jesus of Nazareth as a role model for organizational leadership.

Some of Sam’s clients include Alcoa, American Institute of Banking, Bayer Corporation, Carnegie Mellon University, Hallmark Cards, Heinz USA, International Customer Service Association, Mellon Bank, Merck, New York University, OfficeMax, PNC Bank, PPG Industries, Pittsburgh Symphony, Veterans Administration, and Westinghouse, as well as many more.

You see, we have gone to great lengths to bring this panel of top business experts together for your benefit.

A panel you’d be hard-pressed to gather on your own, or witness anywhere else… with the broadest spectrum of talents and perspectives on issues that affect you directly… that you can hear in just one FREE Webcast session.

The expert panel for “The Greatest Overlooked Lever in any Small Business: Leading and Leveraging Your Team to Stunning and Sustaining Growth” session includes:

• Sam Deep… discussing 5 critical areas entrepreneurs must focus on to be better leaders…
• Marshall Goldsmith…sharing how to improve and involve all of the people around you…
• Joseph Grenny… revealing 2 critical “influence strategies” for entrepreneurial success…
• Dr. Jeffrey Pfeffer…on why communication skills “disappear” when some people become leaders…
• Fran Tarkenton… explaining what great leadership looks like when it’s implemented properly…
• Brian Tracy… describing how to measure your leadership qualities objectively…

And MUCH more!

Go ahead and make the wise decision to register for our free “League of Extraordinary Minds” Panel Discussions, where you’ll get to experience every word from these “business success” experts…

… And apply their strategies to your specific situation for higher positioning and higher profits!

So if you don’t want to miss out on even one minute of what this high-level group of “business-building power” has to share with you… for free… Click Here To Register Now!

Dan Millman

Dan Millman is a former world champion athlete, university coach, martial arts instructor, and college professor.

After an intensive, twenty-year spiritual quest, Dan’s teaching found its form as the Peaceful Warrior’s Way, expressed fully in his books and lectures. His work continues to evolve over time, to meet the needs of a changing world.

Dan’s thirteen books, including “Way of the Peaceful Warrior” have inspired and informed millions of readers in 29 languages worldwide.

Much of Dan’s time is devoted to writing and speaking. His keynotes, seminars, and workshops span the generations to influence men and women from all walks of life, including leaders in the fields of health, psychology, education, business, politics, sports, entertainment, and the arts.

Dan has been asked by many of his readers which of his books is his favorite.  He answers, “That’s like asking a parent which of his children are his favorite-impossible for me to answer, since each “child” is special. However, “The Laws of Spirit” is especially close to my heart for its pithy wisdom. In a sense, this little book provides the solutions to any of life’s dilemmas.”

Dan and his wife Joy live in northern California. They have three grown daughters and two grandsons so far.

Kathy Kolbe

Kathy Kolbe, an entrepreneur, educator and best-selling author, pioneered the identification of a distinct cluster of human behaviors that led to breakthroughs in the understanding and use of innate abilities. As the leading authority on human instincts, Kolbe has amassed over 500,000 case studies to validate her discoveries in the field of instinct and human behavior. Her research – spanning four decades and six continents – represents the foremost body of work within the realm of the conative dimension of the mind.

Kolbe has worked with Fortune 500 companies, business executives, government leaders, universities, and professional sports teams to maximize performance potential by using instinctive talents.

Her first book, “The Conative Connection“, shook the foundations of conventional wisdom regarding the mind by identifying its third and most elusive dimension: the conative. The book recounts Kolbe’s steps in putting together the puzzle of striving instincts and the development of her methodology for building upon individuals’ innate strengths. The Conative Connection became a best seller and its success fueled Kolbe’s commitment to a lifetime of casework to support her breakthrough theories. Pure Instinct, Kolbe’s business book published by Random House, details her experience with high performers in the corporate arena and her techniques for helping them to maximize their potential.

Her most recent book,”Powered by Instinct: 5 Rules for Trusting Your Guts“, serves as an individual’s guide to increase personal productivity and well-being by learning to unlock the power of their own authentic, creative self.

Marshall Thurber

Marshall Thurber is a successful attorney, real estate developer, editor, businessman, educator, scholar, inventor, negotiator, author, visionary and public speaker.

A list of his students includes such success stories as Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen of “Chicken Soup for the Soul“ fame, the founder and creator of Paul Mitchell hair products, Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Spencer Johnson, author of “Who Moved My Cheese”, Tony Robbins, Harv Eker, and Robert Kiyosaki (author of Rich Dad Poor Dad).

“Marshall Thurber is an evolutionary event in our time”
Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller,World-renowned scholar and futurist

Thousands of individuals worldwide have attended the many successful programs developed by Marshall Thurber including:

• Money & You
• Success Secrets of the 21st Century
• The Future of Business: The Essence of Deming
• The Leadership Development Training Program
• The Positive Deviant Network
• The Burklyn: School for Business Comprehensivists
• Abundanets Training
• The Accounting Game (granted a US Patent)
• How to Think About What’s Worth Thinking About
• The Secrets of Powerful Presentations
• How to Make Change Your Ally

In his private consulting business, Marshall has consulted for high profile clients that include: ITT Industries, Sheraton Hotels, The US Navy, Ernst & Young, Panavision, Neill Corporation, Hewlett Packard, GTE, The Neenan Company, Systems West, Bentley Management Corp., Liberty Helicopters, Columbia Artists Management Inc., Mendocino Forest Products, and Chicken Soup for the Soul Books.

In the late 1970s, Thurber co-founded the Burklyn Business School in Vermont.  It was designed to teach both the global principles of cooperation he learned from Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller and the contextual principles of the human potential movement.  These had been demonstrated in his own businesses.  By utilizing Superlearning Technologies™ (for maximum memory retention), simulations, music, and graphics, Thurber’s teaching is known for being powerfully effective, fun, memorable and leading edge.

This successful individual, along with two partners, started a highly successful real estate firm in California.  Attention became focused on this company and Thurber started sharing his business theories and methods with others.  Today, thousands of people worldwide actively use “Thurber Techniques” in their daily lives.

He also is a partner in The Positive Deviant Network.  This is a network of very success individuals who are committed to positive social change and the abundant living context of Buckminster Fuller.  In addition, Marshall is Chairman of the Board of Empowergy, Inc, a company whose predictable transformational system elevates the rest to perform like your very best.

Tom McCarthy

Tom McCarthy specializes in results.  When every dollar counts, it’s good to know that you’re going to get a return on your investment. If the result you want is to take your organization to the next level, Tom is the specialist that can help you achieve it.

For 21 years as a corporate consultant, speaker, author, trainer and coach, Tom has successfully taught hundreds of thousands of people how to dramatically increase their level of performance in business and in life. He has presented more than 1,500 seminars, workshops, and training programs to corporations and associations in 21 different countries around the world. Tom’s seminars and books have been translated into 10 different languages.

Tom not only speaks about success in business, he’s lived it. After graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1983 where he was a member of the nationally ranked football team, Tom became the youngest stockbroker ever hired by a prestigious Wall Street firm. By his second year Tom had become one of the highest producing brokers in the entire firm.

1986, when the leader of one of the country’s largest training organizations, Anthony Robbins, was looking for a leader to coach, energize and train the Robbins Research sales force, he chose Tom McCarthy. He became its first National Sales Trainer and National Sales Manager. As a result of Tom’s leadership, management, and training the company’s sales more than doubled each year he was there. Tom then became one of the first people Anthony Robbins personally selected to lead his prestigious Mastery University seminars.

In 1993 Tom founded Thomas McCarthy & Associates, a thriving training and consulting firm, which works closely with clients ranging from new ventures to Fortune 500 companies.  In addition to coaching and training peak performers in business, Tom has also been hired to work with 4 Olympic Gold Medalists as well as several World Champion athletes and teams.

Tom resides in Rancho Santa Fe, California with his wife Stacy and their two children.

Michael Masterson

Michael Masterson is not your typical businessman. An ex Peace Corps volunteer, he never took a class in business, doesn’t read the business press, and doesn’t like to talk business. He spends his spare time writing poetry, collecting fine art, and practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. His neighbors call him a bohemian. But he’s also an entrepreneur. He started his first business when he was 11 years old, and in the 45 years that have elapsed since then, he has started or co-started dozens of successful businesses – public and private … local and international … retail, wholesale, and direct mail.

His entrepreneurial experience is immense, even compared to other successful entrepreneurs. At one time or another, he has run or consulted for countless multimillion-dollar businesses as diverse as information publishing, fine art sales, baby products, perfumes and cosmetics to name just a few.

Richard Schefren, founder of the business coaching company Strategic Profits, says, “I consult with all of the best-known entrepreneurs in the world, and I’ve never known anyone who has been in more different sorts of successful businesses than has Michael Masterson.”

The primary focus of his business life these days, however, is split between real estate  and consulting for his primary client,  Agora Inc., a $300 million, Baltimore-based publisher of information products with offices in England, France, Spain, Germany, South Africa, and Australia. “It’s an honor to be associated with Bill Bonner (Agora’s founder and CEO) and this company,” Michael says. “And a pleasure to have been part of its growth.”

Notwithstanding clandestine luncheons that erupt into new multimillion-dollar ventures, Michael insists that he has been spending most of his time teaching and writing since he retired, for the second time, when he turned 50.“I have wanted to be a writer since my father complimented me on the first poem I wrote.

His non-fiction books include Seven Years to Seven Figures: The Fast-Track Plan to Becoming a Millionaire, Automatic Wealth for Grads…and Anyone Else Just Starting Out, Automatic Wealth: The Six Steps to Financial Independence, Power and Persuasion: How to Command Success in Business and Your Personal Life, and Confessions of a Self-Made Millionaire.

Josh Waitzkin

Josh Waitzkin first caught a glimpse of a chess set while 6 years old and walking with his mother in New York City’s Washington Square Park. He was going to play on the monkey bars, and instead he fell in love with the art that would dominate much of his young life. Josh’s first teachers were down and out hustlers–street virtuosos who took Josh under their wings and cleaned up their acts when their protégé came to play. The park guys taught Josh their aggressive, intuitive style of competition, which would remain his trademark for years to come. At age 7, Josh began his classical study of the game with his first formal teacher, Bruce Pandolfini.

From age 9 on Josh dominated the US scholastic chess scene. He won the National Primary Championship in 1986, the National Junior High Championship in 1988 while in the fifth grade, and the National Elementary Championship in 1989. At the age of eleven, he drew a game with World Champion Garry Kasparov in a simultaneous exhibition.

At age 13, Josh earned the title of National Master. He won the National Junior High Championship for the second time in 1990, and the Senior High Championship in 1991, as well as the U.S. Cadet Championship (under-sixteen). Between the 3rd and 9th grades, Josh also led New York City’s Dalton School to win 6 National team championships.

In 1993 Paramount Pictures released the film, “Searching for Bobby Fischer“, based on the highly acclaimed book of the same title written by Fred Waitzkin, documenting Josh’s journey to winning his first National Championship. That same year, at 16, Josh became an International Master and the U.S. Junior (Under-21) Co-Champion. In 1994 he won the U.S. Junior Championship and placed fourth in the Under-18 World Championship.

