Travels from Massachusetts, USA
Jim Craig's speaking fee falls within range: $25,000 to $30,000
Ask any American over the age of forty for their top three memorable sporting moments and it’s odds-on that the victory of the USA over the USSR for the Olympic title in Lake Placid in 1980–the “Miracle on Ice”–will be there. The goaltender for that legendary team, Jim Craig, is in huge demand all around the world for his talents as a motivational speaker, spokesperson, marketing and sales strategist and thrilling storyteller. His company, Gold Medal Strategies, based in the Boston area, provides motivational speakers and sales training for some of the most prestigious companies in the USA.
Jim inspires, entertains and provides his audiences with many new ideas and plenty of food for thought. In his post–hockey career he has matched his wonderful achievements as an athlete with those as a sales and marketing strategist and executive.
Jim’s motivational and instructional talks have been requested by more than five hundred organizations and corporations, among them Coca-Cola, Coors, Walt Disney, Fidelity, Dunkin’ Donuts, John Hancock, KPMG, NBC, Ocean Spray, Evergreen Financial and Sun Life Financial.
Jim Craig is best known as the backbone of the 1980 Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Team, whose ‘Miracle’ win was voted by Sports Illustrated as the greatest moment in sports history of the 21st century. Craig, who started every game in goal, was a leading figure in the team’s success. One of the enduring images of the 1980 Games was of Craig, wrapped in an American flag, searching the stands for his widowed father in order to share the gold-medal-winning victory.
Before the Olympics, Jim was an All-American goalie at Boston University, leading his team to a NCAA national championship. After the ‘Miracle’ game, Jim went on to play professionally for three NHL teams, where he sustained a career-ending injury while playing for the Minnesota North Stars. He is enshrined in the Boston University Hall of Fame, the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame, the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, and the United States Olympic Hall of Fame and is a co-recipient of both the Lester Patrick award and the Sports Illustrated “Sportsman of the Year” award. He is also a graduate of Boston University and earned his doctorate in humane letters from Mercy College.
Following Jim’s professional hockey career, he transitioned his success into the corporate world as a motivational speaker, powerful salesman and corporate consultant. He has been inducted into the Sales Halls of Fame for two different companies, having increased a sales territory from $300,000 to $50 million in annual sales. Following this role, Jim moved on to become the Vice President of a promotional marketing agency. Under his guidance, the agency increased annual dollar sales by 80 percent and its number of clients by 30 percent in just two short years.
For more than 35 years, Jim has inspired, instructed and provided strategic and winning direction to some of the most prestigious companies across the world, including Kellogg’s, Bayer, Deloitte, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Disney, as the successful owner and president of his company, Gold Medal Strategies. Jim has been selected three times as one of the top five speakers on team building in the United States, and has evolved to not only deliver motivational speeches, but host immersive corporate training programs that teach participants how to think differently and believe in their possibilities. Jim is the co-author of the highly acclaimed business book, Gold Medal Strategies: Business Lessons from America’s Miracle Team and recently released his newest book and legacy piece, We Win! Lessons on Life, Business & Building Your Own Miracle Team. In addition to his role with Gold Medal Strategies, Jim serves as a board member of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, and he has a passion for leveraging his athletic and business success to help others achieve their full potential and lives in integrity with his mission every day!
“This moment is yours. You were meant to be here." Jim Craig gives his audience a thrilling reminiscence of the buildup to the 1980 “Miracle on Ice."
Jim Craig brings his experience of winning with the 1980 USA Olympic hockey team as well as thirty years of sales and marketing experience to help inspire you or your employees to reach their goals.
Jim has developed a set of “Gold Medal Strategies” for success, which he will tailor to every audience to give them a truly personalized and directed experience. Whether talking of the power of teamwork, conflict management, the rewards of risk-taking or how to recruit for results, you can be sure that Jim will provide the inspiration for your personal gold medal run.
Jim Craig guides, motivates, and inspires your employees and associates through a 45-minute to one hour speech that is customized to your organizations needs and objectives.
Your business is faced with a unique set of challenges which Jim Craig understands. When speaking to your organization, Jim enlists and draws from his experiences with the 1980 USA Olympic hockey team and his 30 years of sales & marketing experience to customize a speech that is tailored to driving the organization to meet their goals. Jim Craig has developed 9 “Gold Medal Strategies” for Success to assist companies and individuals on what it takes to succeed.
