He holds four degrees in different disciplines, taught at several Canadian universities, led a corporately-sponsored leadership development program at Princeton University for selected fast-track executives, trained senior military officers on cross-cultural negotiations for almost a decade and is a sought-after adviser on building high performance and enterprise revitalization.  

A best-selling author and specialist in influence psychology, Jim is a former professor of International Law, labour relations mediator and change agent with an enviable track record of accomplishments. He has held high-profile engagements as a provincial supervisor of a large urban school board, hospital ombudsman and dispute conciliator. His career includes executive posts in academe, consulting services and the international marketing industry.

He’s convinced that surviving and thriving in today’s volatile, unpredictable business landscape requires a different way of thinking and the ability to reframe troubling problems into exciting opportunities. He has demonstrated an uncanny capacity for simplifying complex issues, reconfiguring precious resources and designing optimal business-as-unusual strategies for over 600 (independently verified) organizations during an exemplary career.

Jim spent 18 years as a senior administrator at two Ontario universities, was managing editor of a refereed professional journal for more than a decade, served as an evaluator of new educational technologies for the federal government and has been nationally honoured for his career in adult learning. He has conducted a number of highly sensitive operational audits and was instrumental in the reform of Ontario’s Community Care Access system.

His executive development programs have been formally recognized at the university level for “excellence in the design and delivery of lifelong education.” He developed the world’s first Internet training program on negotiating skills for the University of Alberta. Jim has conveyed his views to hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life through his seminars, books, business columns, media articles, web-based training programs and his blog.

At its inception, Jim was recruited by Dealmakers International, a worldwide consortium of negotiating experts headquartered in Israel that advised business leaders in over 20 countries. His expertise was utilized in developing training materials to support the network’s various activities.

A Canadian by birth, father of four and grandfather, he now resides on his farm in Grey Highlands where he spends his precious recreational time researching, writing and developing his expansive gardens and experimental tree plantations.