In addition to his intense chess life, Josh is also a gifted athlete deeply involved in the study of the martial arts Tai Chi Chuan and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Josh began studying Tai Chi Chuan with Grandmaster William CC Chen in the fall of 1998. He was drawn into the art by his love for eastern philosophy and by the desire to begin a learning process anew, as a total beginner, away from the spotlight that constantly followed his chess career. In William CC Chen, Josh found the teacher that he had always searched for, “A great master with the humility and generosity that true ‘Quality’ is all about.”

In addition to Josh’s intense competitive life, he is a renowned writer and teacher in the fields of learning and performance psychology. In 1993 When Josh was 18, Simon and Schuster published Josh’s first book, “Attacking Chess.” Now a staple in any chess player or fan’s library, Josh’s youthful book combines autobiographical anecdotes with the strategies that propelled him to the top of the scholastic chess world.

Josh’s recently published, “The Art of Learning“, which is part autobiography, part chess memoir, part martial arts philosophy. Essentially, Waitzkin offers his own approach to becoming a student and applying certain disciplines and habits toward learning and eventually mastering any skill.

This breakthrough “discovery session” will cover this critically important business success factor…

“Maximum Results From Minimum Efforts: Operating At Peak Performance To Get The Best Results From Everything You Do”

You can access this free “League of Extraordinary Minds” Webcast online at 8:00pm tomorrow, Thursday, December 10th (YOUR Local Time) by registering at:
http://www.extraordinaryminds.com/reg/

During each of these “discovery” sessions, our expert panelists will focus completely on YOUR challenges as a small business owner. They will address the most vital aspects YOU need to focus on to succeed in today’s challenging economy.

On our “Maximum Results From Minimum Efforts: Operating At Peak Performance To Get The Best Results From Everything You Do” Panel session, we will be joined by these world-class business experts:

• Kathy Kolbe discussing how to do well and enjoy every minute of it (even in challenging situations)…
• Michael Masterson revealing how to get in “the zone” and make lots of cash…
• Tom McCarthy on how to consistently perform at your best by controlling these CRITICAL factors…
• Dan Millman exposing why looking to the future won’t make you money TODAY…
• Marshall Thurber on how to get PERFECT clarity on what you want and where you want to go…
• Josh Waitzkin revealing The BIGGEST mistake entrepreneurs make when looking for success…

Add this event to your calendar, and go Register for FREE right now…

…so you don’t miss out on even one minute of what this high-level group of “business-building power” has to share with you… for free!

Nancy Ratey

Nancy A. Ratey is internationally recognized as one of the foremost authorities on personal and professional coaching for adults with and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). As one of the founders of the ADHD coaching profession, Ms. Ratey has been active for the last two decades in developing programs and lecturing on issues related to ADHD. Ms. Ratey has served as past President of the Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA).

In the field of ADHD coaching, she has been influential in designing and implementing the first comprehensive training programs for ADHD coaches. Her work continues to shape and direct the field of ADHD coaching. Ms. Ratey was chair of the national committee that created the Guiding Principles for ADHD Coaching, the pre-eminent document in the field.

Ms. Ratey is a Master Certified Coach and Senior Disability Analyst. She writes extensively on coaching and ADHD topics and has co-authored two books, “Tales from the Workplace” and “Coaching College Students with AD/HD: Issues and Answers“. She has also contributed chapters and articles to numerous publications. Her latest book, “The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents,” was published in April of 2008 by St. Martin’s Press.

Ms. Ratey and her work are often profiled in the media, including ABC, CBS, NPR Radio, and national publications such as Wired, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times.

Currently, Ms. Ratey runs a private coaching practice and consults to businesses and educational institutions. She specializes in coaching senior executives, entrepreneurs, and highly motivated professionals with ADHD.

Jim Murphy

Jim “Murph” Murphy is the Founder and CEO of Afterburner, Inc. and has a unique and powerful mix of leadership skills in both the military and business worlds. After graduating from the University of Kentucky, Murph joined the U.S. Air Force where he learned to fly the F-15. He has logged over 1,200 hours as an instructor pilot in the F-15 and has accumulated over 3,200 hours of flight time in other high-performance jet aircraft.

After years in the military, Murph returned to his love of business. Prior to his service in the U.S. Air Force, Murph had a successful career in imaging equipment sales, where he helped increase his company’s sales by 500%. Years later, Murph became Director of Sales for a small paint company. Realizing that the concepts of the Flawless Execution^SM model could be applied to business, he engaged the proven model — “Plan. Brief. Execute. Debrief.” — and increased his company’s sales from $5 million to $52 million. Realizing that many companies could benefit from these same concepts, Murph started Afterburner in early 1996.

Through his leadership, Afterburner has landed on Inc. Magazine’s “Inc. 500 List” twice. Murph has been regularly featured in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Inc. Magazine, Newsweek, Meetings & Conventions Magazine and has appeared on CNN, Fox News, and Bloomberg news to name a few. He has also been named as one of Atlanta’s top 50 entrepreneurs by Catalyst Magazine.

To date, the Afterburner team of elite military professionals has led over 1 million executives, sales professionals, and business people from every industry through Afterburner’s Flawless Execution^SM Model, and its unique, high-energy programs. Afterburner notable clients include the Who’s Who of the Global 1000 list of companies. Murph’s groundbreaking book “Business Is Combat”, is now in its third printing, and his latest book Flawless Execution^SM was released May 1st, 2005 by Harper Collins publishing.

Murph has spoken at the world’s notable business schools to include Harvard, Wharton, Cornell, Emory, and Duke.

Julie Morgenstern

Julie Morgenstern is an internationally renowned organizing and time management expert, New York Times best-selling author, consultant and speaker.  Her work spans the distance between individuals and workforces – homes and corporations.  The “Inside Out” philosophy that is now synonymous with her name result in customized solutions that are innovative, practical and ensure long-term success.   Since 1989, Julie and her staff have transformed the way individuals and companies function around the globe, including American Express, Hearst, Deloitte, Microsoft, FedEx, GlaxoSmithKline, the NBC-Newsroom, the NYC Mayor’s Office, Sony Music, State Farm Insurance, and Viacom/MTV.

As a speaker, media personality, and corporate spokesperson, Julie is known for her passionate, articulate style and warm sense of humor.  She is a contributor to Redbook, helping readers’ solve problems by inspiring order in their lives through her monthly column.  She has shared her expertise on countless TV and radio outlets, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, The Rachael Ray Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and National Public Radio.

Julie’s background in the theatre as a director, producer, and performer provides the foundation for her work as an Organizer. She believes organizing requires the same set of skills as directing/producing – an appreciation of spatial design, the ability to see the big picture as well as the tiny details, and the talent to blend psychology and practical skills to guide people where they want to go.

Her education includes a BA in Theater from Temple University and graduate studies in Directing at the Goodman School of Drama. Julie lives in New York City.

Dr. Jan Yager

Dr. Jan Yager helps individuals, groups, and companies achieve their potential through her dynamic speeches, seminars, consulting, and writing.

Dr. Jan Yager, who has a Ph.D. in sociology (City University of New York, 1983) is a member of the National Speakers Association, and author of more than twenty highly-acclaimed and award-winning books, as well as 250+ articles in Parade, The New York Times, Redbook, and other publications.

She is regularly quoted in the media (the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Self, Dallas Morning News, USA Today, etc.) as well as interviewed on TV/cable and radio programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, Good Morning, America, The View, CBS News’ Sunday Morning Show, National Public Radio, BBC radio, and others.

Work Less, Do More: The 14-Day Productivity Makeover is Dr. Yager’s most recent book, and  presents a revolutionary program for taking back control of your life.  This is an essential guide to getting things done intelligently and efficiently.

Dr. Neil Fiore

Dr. Neil Fiore is a psychologist and coach from Berkeley, California. He’s the author of 4 books, the latest from McGraw-Hill, Awaken Your Strongest Self: Break Free of Stress, Inner Conflict, and Self-Sabotage.

Neil was a paratrooper with the 101^st Airborne Division, a manager for Johnson & Johnson, and is a cancer survivor. He has published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Working Woman, Boardroom Reports, and The San Francisco Chronicle; and been cited in the Wall St. Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Elle, Self, and Psychology Today.

Neil is also an inspirational speaker and provides his audiences and his one-on-one coaching and therapy clients with practical tools for overcoming procrastination and workaholism, managing stress, and increasing joy and balance in their lives.

Neil is the recipient of the University of California’s Distinguished Achievement Award and was selected by Boardroom Reports as one of their Top-10 Self-Help Gurus.

Neil has presented keynotes and training to Amgen Pharmaceuticals, AT&T, Levi Strauss, Stanford Hospital, UC Berkeley Extension, and The Smithsonian. He has conducted seminars to audiences in Spain, Mexico, Germany, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Ireland, and Prague.

Dave Crenshaw

Dave Crenshaw is a highly sought-after business coach and time-management expert to some of the country’s top business executives and recently expanded his reach to that of an author and speaker. He began his coaching career in 1998 as the youngest independent coach for a large business coaching firm and then later went on to develop his own methodology of Systems. Accountability. Motivation.®

Crenshaw received his B.S. in Business Management-Entrepreneurship from Brigham Young University, one of the nation’s top Entrepreneur programs. He is one of the foremost experts on the epidemic known as multitasking. As a business owner himself, he formerly experienced the struggle of keeping focused. Dave recognized that he needed to re-evaluate how he organized his time. Consequently, he developed the Get Time™ system his clients use to maintain balance in their lives and take control of their business.

He is the author of “The Myth of Multitasking: How ‘Doing It All’ Gets Nothing Done” – a time management bestseller recently reviewed in TIME magazine.

You see, we have gone to great lengths to bring this panel of top business experts together for your benefit.

A panel you’d be hard-pressed to gather on your own, or witness anywhere else… with the broadest spectrum of talents and perspectives on issues that affect you directly… that you can hear in just one free Webcast session.

The expert panel for “The Performance Enhancement Quotient: Making Everything You Do Bigger and Better Starting Now” session includes:

• Dave Crenshaw… author of “The Myth of Multitasking: How Doing It All Gets Nothing Done”… reveals why everyone needs accountability (and how YOU can get it)…
• Dr. Neil Fiore… author of “Awaken Your Strongest Self: Break Free of Stress, Inner Conflict, and Self-Sabotage” and “The Now Habit: Overcoming Procrastination While Enjoying Guilt-Free Play”…shares the Three Ingredients necessary for optimal performance…
• Julie Morgenstern… author of “Organizing from the Inside Out” and “Time Management from the Inside Out”… exposes the BIGGEST obstacle to boosting your productivity…
• Jim Murphy… author of “Business Is Combat : A Fighter Pilot’s Guide to Winning in Modern Business Warfare” and “Flawless Execution : Use the Techniques and Systems of America’s Fighter Pilots to Perform at Your Peak and Win the Battles of the Business World”…discusses the “silent killer” of GREAT execution…
• Nancy Ratey… ADHD coach and author of “The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents”… tells why knowing how your ADD works can unleash MONUMENTAL success…
• Dr. Jan Yager…author of “Work Less, Do More” and “Creative Time Management”…reveals the key habits entrepreneurs should avoid (at all costs)…

You want to make sure you’ve registered for our free “League of Extraordinary Minds” Panel Discussions, so you get to experience every word from these “business success” experts…

… And apply their strategies to your specific situation for higher positioning and higher profits!

Don’t miss out on even one minute of what this high-level group of “business-building power” has to share with you… for free!