With Jim Craig you hit the trifecta in a motivational and teamwork coach:
Listed below are Jim’s 9 Gold Medal Strategies for success along with some of his favorite speech topics:
Gold Medal Strategies:
Speech Topics:
“The Gold Medal Strategies team was inviting, very professional, easy to work with, and committed to understanding our business and objectives specific to our event. Their willingness to spend time with us in preparation and to truly share our vision resulted in a uniquely personalized and special event that delivered the exact message we were looking to deliver. You must remember Jim’s background; Jim came from team environment…allow their team to become a member of your team. When working with Jim and the Gold Medal team, make sure you invest the time upfront and give serious thought and consideration about the message you are looking for them to accomplish. Allow their team to dig deep and understand who you are as an organization. Jim and his team do NOT regurgitate a set number of predefined scripts, allow them to build and deliver a message tailored for your event that is based on your message and definition of success. They will knock it out of the park.” – Chief Operations Officer, Axim Fringe Solutions
“When I select speakers for our events, it is with the thought – ‘What’s the story? Will the employees be able to connect to the story? Is it great?’ These days, it is so hard to find someone that everyone in the audience can attach to, and Jim was brilliant at this. Throughout Jim’s messaging, he wove in the themes we express all the time as a company, which made it even better. The important step I took was reading Jim’s second book, “We Win,” to help prepare for the conversation we would have. The book told me something about Jim and his journey that you wouldn’t just get from watching the movie Miracle. The movie was about the thrill of the game, but when you read the story about Jim’s family, how he was discovered by mailman, the way his community banded together to support him, it humanizes the journey even more and it allowed me to dive in with questions and guide the conversation with a much more personal element. He uses powerful quotes throughout the book, which I loved because quotes are multi-generational and really bring people together. Jim made sure to leave the audience with specific things to remember – and the feedback I have received is, ‘Wow, Jim was incredible. Thank you for bringing Jim to us.’” – Senior Vice President, Diversity & Community, Sempra
“If you are looking for someone who delivers at the highest level of motivation and professionalism, look no further than Jim Craig. Jim personalized his presentation to our audience while at the same time, touching on the key elements that have impacted his life, as well as the amazing events that have shaped who he is. I have been involved in securing and working with speakers for over 37 years and I can say, hands down, Jim is one of the finest people whom you will ever work with.” – Executive Director, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Lewis Clark Valley
“Working with Jim and his team is an absolute pleasure! We consistently have an amazing experience and Jim always gets outstanding feedback from our clients. We highly recommend him to anyone who is looking for a phenomenal speaker!” – Ingram Micro
“Our virtual keynote with Jim Craig was a huge success. I was personally very impressed with the Gold Medal Strategies team from the beginning, where they took the time to truly prepare and get to know our organization’s aims and strategic objectives, ensuring Jim’s message would perfectly align. On the day of the event, Jim was very well spoken and natural behind the camera, and I believe his message was empowering for everyone tuned in. Jim did an excellent job at bringing everyone together during a time of great uncertainty. After speaking with passion about motivation and inspiration for about half an hour, Jim then engaged the team in a Q and A session, answering in an open and thoughtful way. I have received nothing but positive feedback and can’t recommend Jim and the Gold Medal Strategies team enough to bring your team together when the world is currently keeping them apart.” – Darlene Pasquill, Head of the Equity Division, Mizuho Americas
“Jim’s speech was everything I hoped for and more. It is one thing to impart the right messages, but a true motivator inspires action and that Is what Jim accomplished. Having Jim as the keynote speaker for our team was a great decision with overwhelmingly positive results. I would strongly suggest to any company looking for a motivational speaker to make the same choice.” – Ethics & Compliance Manager, Procter & Gamble
“Jim nailed the virtual presentation and his focus on “training to win” and what it takes to win was extremely motivating. One of my favorite quotes was, “taking the harder right over taking the easier wrong”. It is so easy not to have the hard conversations in leadership and to not do the uncomfortable work or fooling yourself into thinking you are taking the harder right. This message hit home with our team and we have discussed it quite a bit. We are a tighter group because of it and I thank Jim for it! He taught us there is a certain grit and grind it out attitude you must have to win! In a challenging environment, like we are experiencing today, this message was perfectly timed. We are on our way now and know what it means to train to win not just to train to compete.” – Senior Director, North America Global Compute & Networking Sales, Intel/DELL EMC
“The leadership from our organization has been working with Jim Craig and Gold Medal Strategies in various ways for many years…Jim and his team are experts at developing materials that are relevant to our leaders. Jim has a natural talent for pulling out greatness! He challenges you to think differently, push harder and develop exceptional work through these calls. Jim will push you and challenge your team. He has helped me grow my leadership exponentially and is an amazing performance coach! I highly recommend Jim & Gold Medal Strategies!” – Director of Talent Development, Zeigler Auto Group
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Gold Medal Strategies: Business Lessons From America’s Miracle Team
Business lessons from one of the greatest Olympic teams of all time It’s been called the greatest upset of all time, the most memorable Olympic moment ever, the “Miracle on Ice.” No matter which superlative is used, no one can deny that the U.S. men’s hockey team’s defeat of the Soviet Union in the medal round of the Lake Placid Olympic Games was a defining moment for Cold War America.
The U.S. team’s goalie was a Boston University student named Jim Craig, who is now a leadership expert and keynote speaker to business audiences. Gold Medal Strategies gives you Craig’s unique lessons from the “Miracle” team on team dynamics, leadership, motivation, and other important management topics. With his unparalleled perspective, Craig dissects and analyzes the elements of a successful team, how to assemble one, and what philosophies will keep the team’s shared goal a reality. This book outlines the necessary skills and details the specific techniques you need to maximize your business readiness, hone competitive cooperation, gather your strategies, and attack your challengers.
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