John Schuster, CMC
John P. Schuster is sought by established corporations, government, nonprofits and entrepreneurs for his Executive Leadership expertise and knowledge. He is the founding partner of The Schuster Kane Alliance, Inc., a consulting firm he started in 1981. Since he founded his business 25 years ago, John Schuster has helped enterprises in business, government and non-profit environments meet their potential. His company is known for its ability to connect soft people skills with hard business results.
Prior to starting his business, John was the Director of Human Resources for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency KC, Chicago and Wash D.C. He was voted trainer of the year by the Kansas City chapter to the American Society of Training and Development. He was a chairman for The Executive Committee, a peer-learning group for CEOs, in both Kansas City and Cincinnati. His firm pioneered the open-book management practices that tie to balanced scorecard work. The business simulation Profit and Cash® developed to support financial and business know-how in the workplace has been translated into Spanish, French, Portuguese, Mandarin and additional European languages. He is an executive coach and serves as a faculty member at the coaching certification program run by the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara.
His books include: The Power of Open-Book Management (1996) (Wiley & Sons) translated into four languages, The Open-Book Management Field Book (1998), and Hum-Drum to Hot-Diggity on Leadership (2001). Answering Your Call: A Guide to Living Your Deepest Purpose is his latest book released in February of 2003, published by Berrett Koehler, and translated into Spanish and Flemish.
John has a passion for markets that work for everyone and specializes in leadership development and business-smart workplaces. His work has taken him to engagements on four continents. John teaches leadership and strategy in the executive MBA at Rockhurst University in Kansas City and is former Director for the Center of Leadership for that university. He graduated summa cum laude at Xavier University and received his BA and MA in English.
He is a shareholder and mentor with Merryck and Co., the CEO mentoring firm now establishing itself in the United States and the New York metro region, after several years of operation in the UK and Australia.
MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
Leader as Coach
Develop Talent or Stop Growing
Leadership is a state of mind and action, not just a position you hold. One crucial test of leadership is whether an individual has a positive or negative memory of the work they did with the leaders they had. Tormentors may get results, but they sabotage people in the process. True mentors and leaders get results and evoke people’s potential in the process. In this speech John P. Schuster vividly describes how to tap the desire to improve and activate our potential for developing others into a daily reality in any setting. He outlines the mindset and the skills of coaching and mentoring so that others’ talents are permanently enhanced.
Participants will learn:
- the three steps for tapping others’ imaginations by accessing your own
- how to avoid the four common mistakes that cause many leaders to miss the deeper opportunities to create capacity in others
- how mentors and coaches identify the critical times when learning is the most likely
Personal Leadership
Give Up What You Thought You Deserved and Take the Life You Were
We all want to do meaningful work and make a difference in the world. Yet few of us can say we have found the meaning and made the difference we really want to. What causes our disappointing results? How do we derail ourselves without even knowing it? This presentation is for any organization that recognizes how critical it is to help employees take full responsibility for their work and their lives. John P. Schuster uses a blend of brutal honesty and humor to penetrate the ways we get off-track. He helps audiences uncover the hidden compromises they make that erroneously create a sense of entitlement. With wit and wisdom, he unveils the opportunities that await us to create the life we were meant for.
Participants will learn:
- the importance of purposeful action and unwavering commitment as the means to grow and perform at our highest level
- the five most common mistakes that stunt our growth and performance and how to avoid them
- the four steps necessary for making our work and lives an ongoing statement of personal leadership
Capture the Fire
How to Make a Difference Every Day
All greatness starts with the fire of imagination and the commitment to make a difference. Our core beliefs, then, determine our prospects for human connection and accomplishment. Here, John P. Schuster explains the power of reality-based optimism as a way of work and life, and provides tips on how to use belief to alter limiting circumstances. John teaches how the best performers turn difficulties and challenges into opportunities and growth for their teams, peers, customers, the community and the bottom line.
Participants will learn:
- that a life and career of significance depends on the committee we have allowed to reside in our heads
- the three key insights that lead to effective imagination and action
- how to muster moral courage as well as the skills for making a difference each day and sustaining the fire within
Answering Your Call
For many, “getting real” is a downer…"stop dreaming and get real, lower your sights and accept your life". For John Schuster, getting real is just the opposite. START dreaming, STOP SETTLING for less, stop living the life you accepted and LIVE THE LIFE you were meant for. WAKE UP to the life you haven’t allowed yourself! John gives people and enterprises access to information they don’t ordinarily have; he shows participants how to connect with their deepest source of motivation to make a meaningful difference at work, home and in their communities. He helps people see the hidden forces and systems in their lives that hold them back from who they could be. Most people sense there are forces at work, many rooted in their own thoughts, that guide their actions and choices. John wakes them up, educates them, and teaches them how to use these forces and renew their beliefs so they can move ahead. They uncover the bigger and better version of themselves that was obscured by a lack of understanding of those unseen realities.