Click Here to Register

Brad Smart

Bradford D. Smart, Ph.D., is the president of Smart & Associates, Inc., based in the Chicago area. A well-known industrial psychologist and consultant with nearly thirty-five years in practice, he has worked with dozens of major companies, including General Electric, Bank of America, and John Deere.

Brad completed his doctorate in Industrial Psychology at Purdue University, entered consulting, and since the 1970s has been in private practice as President of Smart & Associates, Inc., based in the Chicago area. Brad is frequently acknowledged to be the world’s foremost expert on hiring. As a consultant to GE, Brad taught Jack Welch Topgrading methods, which led to many other companies embracing Topgrading. Brad has conducted in-depth interviews with over 6,500 executives. He is author of seven books and videos, including:

Topgrading for Sales, June 2008 release

Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping the Best People (the world’s bestseller, of 1,400 books on hiring)

The Smart Interviewer

Smart Parenting: How to Raise Happy, Can- Do Kids (co-author with Dr. Kate Smart Mursau, 2006 release); originally entitled Topgrade Your Kids!

Brad has helped companies Topgrade by assessing and coaching teams, conducting Topgrading® workshops, and providing books, handbooks, and videos to help clients Topgrade on their own. The resulting improvements in company performance have been featured on the cover of The Wall Street Journal, in many Fortune articles, and on CNN.  Click here to read and watch press about Topgrading.

Marilyn Tam

Marilyn Tam has had an extraordinarily diverse life, from her beginnings in a traditional Chinese family in Hong Kong to her meteoric rise in the international business world to become an influential corporate leader, speaker, corporate consultant, author and respected humanitarian.

Her long, distinguished background includes prominent executive roles at numerous of world-class companies, including CEO of Aveda, President of Reebok Apparel & Retail Group and Vice President of Nike. She is also a successful entrepreneur, having developed and built three companies in diverse fields: corporate consulting & training, a web portal company and a web-based supply chain software company. She is currently co-leading a cutting edge, non-invasive integrated healthcare services and products company, HealthWalk.

Ms. Tam consults and speaks globally with Fortune 500 companies, governments and non-profit organizations on Leadership, Diversity, Change Management and how to Integrate Social & Environmental concerns into Businesses profitably.

She is a director on the national board of SCORE Association. SCORE is the Resource Partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration and is dedicated to entrepreneurial education and the development, growth and success of small businesses nationwide. www.score.org

She was the Co-Chair of the N. American Marketing and Promotions for Universal Forum of Cultures, Barcelona a global project of UNESCO to gather all societies to create a better planet based on cultural diversity and economic and environmental sustainability.

Ms. Tam is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Us Foundation whose mission is to facilitate global action and dialogue on social, economic and environmental issues. Us Foundation is one of the partners for United Nations Habitat-II, and was nominated as a candidate for the “Best Practice Award” from the United Nations’ Habitat II. www.usfoundation.org

She served for five years on the international board of The Reebok Human Rights Awards, along with former President Jimmy Carter; renowned musicians Peter Gabriel, and Sting, Rafer Johnson, Chairman of the Special Olympics; and Kerry Kennedy Cuomo of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center, and Paul Fireman, Chairman of Reebok International Ltd. She was awarded The Reebok Human Rights Award for her humanitarian work.

Whether she is directly improving the lot of workers in her contract factories around the world, consulting with corporations and governments or developing and conducting seminars and lectures to train other entrepreneurs in business leadership programs at several prestigious Universities internationally, Ms. Tam always gives back. She is committed to the belief that humanitarian service is integral to and provides an essential balance and relevance to her work.

Her work has included appearances with esteemed colleagues on television and radio, as well as international conferences. One aspect involves developing and presenting for a wide range of audiences in global corporations and non-profit organizations. Among many other venues, she was invited by the Chinese government to appear as a keynote speaker at The Canton Fair, the biggest manufacturing fair in China, attended every year by tens of thousands of manufacturers and retailers from around the world.

She regularly serves as producer and Master of Ceremonies for international business and non-profit events around the world, including as the spokesperson and keynote speaker for Universal Forum of Culture’s conference on the Role of the Corporation in the 21^st Century, in Barcelona, Spain, presenting at the United Nations Habitat-II Conference in Torino, Italy, as well as organizing the inaugural Season for Non-Violence Event commemorating M.K. Gandhi and M.L. King in 30 countries.

Ms. Tam is an advisor to the country of Bhutan, working with the Ministers and government officials to transition the country into the 21^st Century while retaining their cultural and environmental heritage.

Marilyn was recognized as one of the Top 30 Female Entrepreneurs in the USA by Fempreneur magazine. Jack Canfield detailed her work in his book on the strategies for success, “The Success Principles”. She is featured as one of 50 women in the best selling book, “Fearless Women, midlife portraits” by Alspaugh, Kentz, and Halpin. Daryn Kagan, former CNN anchor featured Marilyn as one of the 50 people who dared to dream that they can make a difference, in her book, “What’s Possible”. Marilyn is featured as one of fourteen accomplished, influential and inspiring women along with Cathie Black, president of Hearst magazines, Sheila Johnson, co-founder of BET, in GLOW, a documentary movie released in November 2008.

Marilyn is featured in The Compass, a movie released in mid February 2009, as one of four story tellers along with other respected experts in the fields of personal development, relationships, fulfillment and motivation. The Compass is a movie on personal growth, a story about the journey through life and the lessons we learn along the way.

She was honored with the Artemis Award for her business and humanitarian work by the Greek government and the Euro American Women’s Council in Athens, Greece, 2006 with her likeness on a Greek postage stamp. In 2007 she was honored with the Femtor Lifetime Achievement Award from eWomenNetwork. Ms. Tam is a lifetime member of Who’s Who World Wide and is listed in Who’s Who in American Women.

Michael Gerber

Michael E. Gerber has spent his life understanding and improving the world of the Entrepreneur. This passion led to the founding of E-Myth Worldwide in 1977 to transform the way that small business owners do the work of growing their companies. Having coached, taught, and trained over 50,000 small businesses in 145 countries, Michael has become the world’s preeminent small business guru. He has now founded In the Dreaming Room. He lives in Carlsbad, California.

The Small Business Revolution Has an Impassioned Leader

Every revolution has a leader…to awaken the spirit, to champion the cause, to lead the charge! Business visionary, entrepreneur, best-selling author and Chairman of E-Myth Worldwide, Michael Gerber has been leading a Small Business Revolution before anyone knew there was one! He called it The E-Myth Revolution, and over the past two decades, he has indelibly touched hundreds of thousands of small business owners throughout the world with his brilliantly insightful, original E-Myth message.

Michael Gerber’s E-Myth Point of View embodies his commitment to personal growth and the realization that a business owner’s purpose in life can be actualized through his or her business. Michael Gerber’s efforts, his message–his very life’s work has been to empower business owners to gain more freedom, more money, more time, and more life.

Rise Above the Tyranny of Work to Find Freedom & Joy

Documented in his mega-best seller The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, Michael Gerber’s E-Myth Point of View provides those typically enslaved by a business with a way out of what he calls “the tyranny of routine.” Dragging down the owner’s entrepreneurial spirit, this tyranny is the dull, repetitive work Michael Gerber refers to as doing-it, doing-it, doing-it. The E-Myth powerfully describes how to rise above that tyranny of routine to build a flourishing, exciting, innovative business.

But The E-Myth is much more than just a book! After intensive research and hundreds of thousands of hours testing essential business development principles, practices and systems, Michael Gerber successfully created a programmatic method that works for anyone determined to improve the condition of his or her business. As a result, The E-Myth is now a process, a system, a model which can be implemented in any small business–and when implemented–will provide freedom and joy for the owners, employees and staff.

The E-Myth Point of View Reaches Out to the World

Michael Gerber has taken his methodology and message on the road, addressing business audiences throughout North America, the Pacific Rim, Europe and beyond about how to start their own personal revolution. Since the 1970s, he has served as keynote speaker, telling his compelling story to a variety of corporations, organizations, professional associations, franchises and independent business owners.

Besides speaking to business audiences, Michael Gerber expresses The E-Myth Point of View through his highly-acclaimed business books, audio tapes, videos, radio and television broadcasts. His book, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, (HarperBusiness), is licensed in 16 languages and has gone into its tenth printing. Selling over a million copies, The E-Myth Revisited has been named one of the top business best sellers. Gerber has also authored The Power Point (HarperBusiness), The E-Myth Manager: Why Management Doesn’t Work and What to Do About It (HarperBusiness), and The E-Myth Contractor: Why Most Contractors’ Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It (HarperBusiness), The E-Myth Physician: Why Most Medical Practices Don’t Work and What to Do About It (HarperBusiness) and his latest book E-Myth Mastery: The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company.

Michael Gerber’s firm, E-Myth Worldwide, brings low-cost, high-impact consulting to the small business owner, and is the pioneer in long distance “telecoaching.”

Let Michael Gerber speak for you at your next event! Contact him for date availability and booking information, or call us at (707) 778-2286

Michael Gerber doesn’t just speak; he changes people’s lives!

Bo Burlingham

Bo Burlingham is the author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big (Portfolio, 2006) and an Editor-at-large of Inc. magazine.

My story in brief: I joined Inc. in January 1983 as a senior editor and became executive editor six months later, a position I held for the next seven years or so. In 1990, I resigned and became editor-at-large for a number of reasons, including my desire to go back to writing. I subsequently wrote two books with Jack Stack, the co-founder and CEO of Springfield Remanufacturing Corp. and the pioneer of open-book management. One of the books, The Great Game of Business (Doubleday/Currency, 1992), has sold more than 300,000 copies. (It explains what open-book management is and how it works in practice at the company that does it best.) The other, A Stake in the Outcome (Doubleday/Currency, 2002), has also done pretty well and gotten great reviews. (It’s a book you should read if you want to know what it really takes to run an employee-owned company.)

Before joining Inc., I freelanced for various publications, including Esquire, Harper’s, Boston Magazine, and Mother Jones. I was also managing editor of Ramparts magazine for a while, if anyone can remember back that far. In 1982, I joined Fidelity Investments, where I wrote for Peter Lynch, Ned Johnson, and other honchos until coming to Inc. From 1992 to 1997, I served on the board of The Body Shop Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the international cosmetics company. I was also a founder, with Tom Peters, of PAC World, a weird international networking group that gave me a chance to meet a lot of zany—and brilliant—people from around the globe.

What else? I’ve been married 35 years to my wonderful wife, Lisa. We have two children and one fabulous grandson, with a granddaughter on the way. We live…well, that’s a long story. Let’s just say I’m always at large.

Dr. Eric Flamholtz

Eric Flamholtz is Professor of Human Resource Management & Organizational Behavior in the Anderson Graduate School of Management and a Faculty Research Fellow in the Harold Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is also President of Management Systems Consulting Corporation, which he co-founded in 1978.

His major interests are: strategic organizational development (organizational success and failure) and the transitions and transformations required at different stages of growth; 2) the measurement and management of organizational culture; 3) organizational control systems such as the Balanced Scorecard; and 4) Human Resource Accounting. His approach is based upon what he terms “practical management theory,” i.e.; management theory, which is empirically based and sound but which is relevant and useful to managers.

His educational background combines organizational behavior and human resource management with accounting. He has taught and done research in each of these disciplines as well as interdisciplinary work combining all three.

