Jim Kouzes

Advisory Board Member

Jim Kouzes is the coauthor with Barry Posner of the award-winning and best-selling book, The Leadership Challenge, with over 1.4 million copies sold. He’s also the Dean’s Executive Professor of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University.

Not only is Jim a highly regarded leadership scholar and experienced executive, The Wall Street Journal has cited Jim as one of the twelve best executive educators in the U.S. In 2006 Jim was presented with the Golden Gavel, the highest honor awarded by Toastmasters International. A popular speaker, Jim’s clients have included: Accenture, Applied Materials, AT&T, Boeing, Charles Schwab, Cisco Systems, Consumers Energy, Dell Computer, Deloitte Touche, Egon Zehnder International, Federal Express, Honeywell, HSBC, Ingersoll Rand, Johnson & Johnson, Lawrence Livermore National Labs, Levi Strauss & Co., 3M, Microsoft, Motorola, Roche Palo Alto, Siemens, State of New York, Thomson Corporation, Toyota, and Wells Fargo.

Jim served as president, then CEO and chairman of the Tom Peters Company from 1988-until 2000. Prior to his tenure at TPC he directed the Executive Development Center at Santa Clara University from 1981 through 1987. Under his leadership the EDC was awarded two gold medals from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. He also founded the Joint Center for Human Services Development at San Jose State University, which he managed from 1972 until 1980. Jim’s commitment to service was nurtured during his years growing up in the Washington, D.C. area. His lifelong career in education began in 1967-1969 when he served for two years in the Peace Corps. Jim believes it was on January 20, 1961 when he was first inspired to dedicate himself to leadership. That was the day he was one of only a dozen Eagle Scouts who served in John F. Kennedy’s Honor Guard at the Presidential Inauguration.