Jim Harris is one of North America's foremost authors and thinkers on leadership and change, working with Fortune 500 companies, associations and government departments. Association magazine ranked him as one of North America's top speakers. Jim speaks internationally at over 40 conferences a year on leadership, change, CRM, eLearning, future trends, innovation, and creating learning organizations. He also works with executive teams leading strategic planning sessions.
Jim's latest book, Blindsided! was published in 80 countries worldwide in July 2002 by UK-based Capstone, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons of New York. Both of Harris' prior books are bestsellers. His second book, The Learning Paradox, was nominated for the National Business Book Award in Canada and there are now over 40,000 copies in print. Jim's first book, The 100 Best Companies to Work for in Canada sold over 50,000 copies.
Blindsided
The speed of change - driven by new technology, mergers, and competition coming out of left field - means the business landscape is more chaotic, confusing, and complex than ever before. And the speed of this change is accelerating. While it took television ten years to attract 10 million viewers, it took Netscape 28 months, Hotmail 18 months and Napster only 9 months. Based on his latest book Blindsided: How to spot the next breakthrough that will change your business forever, Harris presents a series of breakthrough techniques to help business leaders identify trends earlier and more accurately predict their impact. Drawing upon his extensive experience consulting the world's top corporations, Harris demonstrates how to build consensus faster within organizations when the tumult of the market threatens to throw plans off course. Every executive dreads being blindsided; with these tools, leaders will learn to stay one step ahead of the game.
The Learning Paradox
In the past, a secure job came from working for a large, established organization, preferably a monopoly or market leader in a stable industry. The longer your service, stronger your union, higher your rank or the more specialized your knowledge or function, the more secure you were. But in today's world, experience may be your worst enemy. Everything that used to create security now creates insecurity. In fact, large companies have been the largest net job losers in the '90s. And over 80 percent of the technology that we will use in 20 years hasn't been invented yet! Based on his book The Learning Paradox: Gaining Success & Security in a World of Change, Harris customizes this presentation, tailoring the lessons of "The Learning Paradox" to each client. The only way to prepare for the future is to learn how to learn, become self-corrective and self-reflective, increase your creativity, and work better as a team member. "The Learning Paradox" will teach you not only how to survive business, but how to thrive!
Leadership in the New Millennium
Leaders today are paradigm pioneers who must understand the versatility of business and change with it. In the world of shifting paradigms, leadership has become more complex and more necessary. One of the greatest challenges of leadership has become problem-seeing, not problem-solving. Leaders have to become more adept at anticipating problems and perceiving opportunities to stay ahead of the competition and exceed customer expectations. Jim Harris works with business leaders and teaches them to continuously question their products and methodology - and explore the new realms. Continually questioning helps individuals and organizations to deepen their understanding of potential market shifts, helping the organization to pioneer new paradigms, and avoid complacency. Security for organizations is based on putting in place processes that guarantee self-reflection and self-correction at the individual and organizational levels. Only strong leadership can do this.
Customer Retention & Delight
The key to corporate growth is customer retention - and the way to retain clients is to delight them! It costs five times as much to attract a new customer than it costs to keep an existing one. Technology has provided the consumer with limitless options. With online sales booming, and industrial boundaries blurred, can a company feel confident that its client base is secure? No! Companies must fiercely protect its customer base by proactively working to provide the best value possible to its clients. This no longer means simply monitoring your main competitors' service - there is a good chance that you have not yet seen your next main competitor! Jim Harris works with companies to survey their customer satisfaction and identify ways to improve it. More importantly, he works with executives to look at how new technology can be used to streamline the service/product they provide, and build new, better relationships with customers, suppliers and employees. If a company is actively working to increase the value it provides to its customers, it will not have to worry about customer desertion and, indeed, can look forward to new clients.
Change, Creativity, & Innovation
Change is the key factor in today's economy. Today's consumers are more knowledgeable and are exercising their freedom of choice in the market. With consumers demanding value, and technology making it possible to serve needs faster and more economically, no wonder everything is in a state of flux! Every sector of our society is affected - governments at all levels, healthcare, business, not-for-profit organizations, social programs, arts and culture. There are no exemptions - the change is sweeping and dramatic. Jim Harris understands change and what it means to business today. He works with organizations and helps them understand change how stability can be created. Security for individuals is based on becoming self-reflective and self-correcting. Similarly, security for organizations is based on putting in place processes that guarantee self-reflection and self-correction at the individual and organizational levels. Only the dynamic organizations that recognize change, and embrace it, will thrive in this ever-changing world.