Since 1976, Eric Flamholtz has focused on two fundamental questions: What does it take to continue to build successful organizations over the long term? and What is required for managers to continue to be successful throughout their careers? Answering these questions led Dr. Flamholtz to develop a series of frameworks and management tools that enable organizations and individuals to transition successfully from one stage of development to the next. His ultimate aim is to develop a holistic approach to managing growth successfully over the long term.

Eric is widely published in academic and professional literature. He has authored several books, including Growing Pains: Transitioning from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm,Third Edition, (with Yvonne Randle, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2000), The Inner Game Of Management (with Yvonne Randle, American Management Association, 1987), Human Resource Accounting, Third Edition (Kluwer Academic Press, 1999), Changing the Game: Managing Organizational Transformations of the First, Second, and Third Kinds (with Yvonne Randle, Oxford University Press, 1998), and Effective Organizational Control: Theory and Practice (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996). He has also authored many professional and academic articles.

His clients have included: Amgen, Starbucks Coffee Company, Neutrogena, PowerBar, Countrywide Credit Industries, Tommy Bahama, Pardee Construction (a Weyerhaeuser company), Mövenpick Gastronomy International, The Disney Store, Wolfgang Puck Food Company, Baskin Robbins, Navistar International, PacifiCare Health Systems, American Century Investors, Jamba Juice, Bugle Boy, Chart House Enterprises, City National Bank, Citation, Cendant Mortgage, Guilford Pharmaceuticals, Mortgage Information Corporation, Unitech Systems, IBM, Kemper Insurance, General Dynamics, United Technologies, Meredith Publishing, Simon Properties, Touche Ross, LifeScan (subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), Mileage Plus (subsidiary of UAL Corp.), Surgitek (subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb), Republic Pictures, U.S. Filter, New World Entertainment, and Tekelec as well as many others.

Additionally, Eric has presented seminars and workshops for a wide variety of firms and organizations, including FedEx, Nike, Colgate Palmolive, AT&T, Hughes Electronics, Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Forbes Presidents Forum, Fortune Growth Conference, Fortune Human Resources Forum, Fortune CFO Forum, General Motors, PepsiCo, Abbott Laboratories, ARCO, Allergan, the Hyatt Corporation, Borg Warner, CIT, Computer Sciences Corporation, TRW, United Overseas Bank (Singapore), Warburg Pincus (Singapore), and Reuters (Switzerland).

Dr. Flamholtz has served on the faculty at UCLA since 1973. Previously, he served on the faculties of Columbia University, and the University of Michigan where he was also on the Staff of The Institute for Social Research (ISR). At UCLA, he currently teaches courses on “Managing Entrepreneurial Organizations” and “Human Resource Management & Organizational Behavior.” He has previously taught courses on Financial Planning & Control Systems, Managerial Decision-Making, Behavioral Accounting, Human Resource Accounting, and Advanced Management as well as the basic core course in Financial & Managerial Accounting. He is a member of the Personnel Round Table.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, an M.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, and an undergraduate degree in from Hunter College. His doctoral dissertation, “The Theory and Measurement of an Individual’s Value to an Organization,” was co-winner of the McKinsey Foundation for Management Research Dissertation Award.

Kerry Patterson

Kerry Patterson is a prolific writer who has coauthored numerous articles and award-winning training programs. Kerry taught at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management and then cofounded Interact Performance Systems, where he worked for ten years as vice president of research and development. Kerry is coauthor of the New York Times bestsellers Influencer: The Power to Change Anything, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High and Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior. Kerry has completed doctoral work at Stanford University. He is a recipient of the Mentor of the Year Award and the 2004 William G. Dyer Distinguished Alumni Award from Brigham Young University.

Kerry Patterson is one of the cofounders and leaders of VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance that has taught more than two million people worldwide and worked with more than 300 of the Fortune 500 companies.

Kerry Patterson is also Professor of Econometrics at the University of Reading. He was previously Economist and Consultant Senior Economic Adviser at the Bank of England.

Some of Kerry’s books include:

• Influencer:  The Power to Change Anything
• Crucial Conversations:  Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
• Crucial Confrontations:  Tools for Taking About Broken Promises, Violated Expectations and Bad Behavior
• Better Than Duct Tape:  Dialogue Tools for Getting Results and Getting Along
• The Balancing Act:  Mastering the Competing Demands of Leadership

Lou Adler

Lou Adler is the president of The Adler Group, an international training and consulting firm helping  companies find and hire top talent using Performance-based Hiring^sm. He is the Amazon best-seller author of Hire With Your Head and the Nightingale-Conant audio program Talent Rules! Using Performance-based Hiring to Hire Top Talent (2007). Adler is a noted recruiting industry expert, international speaker, and columnist for a number of major recruiting and HR organization sites including SHRM, HRPA, SMA, ERE, Kennedy Information, EUCI, HR.com and ZoomInfo.com.

The Adler Group helps companies around the world make hiring top talent a systematic business process. As the originators of Performance-based Hiring^sm they are able to offer a full range of training and consulting services for recruiters and hiring managers. For those critical and hard-to-fill executive positions they also provide a unique executive search capability.

Their client base includes Fortune 500 clients like Yahoo!, Wells Fargo, and AIG as well as diverse organizations like the YMCA, Broadcom, HealthEast Care Systems, Lloyd’s of London, and Red Bull. The Adler Group is an acknowledged leader in sourcing strategy development, recruiting and hiring process reengineering, and recruitment training.

You see, we have gone to great lengths to bring this panel of top business experts together for your benefit.

A panel you’d be hard-pressed to gather on your own, or witness anywhere else… with the broadest spectrum of talents and perspectives on issues that affect you directly… that you can hear in just one free Webcast session.

The expert panel for “The Business Building Triple Play: The Three Key Levels that’ll Multiply Any Small Business from the Inside Out” session includes:

• Lou Adler… author of “Hire With Your Head: Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Great Teams” and developer of his proven system for hiring superior people. On this Panel discussion, Lou reveals how your talents can help you manage your business for success in the short-term… and build a team for the long-term.
• Bo Burlingham… author of “Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big” and “The Knack: How Street Smart Entrepreneurs Learn How to Handle Whatever Comes Up”… shares the critical leadership factors that will transform your small business into well-oiled, thriving company.
• Dr. Eric Flamholtz…author of “Growing Pains: Transitioning from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm”… During this Panel discussion, he reveals the Number 1 Strategy for ANY entrepreneur. Along with the “not so obvious factors” that can make a huge difference in the success of an entrepreneurial company.
• Michael Gerber has spent his life understanding and improving the world of the entrepreneur. This passion led to the founding of the famous “E-Myth” learning series and his best-seller “The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It.” On our Panel 4 discussion, Michael shares how to create a stunning impact on your customers, your people and the world.
• Kerry Patterson… co-author of “Influencer: The Power to Change Anything,” “Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High” and “Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior.” On our Panel 4 discussion, Kerry reveals three essential “behaviors” that help entrepreneurs grow multi-million dollar companies, and how to succeed during an economic recession or a downturn in the economy.
• Brad Smart… author of “Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping the Best People,” discusses the three most common hiring mistakes. And more importantly, how to AVOID costly “mis-hires” so you can STOP working 50, 60, even 80 hours a week… and STOP “carrying” underperforming staff.
• Marilyn Tam… former President of Reebok Apparel & Retail Group, and former Vice President of Nike, Marilyn shares her three top “best practices” for improving ANY business… and how all entrepreneurs can achieve a fulfilling life, where you’re happy and at peace.

When you register for our FREE “League of Extraordinary Minds” Panel Discussions, you get to experience every word from these “business success” experts…

… And apply their strategies to your specific situation for higher positioning and higher profits!

So don’t miss out on even one minute of what this high-level group of “business-building power” has to share with you… for free!

Sergio Zyman

Sergio Zyman is the Chairman and founder of Zyman Group and the former Chief Marketing Officer of The Coca-Cola Company. Over the course of 30+ years of hands-on marketing experience, Zyman has conceived a revolutionary set of principles that are proven to translate marketing strategies into positive business results. He rejects the old rules of the industry that conceptualized marketing as an art form with vague commercials and awareness messages. Instead, Zyman passionately advocates a vision of scientific, process-based marketing as the driver of sales and profits and the centerpiece of business. The only definition of marketing success he upholds is “selling more stuff to more people more often for more money more efficiently.”

From major food and beverage companies to industrial manufacturers to popular retailers to global telecommunications powers, a diverse group of clients has sought out and received Zyman’s marketing expertise. As the driving force behind Zyman Group, he is able to reach even more diverse businesses in need of marketing guidance. Zyman Group has helped businesses ranging from the largest of the Global 1000 to high-tech growth companies improve their marketing results by providing the guidance they need to move their marketing efforts from hoping to planning, from art to science, from guessing to knowing, and from random success to planned success.

Zyman’s unparalleled marketing career also includes tenures with Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. He is best known for his bold actions as the outspoken CMO of Coca-Cola, where he re-conceptualized the company’s marketing strategy and boosted worldwide annual sales volume from nine to 15 billion cases–the most explosive growth period in the company’s history. This success led TIME magazine to name him one of the three key pitchmen of the 20th century.

His passion and knowledge have been transformed into texts that constitute the core curriculum of results-driven marketing. His best selling book, The End Of Marketing As We Know It, clearly lays out Zyman’s ground rules for marketing success. In his second book, Building Brandwidth: Closing the Sale Online, Zyman turns his expert eye to the e-marketing revolution, and explains the futility of Internet marketing that fails to close online sales. His third book, The End of Advertising As We Know It, examines the one segment of marketing where the most mistakes are made and where the most money is spent, and wasted–advertising–and provides actionable recommendations for improving return on advertising investment. Sergio’s latest book, Renovate Before You Innovate, details time-tested principles for accelerating sustainable organic growth.

As a highly-experienced marketing professional and an extremely charismatic communicator, Sergio Zyman is sought after as a speaker by companies and organizations throughout the world. He energizes audiences with his creativity and dynamic, unpredictable style. In addition, his acute insights have been featured in every major business publication, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week and Fortune.

Zyman launched a consulting firm called the Zyman Group that he sold to MDC Partners Inc., a Canadian investment company, for around $ 60 million.( 3) He was replaced there as Chairman by Scott Miller, formerly with McCann Erickson and the Sawyer/Miller Group and is no longer part of the Zyman Group’s management team – though he is listed as the founder of the company. He is currently listed as the Vice Chairman of Broad choice ( 4) a marketing firm focused on behavioral analytics and can be seen in a video-clip on Youtube promoting the firm. He has written 4 books to date on his experiences in marketing and advertising. He is also a professional public speaker charging rates of around $ 25,000 to $ 30,000 for an appearance. He can be booked through Leading Authorities, Inc., Premiere Speakers Bureau, Washington Speakers Bureau, and Speakers.com (5)

Sergio Zyman is a native of Mexico City. He holds an Executive MBA from Harvard University and has attended graduate schools in London, Paris and Jerusalem. When he is not immersed in the world of marketing, he expends his spare energy as an enthusiastic runner and an avid reader. He also enjoys golf, skiing and cycling.

His other titles include The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads-to-Be, The New Father: A Dad’s Guide to the First Year, and A Dad’s Guide to the Toddler Years. He lives with his family in Oakland, California.

