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.

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.