Thornton May is a futurist, educator, anthropologist and author. His extensive experience researching and consulting on the role and behaviors of "C" level executives in creating value with information technology has won him an unquestioned place on the short list of serious thinkers on this topic.
Thornton combines a scholar's patience for empirical research, a stand-up comic's capacity for pattern recognition and a second-to-none gift for storytelling to address the information technology management problems facing executives.
Thornton May serves as: Executive Director and Dean at the IT Leadership Academy in Jacksonville, Florida; Futurist – External Technology Advisory Board at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; and Co-founder of the CIO Solutions Gallery at the Fisher College of Business [the Ohio State University] where he also teaches the MIX program for eMBAs.
Thornton obtained his Bachelor's degree in Asian Studies from Dartmouth College, his Master's degree in Industrial Administration from Carnegie-Mellon University, and developed his Japanese language competence at the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan and Keio University in Japan.
Why Thornton May?
Content is customized to the client message/audience needs.
Presentation style is energetic, educational and simultaneously humorous and interactive.
Presentations based on up to date research and interviews with executives.
The editors at eWeek honored Thornton, including him on their list of "Top 100 Most Influential People in IT." The editors at Fast Company labeled him one of the "Top 50 brains in business."
Thornton May is also the author of The New Know: Innovation Powered by Analytics.
Thornton May has established a reputation for innovation in time-compressed, collaborative problem solving. He designs the curriculum that enables the mental models which allow organizations to outperform competitors, delight customers and extract maximum value from tools and suppliers.
Thornton's insights have appeared in the Harvard Business Review (on IT strategy); The Financial Times (on IT value creation); The Wall Street Journal (on the future of the computer industry); the M.I.T. Sloan Management Review (on the future of marketing), American Demographics (on the evolving demographics of Electronic Commerce), USA Today (on the future of the consumer electronics industry) Business Week (on the future of CEO direct reports), and on National Public Radio (debating the future practice of strategy with Professor Michael Porter). Thornton is a columnist at Computerworld and has served as an Advisor to the Founding Editors of Fast Company Magazine.
Thornton's research has been acknowledged in such seminal business books as Seth Godin's Permission Marketing; Michael Schrage's Serious Play: How the World's Best Companies Simulate to Innovate; Moshe Rubenstein's The Minding Organization; Bill Jensen's Simplicity; and Jeff William's Renewable Advantage: Crafting Strategy Through Economic Time.
Thornton May is a futurist, educator, anthropologist and author. His extensive experience researching and consulting on the role and behaviors of "C" level executives in creating value with information technology has won him an unquestioned place on the short list of serious thinkers on this topic.
Thornton combines a scholar's patience for empirical research, a stand-up comic's capacity for pattern recognition and a second-to-none gift for storytelling to address the information technology management problems facing executives.
Thornton May serves as: Executive Director and Dean at the IT Leadership Academy in Jacksonville, Florida; Futurist – External Technology Advisory Board at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; and Co-founder of the CIO Solutions Gallery at the Fisher College of Business [the Ohio State University] where he also teaches the MIX program for eMBAs.
Thornton obtained his Bachelor's degree in Asian Studies from Dartmouth College, his Master's degree in Industrial Administration from Carnegie-Mellon University, and developed his Japanese language competence at the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan and Keio University in Japan.
Why Thornton May?
Content is customized to the client message/audience needs.
Presentation style is energetic, educational and simultaneously humorous and interactive.
Presentations based on up to date research and interviews with executives.
The editors at eWeek honored Thornton, including him on their list of "Top 100 Most Influential People in IT." The editors at Fast Company labeled him one of the "Top 50 brains in business."
Thornton May is also the author of The New Know: Innovation Powered by Analytics.
Thornton May has established a reputation for innovation in time-compressed, collaborative problem solving. He designs the curriculum that enables the mental models which allow organizations to outperform competitors, delight customers and extract maximum value from tools and suppliers.
Thornton's insights have appeared in the Harvard Business Review (on IT strategy); The Financial Times (on IT value creation); The Wall Street Journal (on the future of the computer industry); the M.I.T. Sloan Management Review (on the future of marketing), American Demographics (on the evolving demographics of Electronic Commerce), USA Today (on the future of the consumer electronics industry) Business Week (on the future of CEO direct reports), and on National Public Radio (debating the future practice of strategy with Professor Michael Porter). Thornton is a columnist at Computerworld and has served as an Advisor to the Founding Editors of Fast Company Magazine.
Thornton's research has been acknowledged in such seminal business books as Seth Godin's Permission Marketing; Michael Schrage's Serious Play: How the World's Best Companies Simulate to Innovate; Moshe Rubenstein's The Minding Organization; Bill Jensen's Simplicity; and Jeff William's Renewable Advantage: Crafting Strategy Through Economic Time.
The New Know: The Transformative Impact of Big Data & Analytics
Jumping the Curve – Managing the Transition from Now to Next
We have come to a critical decision point - is this the end of the current way of doing things? Status quo business models are struggling. Productivity gains and payback associated with 'inside-the-box' technology solutions appear to be flattening out. Does this mean that the old way of thinking, knowing, doing and computing are just about kaput? Mainframes gave way to minicomputers, which gave way to PCs, which gave way to client servers, which gave way to the web, etc. We find ourselves...
Digital Ethics and the Future of Security and Privacy
In the much simpler world of 30 years ago, Coca Cola assembled 200 multi-ethnic youngsters on a hilltop in Italy and had them sing. The message - the whole world could be united in its desire for a single product. While the world might be able to coalesce in its desire for a carbonated beverage, it certainly can't make up its mind what we need to know, who needs to know it, who should be teaching and how security and privacy best practices should be taught.
It has become...
3 recommend Thornton
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Toyota USA
On-Site
B.C., CIO emeritus, Toyota USA
Thornton is in the top tier of business technology industry intellectuals. I personally think he is a genius. My definition…smarter than me and most everybody else…. always is out front on ideas and uses completely fresh perspectives on issues and challenges in business…and balances it all with razor sharp wit. Nobody ever goes away after an encounter with Thornton without being enriched.
Permission Marketing
On-Site
S.G., Author, Permission Marketing
Thornton May is the real deal. A daring intellectual in a business filled with fakes, Thornton encourages us-no he FORCES us-to sit up, pay attention and think hard about the real issues we face every day.
Fast Company
On-Site
A.W., Founding Editor, Fast Company
Thornton May is an intellectual speed merchant. He can think faster than the few people who are smarter than he is, and he's smarter than the few people who are faster than he is-and that's a tough combination to top in any field.
Covers & Jackets