Gary Vaynerchuck

Gary Vaynerchuk has captured attention with his pioneering, multi-faceted approach to personal branding and business. After primarily utilizing traditional advertising techniques to build his family’s local wine business into a national industry leader, Gary rapidly leveraged social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to promote Wine Library TV, his video blog about wine. As his viewership swelled to over 80,000 a day, doors opened to a book deal, several national TV appearances, and a flurry of speaking engagements around the world. Gary’s dual identity as both business guru and wine guy has made him the “Social Media Sommelier.”

In addition to the Web 2.0 keynote above, Gary’s remarks on personal branding, social media, and business at FOWA, Strategic Profits, and South By Southwest occasioned praise from established web denizens including Kathy Sierra and earned the admiration of countless bloggers and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Gary’s landmark seven-figure book deal with Harper Studio was featured in The Wall Street Journal.

What motivates this revolution, you ask? Our movement seeks to break down the barriers, stereotypes, and misperceptions that otherwise prevent people from exploring and enjoying the exciting and rewarding world of wine. Gary Vaynerchuk (VAY NER CHUK), the star of Wine Library TV, is Director of Operations at Wine Library in Springfield, NJ. With his unconventional, often irreverent commentary on wine, Gary has attracted a cult-like following of more than 80,000 viewers a day. In the name of “expanding one’s palate”, Gary convinced Conan O’Brien to lick salted rocks and shared samples of dirt and grass with Ellen Degeneres. He routinely pans popular wines (even ones sold by Wine Library). He interrupts his webcasts with rants about his beloved New York Jets. This is not your typical wine expert.

Gary’s roots in wine tasting come honestly – his Russian immigrant parents owned a liquor store when he was growing up. Bored at the cash register, Gary began reading Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate and realized collecting wine offered an allure similar to his previous hobby of collecting baseball cards. As a teenager, tasting wine was legally impossible, so Gary set out to train his palate “backwards”. To study various flavors associated with wine, Gary tasted obscure fruits and vegetables, along with earthly influences, including grass, dirt, rocks, tobacco and wood. “I probably consumed more New Jersey grass in my teens than any lawn mower.” By familiarizing himself with the numerous tastes that contributed to a specific wine, Gary was able to detect subtleties that an ordinary palate wouldn’t recognize.

With a wealth of knowledge and an entrepreneurial spirit, Gary spent every weekend of his college years at his parents’ store, rebranding the family business as Wine Library and establishing himself as a respected expert. As the store’s only wine buyer, he sampled every wine that entered the store. Customers depended on Gary for his advice and within a five year time period, Wine Library grew from a $4 million dollar business to a $45 million business.

But Gary’s career took a new turn with the advent of Wine Library TV. Gary’s key goals are twofold: “First, I want people to try different wines. How can you have a favorite if you only know a few? Second, I tell people to trust their palates. If a wine appeals to your palate, then it’s a good choice. Don’t feel pressured to like popular brands or what experts recommend. Buy what ‘brings the thunder’ for you.”

It always troubled Gary to observe the stuffiness of the industry–conceited sommeliers, snobby shopkeepers unwilling (or unable) to educate their consumers, and seemingly mystical conventions all combine to make wine seem intimidating to the uninitiated. Wine Library TV has reinvented the concept of wine tasting for a new generation. In addition to encouraging straightforward wine tasting, Gary educates viewers about the effects of regional factors (soil, sun, wind) on wine flavors, and how to buy wine. Debunking myths (red vs. white, big name brands vs. independent growers, the pitfalls of wine ratings, etc.) is another ongoing theme of the show. Specific episode topics have included decanting, how to train your palate, the impact oak aging
and barrel fermenting have on wine (Beware of the Oak Monster!), and comparisons of wines made from the same grapes grown in different regions.

WLTV has blossomed into a full-fledged community. The viewers (self-named “Vayniacs”) convene on an extremely active forum, and have organized numerous off-line gatherings. Gary and the viewers have teamed up with Crushpad in the past year to create the first ever community wine, Vayniac Cabernet.

Gary Vaynerchuk has been featured by a variety of national media outlets, including:

National TV

• Late Night with Conan O’Brien – May 12, 2008
• The Ellen Degeneres Show
• CBS Early Show
• Mad Money with Jim Cramer
• Nightline
• The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch
• Late Night with Conan O’Brien – August 1, 2007
• Spike TV
• ABC News
• CNN Your $$$$$

Al Ries

Al Ries is chairman of Ries & Ries, an Atlanta-based marketing strategy firm that he runs with his daughter Laura Ries.   Al is a legendary marketing strategist and the bestselling author (or co-author) of 11 books on marketing including Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Marketing Warfare, Focus, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR and his latest The Origin of Brands.

After graduating from DePauw University, Al worked in the advertising department of General Electric before founding his own advertising agency in New York City, Ries Cappiello Colwell. The agency later changed to a marketing strategy firm, Trout & Ries.

In 1994, Al started Ries & Ries with his daughter Laura. Al and Laura continue to work together consulting with Fortune 500 companies, writing books and giving seminars around the world.

Al was president of the Association of Industrial Advertisers (now the Business Marketing Association) and the Advertising Club of New York. He was also chairman of the Club’s Andy Awards. In 1989, Sales & Marketing Executives International gave him its “Tops in Marketing” award. In 1999, PR Week magazine named him one of the 100 most influential PR people of the 20^th century.

Always one for controversy, Al’s book, The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR, has generated enormous interest in the marketing community. The book made both the Business Week and The Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. In addition to being reviewed by these publications, it was also reviewed by USA Today, Harvard Business Review, Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times and many other publications.

Al’s latest release, The Origin of Brands explores “divergence,” the best way to create a new brand. The concept is analogous to the creation of a new species, as pioneered by Charles Darwin in his classic book on the subject.  Al currently writes a monthly marketing column for AdAge.com and is an often quoted expert in many publications. He resides in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Mary Lou.

Jay Conrad Levinson

Jay Conrad Levinson is the author of the best-selling marketing series in history, “Guerrilla Marketing,” plus 30 other books. His books have sold 14 million copies worldwide. His guerrilla concepts have influenced marketing so much that today his books appear in 41 languages and are required reading in many MBA programs worldwide.

Jay is the Chairman of Guerrilla Marketing International, a marketing partner of Adobe and Apple. He has served on the Microsoft Small Business Council. His Guerrilla Marketing is series of books, audiotapes, videotapes, a CD-ROM, an Internet website, and an online marketing advancement called The Guerrilla Marketing Association – which is an interactive marketing support system for small business

Jay taught guerrilla marketing for ten years at the extension division of the University of California in Berkeley. And he was a practitioner of it in the United States — as Senior Vice-President at J. Walter Thompson, and in Europe, as Creative Director and Board Member at Leo Burnett Advertising.

He has written a monthly column for Entrepreneur Magazine, articles for Inc. Magazine, and online columns published monthly on the Microsoft Website. He also has written online columns for several Internet websites, including Netscape, America Online, Fortune Small Business and Hewlett-Packard.

But most of all, Guerrilla Marketing is a way for business owners to spend less, get more, and achieve substantial profits. And the man to transform you AND your organization into marketing guerrillas – is the one and only The Father of Guerrilla Marketing — Jay Conrad Levinson.

Vicki Kunkel

Vicki Kunkel is a former television news anchor, published author, entrepreneur, nationally recognized expert on mass appeal and persuasiveness, and an award-winning social anthropology researcher. 

She’s also an award-winning social anthropologist who has been recognized as an expert in mass appeal and “stickiness” by over 200 media outlets.

She’s applied her “Instant Appeal” techniques to products, people and social causes.

Vicki noticed a perplexing phenomenon occurring from Washington’s Beltway to corporate boardrooms:  people with outstanding presentation skills were losing elections, court cases and major business deals to people with less skill but more appeal.

This led her on a multi-year journey into research in neurology, neuro-acoustics, social anthropology and social intelligence.  Vicki condensed this research, which became the basis for her “Instant Appeal” theory of mass influence — a theory based on far more than persuasive communications.  She found that real influence is cemented with anthropological and neurological triggers.

Paul Cherry

Performance Based Results founder and managing partner, Paul Cherry has over 20 years experience in sales training, leadership development, sales coaching and leadership coaching. To date, he has helped over 1,200 organizations in every major industry ranging from family-owned small businesses to leading Fortune 500 companies. 84% of clients report on average a 12:1 ROI from his training programs as the emphasis is on reinforcement and accountability. He is also one of the foremost experts on sales questioning methods and techniques.

And, as the author of the well-known book, “Instant Appeal”, she highly recommends you become one as well – if you’re serious about outshining competitors in an overcrowded marketplace.

“When you leverage the Jackass Factor”, as Vicki will be explaining in your upcoming League Panel, “it transforms you, your company, and most importantly… your product offerings into attractive, enticing propositions prospects are eager and excited to take advantage of.”

The Jackass Factor is what allows you to be who you are, stand for what you truly believe in, and represent your personal and professional values and beliefs.  Yet, at the same time, it’s what allows you to be an extremely “attractive” character and representative to your prospects. Two things that are essential to building a thriving business.

The end-result is that more customers buy from you. And, as they do, they buy from you more often and with greater trust.

As you’ll hear from Vicki in your very next League Panel on Thursday, November 12th at 8PM – in a crowded marketplace, with lots of competitors, offers, and options in front of prospects, your ability to convey true personality, a unique perspective, and true authenticity is the minimum requirement if you want to stand out from competitors.

In other words, it’s essential to your business success that you appropriately and properly represent who you are and what you stand for as a company and individual through all of your marketing communications and campaigns.

Fact is; people want to do business with people they like and trust. And, today, people want to do business with other “real people”.

Your prospects aren’t interested in purchasing products and services from a massive corporation, a big company, or even a small business, for that matter.  And, frankly, if that’s the image you’re unintentionally conveying via your marketing communications, your sales will suffer. And, suffer significantly.

Instead, your prospects want to spend their money with a real person. A person who understands them, sees their needs, and can relate to who they are. And, this is exactly what the “Jackass Factor” does for you.

When you implement the “Factor” in your business, prospects feel a greater and deeper bond with you.

And, because of that, they’ll feel more comfortable spending money on your products or services.

In the end they’re happier.

You’re happier.

And, your company makes a heck of a lot more money.

The catch, if you will, to doing this correctly, is that even though you want to be yourself and allow your personality and values to shine through in your marketing… you never want to do it in a way that insults, turns-off, or rubs prospects the wrong way.

That certainly goes without saying. Yet, it’s easier said than done.

Fortunately, in your upcoming League Panel, Vicki Kunkel explains exactly how the Jackass Factor will allow you be true to who you are… and… in a way that magnetically draws prospects to you and your company.

In addition to the “Jackass Factor”, you’ll also hear Vicki share how to use certain numbers in your business to dominate competitors and rule your market space.

“In combination, these two competencies will transform almost any business or entrepreneur into a financial force not to be reckoned with!”

Be sure you’ve set aside the time on your calendar to hear everything Vicki has to share about these 2 business-building techniques during tomorrow night’s panel – Thursday, November 12th at 8PM.

In the meantime, join the conversation below.  Let us know how you feel about authenticity, trust, and personality in marketing.

Go ahead….

Share you comments below.

Be sure to join us for the third discovery session webcast in our 6 week series this Thursday November 12th at 8:00pm (Your Local Time).