Financial Literacy with Profit & Cash®
This presentation presents business and financial concepts in an exciting fashion. No business can afford to have employees not understand the basics of how they impact not just the customer, but the budget and the bottom line as well. John makes the numbers, and the whole idea of measures, come alive as audiences learn how to keep score in business in a way they will never forget. For smaller groups, a Monopoly-type game board is used. Very large groups play on a giant interactive floor board game with humans as pawns. Many versions of the game are available for different industries and companies and over 400,000 people have attended a session.
Managing Change
Tackling the Big Leadership Challenge
With the predominant description of the workplace as one of intense change, leaders are asked to become change masters for the good of employees, customers and all stakeholders. This workshop looks at both the individual and the organizational issues of change—the systems and practices that make both the individual and the organization agile and flexible. It also explores the mindset, skills and attitudes of change masters as they orchestrate the change efforts inside their organizations. One of the premises of this workshop is that many have not been well-trained in the inevitable, that is, in the renewing (or the letting go) of skills and mindsets that worked once but are not on target any longer. This program takes a look at what that renewal and replacing process contains so that we can learn to cooperate and even embrace the challenges of change.
Objectives:
- Anticipate change for yourself and others
- Gain the knowledge necessary to chart a career path that accommodates change
- Use the principles of system change
Two Key Tools for Great Leading
The Power of Feedback and Recognition
Feedback is a gift when we use it well. Without it, we don't learn or improve. Almost all learning is feedback-dependent. Yet providing your team and your peers feedback is laden with traps and potential pitfalls. If the intention or the timing is wrong, even helpful feedback gets rejected and no learning takes place. And even the slightest of corrective feedback, if tainted with the emotional coloring of arrogance, will be rejected out of hand. There are several keys to making recognition the tremendous tool it can be. Encouragement isn’t enough to build high performance, and recognition isn’t merely giving someone a certificate or a dismissive pat on the back. This workshop looks at the power of the everyday tools of feedback and recognition as tools for productive human interaction.
Objectives:
- Learn the intricacies of giving negative feedback so it is helpful, not destructive
- Learn how to balance positive and corrective feedback for maximum impact
- Learn the four “rules” for giving recognition and affirmation that makes a difference
PRODUCTS:
Answering Your Call ... A Guide for Living Your Deepest Purpose
(Feb., 2003) A book for anyone who feels "called" to go beyond the usual definitions of success to a life of purpose and meaning. It is a how-to, inspirational guide to help you discern how you can lead with impact, and where you can add your life signature. ($15.95)
The Power of Open Book Management ...
Releasing the True Potential of People's Minds, Hearts, and Hands ($24.95)
Hum-Drum to Hot-Diggity ...
Creating Everyday Greatness in the World of Work ($13.95)
John P. Schuster is sought by established corporations, government, nonprofits and entrepreneurs for his Executive Leadership expertise and knowledge. He is the founding partner of The Schuster Kane Alliance, Inc., a consulting firm he started in 1981. Since he founded his business 25 years ago, John Schuster has helped enterprises in business, government and non-profit environments meet their potential. His company is known for its ability to connect soft people skills with hard business results.
Prior to starting his business, John was the Director of Human Resources for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency KC, Chicago and Wash D.C. He was voted trainer of the year by the Kansas City chapter to the American Society of Training and Development. He was a chairman for The Executive Committee, a peer-learning group for CEOs, in both Kansas City and Cincinnati. His firm pioneered the open-book management practices that tie to balanced scorecard work. The business simulation Profit and Cash® developed to support financial and business know-how in the workplace has been translated into Spanish, French, Portuguese, Mandarin and additional European languages. He is an executive coach and serves as a faculty member at the coaching certification program run by the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara.
His books include: The Power of Open-Book Management (1996) (Wiley & Sons) translated into four languages, The Open-Book Management Field Book (1998), and Hum-Drum to Hot-Diggity on Leadership (2001). Answering Your Call: A Guide to Living Your Deepest Purpose is his latest book released in February of 2003, published by Berrett Koehler, and translated into Spanish and Flemish.
John has a passion for markets that work for everyone and specializes in leadership development and business-smart workplaces. His work has taken him to engagements on four continents. John teaches leadership and strategy in the executive MBA at Rockhurst University in Kansas City and is former Director for the Center of Leadership for that university. He graduated summa cum laude at Xavier University and received his BA and MA in English.
He is a shareholder and mentor with Merryck and Co., the CEO mentoring firm now establishing itself in the United States and the New York metro region, after several years of operation in the UK and Australia.
MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
Leader as Coach
Develop Talent or Stop Growing
Leadership is a state of mind and action, not just a position you hold. One crucial test of leadership is whether an individual has a positive or negative memory of the work they did with the leaders they had. Tormentors may get results, but they sabotage people in the process. True mentors and leaders get results and evoke people’s potential in the process. In this speech John P. Schuster vividly describes how to tap the desire to improve and activate our potential for developing others into a daily reality in any setting. He outlines the mindset and the skills of coaching and mentoring so that others’ talents are permanently enhanced.
