John Spence

John Spence Profile

• Driven by an insatiable curiosity to understand the fundamental aspects of what it takes to achieve and sustain excellence in business and life, John Spence has earned a reputation as a leading authority in the areas of Strategic Thinking, High-Performance Teams, Advanced Leadership Development, and Delivering Consistently Superior Customer Service, making him one of the most highly sought after executive educators and professional speakers in America.

At the age of just 26, John was named CEO of an international Rockefeller foundation, overseeing projects in 20 countries and reporting directly to the Chairman of the Board, Winthrop P. Rockefeller III. Two years later John was nominated as one of the top CEOs under the age of 40 in Florida and Inc. Magazine’s “Zinc Online” recognized him as one of America’s up and coming young business leaders. In 2011 John was chosen as one of the Top 100 Business Thought Leaders in America, received honorable mention as one of the top 100 Small Business Influencers in America and became Director of Best Practice Innovation at the Best Practice Institute.

For the past 17 years, John has presented workshops, speeches and executive coaching to more than 300 organizations worldwide including; Microsoft, IBM, GE, Abbott, Merrill Lynch, AT&T, Verizon, Qualcomm, State Farm, and dozens of private companies, government offices and not-for-profits. John is also the author of Excellence by Design: the six key characteristics of outstanding leaders and Awesomely Simple – essential business strategies for turning ideas into action. He has been a guest lecturer at over 90 colleges and universities across the United States including Harvard, Rutgers, Brown, Stanford and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Affectionately referred to as the “Human Cliffs Notes” by many of his clients, John is known for taking massive amounts of research combined with his personal hands-on experience to deliver timely, focused, results-driven programs. For example, to create carefully customized workshops and presentations that reflect the newest research and most current thinking, John reads a minimum of 100 business-related books each year and listens to an additional 30-50 audio books, giving him an incredible depth and breadth of knowledge which to draw from.

John has served as “Executive in Residence” for the University of Central Florida’s Technology Incubator; as a Special Advisor to the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University; as a lead instructor for the University of North Florida’s Executive Education division; on the Board of Directors for the University of Florida’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation; as an advisor to the University of Florida’s Leadership Development Institute and as a senior instructor at the Cornell University Leadership Development School.

His work as a business advisor and executive educator has taken him on assignments to Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, Austria, Mexico, Latin America, the Bahamas and Canada.