If you haven’t already registered for the webcasts you can do so here

You won’t want to miss this amazing event as Jay Abraham and Rich Schefren interview this second group of panelists which includes:

• Paul Cherry
• Vicki Kunkel
• Jay Conrad Levinson
• Al Ries
• Gary Vaynerchuk
• Sergio Zyman

During this interview the panelists will give mind blowing answers to the following questions:

1. What do you see respectively that is the single biggest marketing mistake small businesses are making today, and what do they need to do to fix it?
2. What’s the biggest single marketing tactic that you either developed, researched, engineered or consistently use that could make the biggest difference in almost any business owners’ performance – why and how?
3. We’ve coined a word – sort of a descriptive umbrella for the expertise represented on this call – pre-emptive marketing – how would marketing be different under your pre-emptive approach than what the mainstream is currently employing and why?
4. Most of you have a multiplicity of progressive and breakthrough strategies, concepts, tactics and methodologies in your quiver – of all of them what’s the one weapon that you think everyone on the call should master and how would you suggest they get started?
5. What is the key to creating and implementing innovative marketing breakthroughs in a small to medium sized business?
6. If you had to sum up in 3-minutes or less what it takes to outperform your competition, what would you say?
7. Through the lens of your expertise; What one question do you wish we would have asked you, that we didn’t, that relates to helping members on this call make their business more profitable, more successful, more competitively advantageous right now and into the future? Why is it an important question? And had we asked, what would your answer be?

Just like last week, the answers and secrets these experts reveal during this 90 minute event will completely blow you away! Fortune 500 companies pay these guys tens of thousands of dollars for information like this that Jay and Rich are extracting for you for FREE!

Don’t miss this exclusive webcast.  It will not be re-played.

This webcast takes place on Thursday November 12th at 8PM (Your local time!)
Just to be extra clear, that’s 8pm your time no matter where you live in the world.

To get all the details, register here

After you’ve listened to the webcast, we’d love to get your testimonial so please come back to this page and let us know the biggest insights and takeaways you gained from the panel.

• Is it setting the marketing budget too low?
• Choosing the wrong advertising channel?
• Failing to capitalize on current trends?

No, no, and no.

According to Jay Conrad Levinson (author of the multi-million best-seller “Guerilla Marketing”) the biggest marketing mistake can be summed up simply and directly…

“The Number 1 marketing mistake small businesses make is NOT creating a simple marketing plan… and failing to COMMIT to their plan.”

It’s true, I’ve seen it happen over and over again.

Someone will get a great idea for a small business and do all the work to get it up and going…. only to find that people aren’t necessarily going to line up around the block to buy what they have.

So they throw a bunch of money at a variety of different marketing techniques (usually suggested by a media rep who has their own agenda), all of which are 99% certain to fail miserably.

And sooner or later, the doors shut for good–while the entrepreneur is left scratching their head as to why their great idea didn’t work.

I’m reminded of the old saying, “People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan”. That’s why Jay Conrad Levinson has developed a quick and easy way to simplify your marketing plan (without letting it intimidate you), in a way that doesn’t have to be complicated–unless YOU make it complicated!

I spoke with Jay recently to go over some details regarding this week’s webcast for the League Of Extraordinary Minds. Jay’s going to be on the panel, along with a KILLER lineup of experts (more on that later).

During the call, Jay revealed his “7 Sentence Simple Marketing Plan” to me. This thing is absolutely brilliant. And the best part is, it takes no more than 5 minutes to create.

Just ask yourself these 7 simple, direct questions. Then write down the answers to create your 7 Sentence Simple Marketing Plan:

Ready? Here goes….

1) What is the purpose of your marketing? (What action do you want them to take?

2) What is the main competitive advantage you stress to achieve that action/purpose? (What main benefit do you offer that your competitors do not?)

3) Who is your target audience?

4) Which marketing “weapons” will you use to achieve that action/purpose? (Expressed as a list.)

5) For your market niche, what do you stand for?

6) What is your identity, your personality?

7) What is your marketing budget? (as a percentage of your projected gross sales)

That’s it. See how easy that was?

No long, drawn out document. No confusing spreadsheet. Just 7 simple question to answer and voila! You’ve got the basics of a winning marketing plan.

But I know what you’re thinking…”Rich, are you SURE this is going to work for me?”

Without a doubt–YES! And here’s why…

In my years of experience as a entrepreneur and small business owner, I’ve seen more marketing tactics, strategies, and techniques than I can remember…

And I can say this with absolutely certainty: Even the most mediocre marketing WITH commitment will always outperform brilliant marketing WITHOUT commitment.

So sit down right now and create your “7 Sentence Simple Marketing Plan.”

Then I want to hear what you think about it, specifically:

- How did this exercise bring clarity to the marketing tasks you must perform?

- How do you think your new “7 Sentence Simple Marketing Plan” will affect your business in the next 30 days?

- And how much more confidence do you have this very moment, that you will EASILY be able to commit to your “7 Sentence Simple Marketing Plan?”

So please leave a comment below once you’re finished. I’ll check the site and read your comments as they come in. Then we’ll continue this conversation on another blog post.

And as my way of saying thanks for participating, I’ll send you a special gift by email to help you commit to following through on your new, simple, POWERFUL marketing plan.

How does that sound?

So please go do that right now, and we’ll talk again soon.

To Higher Profits,

Rich

P.S. Like I mentioned before, Jay Conrad Levinson will be our special guest on this week’s League Of Extraordinary Minds panel…

Jay will go into more detail regarding his 7 Sentence Simple Marketing Plan, along with discussing Pre-Emptive Marketing: Innovative Tactics That Outperform What Everyone Else Is Doing.

Jay will be joined by renowned experts Paul Cherry, Vicki Kunkel, Al Ries, Gary Vanyerchuk, and Sergio Zyman. It all happens Thursday, November 12th at 8:00 PM your local time.

So if you haven’t registered yet, do it now right HERE.

Be sure to join us for the second discovery session webcast in our 6 week series this Thursday November 5th at 8:00pm (Your Local Time).

If you haven’t already registered for the webcasts you can do so here

We were the #9 most visited site on the Internet for last weeks call and our servers got inundated but we’ve totally re-designed the code and brought a fleet of new servers online to handle the demand. You won’t want to miss this amazing event as Jay Abraham and Rich Schefren interview this second group of panelists which includes:

• Dan Ariely
• Ori Brafman
• Robert Cialdini
• Pam Danziger
• Dan Hill
• Christophe Morin

During this interview the panelists will give mind blowing answers to the following questions:

1. In all the research and analysis you’ve done on the subject tell us one to four of the most important and perhaps unexpected distinctions that you realized or discovered that would benefit our members the most?
2. How does conventional marketing overlook or miss totally the power of the brain based/understanding of brain based messaging?
3. How do you shift your marketing focus from old school to brain based and why?
4. How would you go about specifically using your findings or methodologies to improve or transform the performance of specific marketing steps?
5. Give us a process – a simplified short course primer – of how to immerse your business or your marketing/advertising people in the latest scientific understandings about buying behavior
6. What’s the biggest single change that listeners need to do right now – if you were doing an immediate intervention in the listeners businesses what would you do, and why?
7. Through the lens of your expertise; What one question do you wish we would have asked you, that we didn’t, that relates to helping members on this call make their business more profitable, more successful, more competitively advantageous right now and into the future? Why is it an important question? And had we asked, what would your answer be?

Just like last week, the answers and secrets these experts reveal during this 90 minute event will completely blow you away! Fortune 500 companies pay these guys tens of thousands of dollars for information like this that Jay and Rich are extracting for you for FREE!

Don’t miss this exclusive webcast.  It will not be re-played.

This webcast takes place on Thursday November 6th at 8PM (Your local time!)
Just to be extra clear, that’s 8pm your time no matter where you live in the world.

To get all the details, register here

After you’ve listened to the webcast, we’d love to get your testimonial so please come back to this page and let us know the biggest insights and takeaways you gained from the panel.

Christophe Morin

With over 25 years of marketing and business development experience, Christophe’s passion has always been to understand and predict consumer behavior.

Before joining SalesBrain, Christophe was Chief Marketing Officer for Star Networks, a public company that develops private networks for Fortune 500 companies. Previously, he was VP of Marketing and Corporate Training for Canned Foods, Inc, the largest grocery remarketer in the world.

During a six-year tenure as President and C.E.O. of French-owned Doublet Manufacturing, Inc, , he won a highly competitive multi-million dollar Olympic bid in 1996.

Christophe graduated from ESC Nantes with a BA in Marketing, and received an MBA from Bowling Green State University. He is currently pursuing a Phd in Media Psychology with Fielding Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California.

Dan Hill

Dan Hill, Ph.D., founder and president of Sensory Logic, Inc., is a recognized authority on the role of emotions in consumer and employee behavior. In launching the company, Dan was inspired by breakthroughs in brain science which challenge traditional ideas of understanding, and by facial coding as an aid in measuring people’s decision-making process for consumer insight testing.

In 1998 Dan Hill started Sensory Logic, Inc., a scientific, research-based consultancy that specializes in gauging and helping to enhance companies’ sensory-emotional connection with consumers.

Dan is a frequent speaker around the world and has appeared on CNN and FOX, as well as on NPR’s Marketplace, CNBC and CNNfn. His extensive press coverage in print includes The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, China Forbes, BusinessWeek and Business 2.0.

Sensory Logic’s unique research combination of eye tracking and facial coding to measure consumers’ split-second, intuitive reaction to advertising and products led Dan to publish two books. Body of Truth: Leveraging What Consumers Can’t or Won’t Say (John Wiley & Sons 2003) was a Fast Company Book of the Month nominee, and rated as one of the three most important business books of 2004 by DDI Magazine. His latest book is the critically-acclaimed Emotionomics: Winning Hearts and Minds (Beaver Pond Press 2007), which explores both the marketplace and workplace, received much notable praise in advance of its release.

Raised in Minnesota and Italy, Dan received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University following studies at Brown University, Oxford University, and St. Olaf College. Dan and his wife, Karen, a clothes designer, live in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Dan Hill is a recognized authority on the role of emotions in consumer and employee behavior with over a decade of experience running his scientific, emotional insights consultancy: Sensory Logic, Inc. Its unique research tool, facial coding, is highlighted in Malcolm Gladwell’s best-seller Blink and is used by the CIA and FBI.

A frequent speaker at business conferences and seminars from coast to coast, as well as in Europe and Asia, Dan’s blue-chip clients have included Target, Toyota, General Motors, American Express, Capital One, Nokia, GlaxoSmithKline, among dozens of other major brands.

Dan has appeared on FOX NEWS, CNN, and MSNBC regarding his analysis of the 2008 Presidential Election. Press coverage of Dan and his company include The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, TIME.com, China Forbes, Entrepreneur, LA Times and Kiplinger’s.

In the fall of 2008, Kogan Page re-released his second book, Emotionomics, Winning Hearts and Minds with a new foreword written by Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons. Dan’s first book, Body of Truth: Leveraging What Consumer’s Can’t or Won’t Say was released in 2003 and was a Fast Company Book of the Month nominee.

Dan received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University following studies at Brown University, Oxford University, and St. Olaf College. Dan and his wife, Karen Bernthal, a clothing designer, live in

St. Paul, MN.

Pam Danziger

Pamela N. Danziger is an internationally recognized expert in understanding the mind of the consumer.  She founded Unity Marketing in 1992 as a boutique market research firm specializing in consumer insights for marketers and retailers that sell luxury goods and experiences to the ‘masses as well as the classes.’  Unity doesn’t just field market research studies; rather we delve into the psychology that motivates and empowers luxury consumers in the marketplace.  What sets us apart from the rest is our focus on consumer psychology – in other words, ‘why people buy.’

