Tom Connellan

When companies like Marriott, Dell, and GE want to take performance to another level, they all turn to one man— Tom Connellan. And with good reason. Whether it’s an hour -long keynote or a day -long interactive session, Tom’s unique combination of solid research and street -smart business sense will make his appearance a meeting highlight.

A former Program Director and Research Associate at the University of Michigan Business School, Tom brings depth and breadth to your meeting. As a company founder and former CEO, he knows first-hand what it takes to grow a business. Tom started a service company in the health care field and built it into a network of 1200 instructors serving 300 hospitals and most of the Fortune 500 firms. He’s worked in manufacturing and sales. Tom knows what it’s like to be on the firing line of business and audiences connect with this practical experience.

The author of eleven books and numerous articles, Tom has been quoted in leading publications such as U.S. News and World Report and The New York Times. He’s been the Editorial Director of four management and personnel magazines, a first level supervisor, and a company president.

Tom can show you how to create Sustained Superior Performance, how to handle those difficult conversations that always seem to arise, and how to win the hearts and minds of your customers.

Everyone leaves Tom’s session with practical how-to’s they can put to work the next day. His fast-paced, entertaining, and informative presentations captivate participants from start to finish.

Creating Exceptional Customer Experiences

This presentation shows you why customers are tougher today and what you need to do about it right away. It’s tied in part to Tom’s Wall Street Journal Bestseller Inside the Magic Kingdom (which describes how Disney creates exceptional customer experiences and how you can do the same). He describes how a single internal factor directly drives customer loyalty and profitability in such compelling terms that engineering teams, entire IT departments, C level executives, sales teams, manufacturing managers, HR departments, and others regularly participate in this session.

Turbulent Times Leadership
Based upon Tom’s New York Times Bestseller Bringing Out the Best in Others, this presentation shows your leadership team how to keep everyone fully engaged, highly motivated, and performing well in a challenging environment. Because he combines his research into high performance with his experience as an entrepreneur and CEO, he delivers actionable ideas that can be put to use immediately. He found that through thick or thin, leaders of high performing teams consistently treat team members differently in 3 different skill areas. If you’re getting your leadership team together, put Tom on the agenda to show everyone how to boost performance within 24 hours by going full throttle on all three factors.

Making Exceptional Things Happen in a Changing World
We live in an increasingly upside-down world. To quote the great sage Yogi Berra, “even the future ain’t what it used to be.” The scope, complexity, and rate of change is increasing in virtually every organization. Yet, individuals at all levels must keep focused on producing results – even in the face of greater instability. This presentation is based upon Tom’s next book – The 1% Solution™. It incorporates some of his research into Olympic Gold Medal Winners. In all Olympic events, the difference between a gold medal and no medal averages about 1%. Between 1st and 10th place, the average is about 2%. Whether it’s sales reps, manufacturing directors, engineers, entrepreneurs, or others, the key to building sustainable profits in an upside down world lies not in trying to be 100% better than your competition; it lies in simply being 1% better in everything you do.