Participants will learn:
- the three steps for tapping others’ imaginations by accessing your own
- how to avoid the four common mistakes that cause many leaders to miss the deeper opportunities to create capacity in others
- how mentors and coaches identify the critical times when learning is the most likely
Personal Leadership
Give Up What You Thought You Deserved and Take the Life You Were
We all want to do meaningful work and make a difference in the world. Yet few of us can say we have found the meaning and made the difference we really want to. What causes our disappointing results? How do we derail ourselves without even knowing it? This presentation is for any organization that recognizes how critical it is to help employees take full responsibility for their work and their lives. John P. Schuster uses a blend of brutal honesty and humor to penetrate the ways we get off-track. He helps audiences uncover the hidden compromises they make that erroneously create a sense of entitlement. With wit and wisdom, he unveils the opportunities that await us to create the life we were meant for.
Participants will learn:
- the importance of purposeful action and unwavering commitment as the means to grow and perform at our highest level
- the five most common mistakes that stunt our growth and performance and how to avoid them
- the four steps necessary for making our work and lives an ongoing statement of personal leadership
Capture the Fire
How to Make a Difference Every Day
All greatness starts with the fire of imagination and the commitment to make a difference. Our core beliefs, then, determine our prospects for human connection and accomplishment. Here, John P. Schuster explains the power of reality-based optimism as a way of work and life, and provides tips on how to use belief to alter limiting circumstances. John teaches how the best performers turn difficulties and challenges into opportunities and growth for their teams, peers, customers, the community and the bottom line.
Participants will learn:
- that a life and career of significance depends on the committee we have allowed to reside in our heads
- the three key insights that lead to effective imagination and action
- how to muster moral courage as well as the skills for making a difference each day and sustaining the fire within
Answering Your Call
For many, “getting real” is a downer…"stop dreaming and get real, lower your sights and accept your life". For John Schuster, getting real is just the opposite. START dreaming, STOP SETTLING for less, stop living the life you accepted and LIVE THE LIFE you were meant for. WAKE UP to the life you haven’t allowed yourself! John gives people and enterprises access to information they don’t ordinarily have; he shows participants how to connect with their deepest source of motivation to make a meaningful difference at work, home and in their communities. He helps people see the hidden forces and systems in their lives that hold them back from who they could be. Most people sense there are forces at work, many rooted in their own thoughts, that guide their actions and choices. John wakes them up, educates them, and teaches them how to use these forces and renew their beliefs so they can move ahead. They uncover the bigger and better version of themselves that was obscured by a lack of understanding of those unseen realities.
Financial Literacy with Profit & Cash®
This presentation presents business and financial concepts in an exciting fashion. No business can afford to have employees not understand the basics of how they impact not just the customer, but the budget and the bottom line as well. John makes the numbers, and the whole idea of measures, come alive as audiences learn how to keep score in business in a way they will never forget. For smaller groups, a Monopoly-type game board is used. Very large groups play on a giant interactive floor board game with humans as pawns. Many versions of the game are available for different industries and companies and over 400,000 people have attended a session.
Managing Change
Tackling the Big Leadership Challenge
With the predominant description of the workplace as one of intense change, leaders are asked to become change masters for the good of employees, customers and all stakeholders. This workshop looks at both the individual and the organizational issues of change—the systems and practices that make both the individual and the organization agile and flexible. It also explores the mindset, skills and attitudes of change masters as they orchestrate the change efforts inside their organizations. One of the premises of this workshop is that many have not been well-trained in the inevitable, that is, in the renewing (or the letting go) of skills and mindsets that worked once but are not on target any longer. This program takes a look at what that renewal and replacing process contains so that we can learn to cooperate and even embrace the challenges of change.
Objectives:
- Anticipate change for yourself and others
- Gain the knowledge necessary to chart a career path that accommodates change
- Use the principles of system change
Two Key Tools for Great Leading
The Power of Feedback and Recognition
Feedback is a gift when we use it well. Without it, we don't learn or improve. Almost all learning is feedback-dependent. Yet providing your team and your peers feedback is laden with traps and potential pitfalls. If the intention or the timing is wrong, even helpful feedback gets rejected and no learning takes place. And even the slightest of corrective feedback, if tainted with the emotional coloring of arrogance, will be rejected out of hand. There are several keys to making recognition the tremendous tool it can be. Encouragement isn’t enough to build high performance, and recognition isn’t merely giving someone a certificate or a dismissive pat on the back. This workshop looks at the power of the everyday tools of feedback and recognition as tools for productive human interaction.
Objectives:
- Learn the intricacies of giving negative feedback so it is helpful, not destructive
- Learn how to balance positive and corrective feedback for maximum impact
- Learn the four “rules” for giving recognition and affirmation that makes a difference
PRODUCTS:
Answering Your Call ... A Guide for Living Your Deepest Purpose
(Feb., 2003) A book for anyone who feels "called" to go beyond the usual definitions of success to a life of purpose and meaning. It is a how-to, inspirational guide to help you discern how you can lead with impact, and where you can add your life signature. ($15.95)
The Power of Open Book Management ...
Releasing the True Potential of People's Minds, Hearts, and Hands ($24.95)
Hum-Drum to Hot-Diggity ...
Creating Everyday Greatness in the World of Work ($13.95)
Certifications & Awards