Her trademark ‘why people buy’ approach is founded on a passion for data coupled with a need to understand what drives and motivates consumers as they shop.  Thus her work includes both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.

In recognition of her ground-breaking work in the luxury consumer market, Pam received the Global Luxury Award presented by Harper’s Bazaar for top luxury industry achievers in 2007.  Click this link for a selective  list of Unity Marketing’s recent clients.

She also the author of three books on consumer psychology and behavior.  Her latest, Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience (Chicago: Kaplan, October 2006), focuses on the shoppers’ experience and how retailers can enhance that experience by making their shop pop. In addition, she wrote Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses as well as the Classes (Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2005) and Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need (Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2004).

A highly sought after keynote speaker, Danziger has recently addressed large conference audiences, including Global Luxury Forum, Global Shop, National Retail Federation, The Conference Board, American Nursery and Landscape Association, Casual Furniture Market, The Luxury Show by JCK, National Plumbing and Hardware Association’s Annual Convention, International Housewares Association, Fine Furnishings International’s Luxury Cake Walk at High Point and many others.

She also speaks in support of corporate sales and advertisers’ meetings, for clients such as Cayman Islands Tourism Board, Crystal Cruises, Marie Claire magazine, Cartier, Architectural Digest, Domino magazine, Spring Air, Forte Buying Group, Stearns & Foster, House & Garden magazine, Baccarat, Prudential Fine Homes, RELO, Interiors by Decorating Den, Department 56, Polo Ralph Lauren, and others.

She has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, CBS News Sunday Morning, Fox News’ Neil Cavuto Show, NPR’s Marketplace, and CNN In the Money and is frequently called upon by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Businessweek, Forbes, USA Today, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Women’s Wear Daily and other business and consumer publications for commentary and analysis. She holds a B.A. Degree in English Literature from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Maryland.

In addition to custom research investigations for clients, Unity Marketing also publishes syndicated market research studies on the luxury market, giftware and gifting, jewelry, art and wall decor, tabletop, outdoor living and decorating, and other consumer markets.

Robert Cialdini, Ph.D.

Influence, Negotiation, Communication, Management, Leadership, Sales

Harvard Business Review lists Dr. Cialdini’s research in breakthrough ideas for today’s business agenda.

Influence has been listed on the New York Times Business Best Seller List.

Fortune Magazine lists Influence in their 75 Smartest Business Books

Extensive scholarly training in the psychology of influence, together with over 30 years of research into the subject, has earned Dr. Cialdini an international reputation as an expert in the fields of persuasion, compliance, and negotiation.

His books including, Influence: Science & Practice, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, and Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways To Be Persuasive are the results of over 30 years of study into the reasons why people comply with requests in business settings. Worldwide, Influence has sold nearly two million copies. Influence has been published in twenty-four languages and is the top sales & marketing of CEO Read’s 100 Top Business Books of All Time. Influence and Yes! have been ranked on the New York Times and Business Week best sellers list.

“This book is the de facto standard to learn the psychology of persuasion. If you don’t read it, I hope you enjoy pounding your head against the wall and throwing away marketing dollars.” – Guy Kawasaki, CEO, Garage

In the field of influence and persuasion, Dr. Cialdini is the most cited living social psychologist in the world today.

Dr. Cialdini received his Ph.D from the University of North Carolina and post doctoral training from Columbia University. He has held Visiting Scholar Appointments at Ohio State University, the University of California, the Annenberg School of Communications, and the Graduate School of Business of Stanford University. Currently, Dr Cialdini holds dual appointments at Arizona State University. He is a W.P. Carey Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Regents’ Professor of Psychology, where he has also been named Distinguished Graduate Research Professor.

Media coverage of Dr. Cialdini and his research include:

• Dateline NBC
• CNBC
• CNN
• ABC
• Washington Post
• The New York Times
• On Wall Street
• Forbes Magazine
• Chicago Tribune
• USA Today
• London Times
• Scientific American
• Los Angeles Times
• Psychology Today
• Selling Power
• Sales and Marketing Magazine
• Leader to Leader Magazine
• The Atlantic Journal
• The Denver Post
• The New York Times
• Harvard Business Review
• Fortune Magazine

Dr. Cialdini is President of INFLUENCE AT WORK, an international consulting, strategic planning and training organization based on the Six Principles of Influence.

Dr. Cialdini’s clients include such organizations as Google, Advanta, IBM, Washington Mutual Group of Funds, Coca Cola, KPMG, AstraZeneca, Ericsson, Kodak, Merrill Lynch, Nationwide Insurance, Pfizer, Northern Trust, Prudential, The Mayo Clinic,Glaxo Wellcome, Harvard University – Kennedy School, The Weather Channel, the United States Department of Justice, and NATO.

Ori Brafman

Born in Israel and raised in El Paso, Texas, Ori Brafman has been a lifelong entrepreneur in business, government, and the nonprofit sector. His projects include launching healthy fast food restaurants, leading political and advocacy campaigns, and co-founding Courtroom Connect, a wireless network company. In 2001, Ori co-founded a network of more than 1000 CEOs working for peace and economic development projects. The network was supported by the likes of venture capitalist John Doerr and the Ford Foundation and has catalyzed projects in the Middle East, Africa, North America, Europe, and Asia. Most recently, Ori has facilitated a course at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Ori’s first book, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations (Penguin Portfolio) was released in October 2006, and is currently in its 16th printing. Fast Company, Newsweek, and Kirkus Reports found the book to be rewarding, credible, and convincing. Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, said, “as a result of reading The Starfish and the Spider, I proposed ten action points for my organization.” Pierre Omidyar, founder and chairman of eBay, described the book as “compelling and important.” And Jack Covert of 800CEO summed it up: “I love this book.”

Ori wrote his second book, Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior (Doubleday, June 2008) with his brother, Rom. The two are working on their next title.

Ori has appeared on BBC, National Public Radio, Wall Street Journal/MarketWatch video, Fox News, CSPAN, AP Video, and National-Cable-Radio among others. He has presented before audiences at Microsoft, Amazon, Televisa, Stanford Business School, Harvard Business School, and many others.
Ori holds a BA in peace and conflict studies from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Dan Ariely

My immersive introduction to irrationality took place many years ago while I was overcoming injuries sustained in an explosion (here is a description of my experiences in the hospital). The range of treatments in the burn department, and particularly the daily “bath” made me face a variety of irrational behaviors that were immensely painful and persistent. Upon leaving the hospital, I wanted to understand how to better deliver painful and unavoidable treatments to patients so I began conducting research in this area (see picture below).

After completing this initial research project, I became engrossed with the idea that we repeatedly and predictably make the wrong decisions in many aspects of our lives and that research could help change some of these patterns. A few years later, decision making and behavioral economics dramatically influenced my personal life when I found myself using all of the knowledge I’d accumulated in order to convince Sumi to marry me (a decision that was in my best interest but not necessarily in hers). After managing to convince her, I realized that if understanding decision-making could help me achieve this goal, it could help anyone in their daily life.

Predictably Irrational, is my attempt to take research findings in behavioral economics and describe them in non academic terms so that more people will learn about this type of research, discover the excitement of this field, and possibly use some of the insights to enrich their own lives. In terms of official positions, I am the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University, a visiting professor at MIT’s Media Laboratory, and a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight. (Click here for a short version of my bio, and click here for an extended version of my bio)

My free time is spent working on a guide to the kitchen and life—Dining Without Crumbs: The Art of Eating Over the Kitchen Sink—and of course, studying the irrational ways we all behave.

Stephen M. R. Covey

Stephen M. R. Covey is co-founder and CEO of CoveyLink Worldwide. A sought-after and compelling keynote speaker and advisor on trust, leadership, ethics, and high performance, he speaks to audiences around the world. He is the author of The SPEED of Trust, a groundbreaking and paradigm-shifting book that challenges our age-old assumption that trust is merely a soft, social virtue and instead demonstrates that trust is a hardedged, economic driver—a learnable and measurable skill that makes organizations more profitable, people more promotable, and relationships more energizing. He advocates that nothing is as fast as the speed of trust and that the ability to establish, grow, extend, and restore trust with all stakeholders is the critical leadership competency of the new global economy. Covey passionately delivers that message and is dedicated to enabling individuals and organizations to reap the dividends of high trust.

Audiences and organizations alike resonate with his informed, practical approach to real-time issues that affect their immediate and long-term performance.

He is the former CEO of Covey Leadership Center, which, under his stewardship, became the largest leadership development company in the world. Covey personally led the strategy that propelled his father’s book, Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, to one of the two most influential business books of the 20th Century, according to CEO Magazine. A Harvard MBA, he joined Covey Leadership Center as a Client Developer and later became National Sales Manager and then

President & CEO. Under Covey’s direction, the company grew rapidly and profitably, achieving Inc. 500 status. As President & CEO, he nearly doubled revenues to over $110 million while increasing profits by 12 times.

During that period, both customer and employee trust reached new highs and the company expanded throughout the world into over 40 countries.  This greatly increased the value of the brand and company. The company was valued at only $2.4 million when Covey was named CEO, and, within three years, he grew shareholder value to $160 million in a merger he orchestrated with then Franklin Quest to form FranklinCovey.

Over the years, Covey has gained considerable respect and influence with executives and leaders of Fortune 500 companies as well as with mid- and small-sized private sector and public sector organizations he’s consulted. Clients recognize his unique perspective on real-world organizational issues based on his practical experience as a former CEO.

Covey currently serves on the board/advisory board of several entities, including the Human Performance Institute—the leader in energy management technology—where he serves as Advisory Board Chairman. Covey resides with his wife and children in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains.

Bert Decker

A true visionary, Bert Decker launched Decker Communications in 1979 to transform people’s lives – and that mission remains the same today. Bert’s passion for communications evolved from his early career as a successful filmmaker. After turning the camera on himself, he became keenly aware of the power of video feedback and the need for communications coaching. Since then, Bert has become a nationally recognized communications expert, appearing on the NBC TODAY Show several times, commentator on Presidential Debates, and featured on ABC’s 20/20 and dozens of other print and broadcast media.

Bert is entrepreneurial to his core. In addition to speaking and writing, he is the founder of seven companies and organizations, Chairman of the Advisory Board of The Salvation Army, and fancies himself an early adopter of all things tech.

Bert raised his three children in the Decker Method and is now working on his grandchildren. He and his wife Dru Scott live in San Francisco

Bert Decker is a national communications expert, best selling author and entrepreneur, founding the 100 person communications training company Decker Communications, Inc. He has been featured in the NY Times, Business Week, 20/20, as well as being the communications commentator for the NBC TODAY Show for the Presidential Debates.

• Coach to Charles Schwab, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Mattel CEO’s John Ammerman and Jill Barrad, Olympians Bonnie Blair and Tom Dolan, SF 49er All-Pro Brent Jones, and dozens of other executives
• Founder of Decker Communications, Inc., the country’s leading publicly traded communications training company
• Consultant to Siemens, State Farm, and many others
• Professional Speaker and best selling author of “You’ve Got to Be Believed To Be Heard” and “Speaking With Bold Assurance”
• Co-producer of an Academy Award documentary
• Entrepreneur, founder of four companies, Chairman of Bold Assurance Ministries, NBC TODAY Show Communications Expert

Experience

• Founder and Chairman of Decker Communications, Inc., a leading communication training company for over 25 years.

