Biography of Tom Hinton

Tom Hinton is one of America’s most popular speakers in the areas of Customer Relations, Leadership, Team Building, and Achieving Business Excellence in the Workplace. Since 1986, he has addressed over 700 major corporate, association, and government audiences in the United States, Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Ireland, Spain, France, England, and Scotland.

Tom’s client list represents a diverse group including: the New Otani Hotels of Japan, Union Bank, Isuzu North America, General Motors of Canada, the Alliance of American Insurers, Boston Public Schools, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, Minnesota Multi-Housing Association, Wells Fargo Bank, Employers Reinsurance Inc., Banklink, Group 4 Software, Sysco, Preferred Hotels, Blue Shield of California, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Labor, the California Department of Parks, INC. Magazine, MPI, ASAE, PCMA, and Bank of America.

Tom is the author of The Spirit of Service and Leadership Lessons I Learned on the Links: 72 Ways to Par the Course of Business and Life. He is the co-author of Customer-Focused Quality: What To Do on Monday Morning. His new book, 10,000 Days: Finding Purpose, Peace, and Satisfaction for the Rest of Your Life will be available in 2008. Tom has written over forty articles for publications such as the San Diego Business Journal, the Los Angeles Business Journal, Quality Digest, and California Excellence.

Also, Tom is a recognized expert in the field of performance excellence and frequently lectures on the Malcolm Baldrige Award for Performance Excellence criteria where he served as a member of their 2001 National Board of Examiners. Tom served on the Board of Directors of the California Council for Excellence, which administers that state’s Malcolm Baldrige Award emulation. Tom is also a member of the Board of Directors of the American Consumer Council and the California Consumer Council, both of which are non-profit organizations dedicated to consumer awareness and education.

Tom is a graduate of the University of Maryland and completed the Fundraising Management certificate program at the University of San Diego. He resides near San Diego, CA.

SPEECH TOPICS

Sustainability:
Growing Your Business for Future Generations
How is your business re-positioning itself to grow and serve future generations of customers? This question, which is at the heart of Sustainability, is one of the most dominant challenges facing business leaders today. Progressive businesses are alert to conserving natural capital because it strengthens their bottom-line and favorably positions them with global consumers who understand the socio-economic and environmental impacts of everything from chemicals to the amount of water required to wash dirty linens in a large hotel. This is why more companies are going “Green” and using products that are non-toxic, biodegradable, and all-natural.

But, Business Sustainability is much more than just going Green! It’s also about eliminating waste, reducing costs, fostering innovation, and creating a balance among the competing interests of stakeholders, employees, and consumers.

In this contemporary, informative, and high-energy presentation by one of America’s most popular business speakers and authors, Tom Hinton shares a powerful Business Sustainability Model that can help position your business as the Reputation Leader™ in its industry.

Tom will provide you with a clear understanding of Business Sustainability and describe specific ways your business can adapt and embrace seven core practices to establish itself as a model for excellence while significantly reducing costs, and building goodwill with your customers.

Leadership and Management:
Leadership Lessons I Learned on the Links: Mastering the Course of Business and Life
This outstanding keynote program is based on Tom Hinton’s third book by the same title. As a keynote presentation, this program is guaranteed to inspire and motivate your attendees. Using the analogies and principles from the game of golf, Tom shares some very powerful leadership lessons he’s learned on the links that will help your attendees improve their performance… on and off the links! Tom also involves the audience through his entertaining on-stage putting contest which always draws cheers and laughter from the audience while providing important life lessons. This dynamic and upbeat presentation is very popular with senior managers, sales representatives, and clients or suppliers who want to integrate a sports theme and leadership message at their meeting. This program is also a big hit with spouses, too!

Reputation Leadership: Positioning Your Organization to Do Business in the 21st Century
A new aspect of organizational excellence has been developed by Tom Hinton and CRI Global, LLC. It is known as Reputation Leadership. How does Reputation Leadership work? It is a three-step process companies and non-profit organizations use to assess their current organizational performance against their marketing and sales results.

• Step 1. Perform an organizational assessment of your company (or business unit) by asking and responding to 66 proprietary questions designed by CRI Global, LLC. These questions assess five key areas of your organization. We call them the Five P’s: Purpose, Principles, People, Processes, and Performance. Through this process, we can identify exactly where your organization can establish it's Reputation Leadership edge.
• Step 2. Break down the silos and fiefdoms within your organization that inhibit innovation, communication, and change. This step allows an organizational transformation to occur that will position your company to effectively market and sell to new consumers, especially the emerging Global Prosumers (ages 21-38 years old).
• Step 3. Train those employees in your organization who touch the customer so that your values are communicated clearly and effectively. In this way, you will have one unified message communicated to consumers, who will identify more closely with your brand and corporate values. This is very important to Global Prosumers.

Reputation Leadership can significantly impact your performance and results.

Customer Service:
The Spirit of Service: How to Create a Customer-Focused Organization
When Tom Hinton wrote his first book, The Spirit of Service, he contributed to a growing international movement in the early ‘90s that has transformed how businesses and public agencies view their relationship with customers. For nearly twenty years, Tom has entertained and enlightened audiences --from Fortune 100 companies to public sector agencies -- on how to transform organizations from an “operations-driven” mindset to a customer-focused culture. This popular keynote program or workshop is ideal for front-line service champions, call center employees, and managers who are responsible for customer service, customer relationships, and closing sales. Tom shares ten valuable attributes that every customer-focused organization should embrace including Service Leadership, Listening, Keeping Score, and Measuring Results. This presentation is packed with humor, positive examples of how to acquire and maintain customers, and practical tips that are customer-designed to help your employees impact the bottom line through their service performance.

Team Building:
The Power of Teams: Working Together for Profit, Pride, and Success
How do best-in-class companies distinguish themselves from their competitors? One proven way is through the power of teamwork. It’s no secret that successful work teams out-perform, out-produce, and out-distance the competition. So, how do you create a winning team performance? During this workshop or keynote presentation, Tom Hinton will energize your attendees by sharing his Five P’s of Team Building. You’ll learn how world-class organizations have applied Tom Hinton’s “Five Ps of Team Building” to improve product development, spark new ideas, innovate, and expand market share by working together to achieve better results. This spirited program is popular with employee groups and managers because it blends humor and team building exercises with proven relationship-building strategies to help solve tough operational problems and achieve breakthroughs in the workplace.

Business Excellence:
Achieving Excellence: Leading Your Organization from Good to Great
Moving any organization from “good to great” requires leadership, talented people, a strong strategic plan, and processes that can be measured and refined. Since 1988, Tom Hinton has helped hundreds of private and public sector organizations transform their performance from good to great through his Performance Excellence presentations. During this hands-on, informative workshop or keynote, Tom will share seven keys necessary for an organization to succeed on its journey to Business Excellence. As a result of this presentation, your attendees will have a very clear roadmap they can follow to improve performance levels across the board and transform their organization into a world-class, industry leader.

Personal Development:
10,000 Days: Living a Life Worth Remembering
One of Tom Hinton’s most popular presentations since September 11, 2001 is 10,000 Days. Based on his new, best-selling book, Tom delivers an inspiring and thought-provoking presentation that will lift the spirits of your attendees and challenge them to make a difference! This keynote is spiced with humor and memorable stories describing how some of history’s greatest leaders transformed our world through their deeds and words. As we reach that point in our lives where “legacy” and “contribution” matter, Tom Hinton’s uplifting and provocative keynote will invigorate your attendees to use their human gifts and talents to accomplish their goals, create a better world, and commit to making a difference during each of their remaining 10,000 days.