• Coach to Charles Schwab, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Oakland A’s Manager Bob Geren, Olympian Bonnie Blair, SF 49er all pro Brent Jones, and dozens of other executives and leaders

• Consultant to Moody’s, Charles Schwab, Million Dollar Round Table, Accenture, State Farm, Knightsbridge and many others

• Communications Expert, appearing on the NBC TODAY Show several times, commentator on Presidential Debates, and featured on ABC’s 20/20 and dozens of other print and broadcast media

• Professional Speaker and Best Selling Author of “You’ve Got To Be Believed To Be Heard,” “Creating Messages That Motivate,” “Speaking With Bold Assurance” and other books and media

• Businessman and Entrepreneur, founder of seven companies and organizations, Founder of Bold Assurance Ministries, and Vice Chairman Advisory Board The Salvation

Army and others

• Co-producer of an Academy Award Documentary, the 20th Century Fox release, “Fillmore: The Last Days”

• Filmmaker of over 150 movies, commercials and documentaries

Education

Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, Yale University

About Decker Communications, Inc.

An executive development company, Decker Communications, Inc. specializes in coaching executives and leaders. Over the past 25 years, the firm has continued to evolve and enhance its signature programs to help individuals create for their listeners

the most effective communications experience possible.

Michael Bosworth

Helping individuals and organizations bring difficult-to-sell products and services to market.

In 1983, Mike Bosworth developed a new buyer-oriented sales methodology called Solution Selling, redefining the sales process for information technology sales specialists. Over the past twenty years, his hobby has been new sales and marketing ideas. These ideas have been taught, cited, sold, and referenced in top industry publications worldwide.

By 2000, the selling environment had changed. Companies were not so much integrating disruptive technology (a problem that Solution Selling    addressed) as they were continually improving or replacing the old technology. Bosworth, along with three former Solution Selling Affiliates, began to develop a methodology that specialized in helping companies integrate their tactical marketing with sales – CustomerCentric Selling.

Today, Bosworth enjoys his time innovating in the sales and marketing arenas. He develops new course content for Customer Centric Systems, serves on a number of advisory boards, acts as a venture capitalist, writes articles for various publications and is available for hire as a keynote speaker.

Michael Bosworth and John Holland are cofounders of CustomerCentric Selling. Bosworth is the author of the seminal bestseller Solution Selling. He has helped tens of thousands of salespeople and executives define and implement new selling methodologies. Holland, formerly with IBM’s General Systems Division, has trained hundreds of sales organizations in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Canada.

Joseph Jaffe

One of the most sought-after consultants, speakers and thought leaders on new marketing, Joseph Jaffe is President and Chief Interruptor of crayon, a conversational marketing company, specializing in community, dialogue and partnership.

Prior to launching crayon, Joseph ran jaffe, LLC, where he worked with companies including P&G, The Coca-Cola Company, Dunkin’ Brands, TiVo, Motorola and Fox Interactive Media. Before that, Joseph was Director of Interactive Media at TBWA/Chiat/Day and OMD USA, where he worked on Kmart, ABSOLUT Vodka, Embassy Suites and Samsonite.

Jaffe’s popular blog and audio podcast, “Jaffe Juice”, provides daily and weekly commentary respectively on all things new marketing. You can join the conversation at www.jaffejuice.com.

His first book, ”Life After The 30-Second Spot: Energize Your Brand With A Bold Mix Of Alternatives To Traditional Advertising” (Wiley/Adweek) was released in June 2005 and focuses on how advertising is evolving in a world ruled by an empowered consumer and no longer governed solely by the 30-second spot. His second book titled, “Join the conversation: How to engage marketing-weary consumers with the power of community, dialogue and partnership” was published by Wiley in October 2007.

Joseph’s impassioned, straight-shooting and honest perspectives have found their way to every major media outlet, including the likes of CBS Evening News, ABC World News, Bloomberg, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, Fortune, Newsweek, Business Week, Ad Age and Adweek, among others.

Joseph is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School, as well as the Society for New Communications Research. Hailing from South Africa, he lives with his wife, daughter and two sons in Westport, CT.

Russell Granger

Russ Granger has been creating peak professional performance for businesses around the world for over 25 years. Russ specializes in management, sales, service, and personal productivity courses for growth-oriented organizations in a wide variety of industries. His books, multimedia workshops, and self-paced programs produce documented, measurable results.

Over 95% of Russ Granger’s training participants rate his courses as “superior to other programs.”

Russ is the founder of several organizations devoted to professional education for peak performance, including Granger Associates, Insurance Learning Systems, and the ProEd Corporation. He is the prime architect of the world-renowned PRISMS program series, the largest-selling business skills courses in the domestic and international insurance industry.

In constant demand as a speaker and motivator for executives, managers and salespeople, Russ has brought his dynamic brand of training to companies throughout the United States and Europe, as well as to Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and most recently India.

Russell Granger is a creative director specializing in digital branding and web media, and currently heads the Internet division of a New York ad agency. When his family history pursuits led to the discovery of an association with Walt Whitman, his research and archiving efforts began to focus on antebellum Brooklyn.

Kevin Hogan

Kevin Hogan is the author of nineteen books. He is best known for his international bestselling book, The Psychology of Persuasion: How to Persuade Others to Your Way of Thinking.

In the past decade he has become the Body Language Expert and Unconscious Influence Expert to ABC, Fox, The BBC, The New York Times, The New York Post and dozens of popular magazines like Forbes, Investors Business Daily, InTouch, First for Women, Success!, and Cosmopolitan. He has become the go-to resource for analyzing key White House figures.

Hogan has taught Persuasion and Influence at the University of St. Thomas Management Center and is a frequent media guest. Articles by and about him have appeared in Success!, Redbook, Office Pro,, Selling Power, Cosmopolitan, Maxim, Playboy and numerous other publications. He was recently featured in a half dozen magazines (including wProst) in Poland.

Kevin is a dynamic, well-known international public speaker, consultant and corporate trainer. He has trained persuasion, sales and marketing skills to leaders in the government of Poland, employees from Mutual of Omaha, Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, Cargill, Pillsbury, Carlson Companies, Fortis Insurance, Great Clips, the State of Minnesota, 3M, The United States Postal Service and numerous other Fortune 500 companies. He recently spoke to The Inner Circle and at the Million Dollar Roundtable (MDRT) convention in Las Vegas.

His keynotes, seminars and workshops help companies sell, market and communicate more effectively. His cutting edge research into the mind and keen understanding of consumer behavior create a unique distillation of information never before released to the public. Each customized program he leads is fit specifically to the needs of the group or organization. Kevin will give your people new and easy to implement ideas to achieve excellence.

Jack Trout

Instrumental in developing the vital approach to marketing known as “positioning,” he is responsible for some of the freshest ideas to be introduced into marketing thinking in the last several decades.

Jack Trout is president of Trout & Partners, one of the most prestigious marketing firms with headquarters in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, USA and offices in 13 countries. Jack Trout manages and supervises a global network of experts that apply his concepts and develop his methodology around the world. The firm has done work for AT&T, IBM, Burger King, Merrill Lynch, Xerox, Merck, Lotus, Ericsson, Tetra Pak, Repsol, Hewlett-Packard, Procter & Gamble, Southwest Airlines and other Fortune 500 companies.

Jack Trout started his business career in the advertising department of General Electric. From there he went on to become a divisional advertising manager at Uniroyal. Then he joined Al Ries in the advertising agency and marketing strategy firm where they worked together for over twenty-six years.

With Al Ries he co-authored the industry classic, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, which was published in 1980. In 1985 he and Al Ries wrote a second best-selling book entitled Marketing Warfare. Positioning and Marketing Warfare are now published in 14 languages. In 1988 Bottom-Up-Marketing was published. In 1993 their book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing became the marketing bible. It outlined the basic reasons why marketing programs succeed or fail in the competitive nineties.

Jack Trout closed the circle with the sequel to Positioning in 1995. Entitled The New Positioning it takes the world’s No. 1 business strategy to a new level. It became a Business Week best seller and has already been translated into 16 languages.

This was followed by The Power of Simplicity – A Management Guide To Cutting Through the Nonsense And Doing Things Right.

Then it was Differentiate or Die – Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition which presented the keys to survival in a killer global economy. This has also become a best seller.

His latest books are entitled Big Brands Big Trouble and The Genie’s Wisdom. They explain why the marketing process is so important for senior management to learn and practice.

Jack Trout is President of Trout & Partners Ltd., where he supervises a global network of experts that apply his concepts and develop his methodology around the world. Trout is recognized as the world’s foremost marketing strategist; his concept of “positioning” has become the world’s #1 business strategy. Trout writes a bimonthly column for Forbes

WOW…  and a big fat Apology.

We knew this program would really resonate with people but we never thought it would have the amount of activity it did.  Needless to say, it chocked our servers.

All of us here want to say sorry to all the disappointed people that could not get on the web cast because as you can see all the people that were able to attend absolutely loved it.

Again, we are sorry and we will have more horsepower for this Thursday’s call so don’t miss it.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

League Of Extraordinary Minds – Discovery Session 1 Webcast

Be sure to join us for our first discovery session webcast in our 6 week series this Thursday October 29th at 8:00pm.
If you haven’t already registered for the webcasts you can do so here

You won’t want to miss this historic event as Jay Abraham and Rich Schefren interview this first group of panelists which includes:

• Michael Bosworth
• Stephen MR Covey
• Bert Decker
• Russell Granger
• Kevin Hogan
• Joseph Jaffe
• Jack Trout

Be sure to come ready to listen intently and take notes as Rich and Jay dig deep to get answers to tough questions like:

1.    What’s the single biggest strategy for moving from distrust, dubious, and suspect to seismic credibility and what’s the single biggest action our members should do first and why?

2.    There are 2 aspects to credibility – quick fix and long term remediation – What actions would you recommend that can be taken quickly and what actions would you recommend that are more long term and self-sustaining?

3.    Most Entrepreneurs do not think of themselves as not being credible, trustworthy or believable – so what’s the best way to get an unbiased viewpoint of what we are really conveying to the marketplace and how do we develop thick enough skin to see ourselves as we really are ?

4.    Let’s talk about specific tactics – How would you suggest our members make each contact point with their market – more effective?  Whether it be customer service, marketing, advertising, or simply describing the attributes of their products or services?

5.    If you were to give each of our members an exercise that would constantly put them on the path to growing their trust, believability, and credibility, what would you recommend? What benefits will accrue by doing it and why?

6.    Of all the things you’ve researched, written, and presented on what’s the single biggest distinction, realization, insight that you need to get across to this group that hasn’t been covered so far, and why?

7.    Through the lens of your expertise; What one question do you wish we would have asked you, that we didn’t, that relates to helping members on this call make their business more profitable, more successful, more competitively advantageous right now and into the future? Why is it an important question? And had we asked, what would your answer be?

The answers and secrets these experts reveal during this 90 minute event will completely blow you away! Fortune 500 companies pay these guys tens of thousands of dollars for information like this that Jay and Rich are extracting for you for FREE!

Don’t miss this exclusive webcast.  It will not be re-played. To get all the details, register here

After you’ve listened to the webcast, please come back to this page and let us know the biggest insights and takeaways you gained from the panel. We have some special surprises for those of you with the best comment!