Global Top Gurús 2014

John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership speaker and author who has written over 70 books and sold more than 19 million copies. He has been the consistent number one Leadership Guru on the Global Gurus sites for 6 years now. John Maxwell and his ideas are making a global impact through his Train the Trainer, licensed trainers, and internet based programs like www.maxwellplan.com and www.johnmaxwellteam.com, The man was recognized as best-selling author in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week and is also a Hall of Famer  of www.Amazon.com. Although not all of the ideas of John Maxwell are really unique, his brilliant way of storytelling and orating as well as his uncanny ability makes complicated ideas easy to understand. He is a global top leadership guru because he thoroughly researches proven concepts and creates structures and narratives that support Leadership Development. As a speaker, he is structured, deliberate and inspirational reason why John Maxwell is well known internationally.

Ken Blanchard has always been the leadership guru with a heart as seen in his works throughout his career which encourages in bringing out the best in people. And as an internationally renowned leadership author, speaker and consultant, he has made a huge impact to the world of leadership and as well as the lives of those people who have never even read his books. In our opinion, Ken Blanchard is one of the few people who simplify unique concepts in leadership and makes it easy to apply. Aside from having bestselling books which includes The One Minute Manage, coauthored with Spencer Johnson with sales of more than 18 million copies in more than 25 languages, Ken developed the Situational Leadership model and is out to make a difference in the lives of other people. Everything about his leadership books, training and speaking reflects one commonality, he believes in the natural goodness of people and that bringing that goodness out creates greater relationships and emotions which in turn create better organizations. As a speaker, he is warm and steady. Ken Blanchard is well known internationally and is also listed as a Top Management Expert.

John Kotter  has been a Harvard Business School professor for over 30 years and is an internationally renowned author on leadership and change. His 18 books include international bestseller Leading Change and followed by Our Iceberg Is Melting, which puts his 8-step process for change into a fun and easy to read format. In addition to the Leadership Guru Award John Kotter was awarded, Business Week magazine rated Kotter the #1 leadership guru in America based on a survey they conducted of 504 enterprises in 2001. After his 30 years of success in teaching, he decided to start a company that would arm leaders to tackle the challenges of changing times, Kotter International helps organizations execute Kotters strategies, and leaves them with the capability to take on future business challenges and react to them quickly with agility and direction. John Kotter received full marks on being unique with his concepts and ideas. His presence on the stage alone commands absolute attention allowing listeners to gather enough information to use in the future. His comeback to the guru list is attributed to the licensing of his Leading Bold Change workshops based on his bestseller Our Iceberg is Melting which is refocusing the international business public to his global contribution.

The removal of Tony Robins from this category last year was because of our decision to place him in the #1 spot for the Personal Development Gurus but his followers keep on voting for him in the leadership category. Although his focus is not officially leadership, his strategies and methods support and develop leadership across the board making us change our initial decision and provide him his well-deserved title as one of the best leadership speakers in the world. He has taken Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) to new heights and created a number of models used by leadership and sales trainers across the world today, Tony Robins is truly a pioneer in the area of Training and leadership development, and a large number of leaders of industry have at least attended a Tony Robins seminar. He is well known international speaker famous for being the most dynamic, energetic and inspirational of all the leadership gurus.

Warren Bennis has been in the leadership circles for ages and even with the changing times he still manages to keep up with what works in leadership. His new autobiography Still Surprised says it all. He has been and still is a continuing influence in the leadership development arena. In 2007, Business Week recognized him as one of the ten business school professors who has the greatest influence on business thinking. The Financial Times recently named his classic book Leadefiers one of the top 50 books of all time. He has written 17 books about leadership and developed thousands of leaders through the University and his international lectures. Warren Bennis is by all rights a global Leadership Thought Leader yet maintains his humility and is always willing to share and help others attain greater leadership heights.

Marshal Goldsmithis one of the humblest leadership gurus on this list. As multiple NY Times bestselling author, his down to earth demeanor and compassionate attitude are probably what makes him one of the best leadership coaches in the world. Marshall Goldsmiths books, coaching and talks seem to reflect a common idea: That we often hold on to the same actions that helped us to succeed up to a point, and those same actions often prevent us from achieving higher levels of success. His articles are consistently published by Harvard Business School which also recommended six of his books in their Working Knowledge series. His ideas and processes are unique and he has personally and his licensed coaches and trainers using his methodology have made a difference in thousands of organizations. Marshall Goldsmith also shares his wisdom freely with the world at www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com. As a speaker, he is warm and steady. Marshall Goldsmith is well known internationally but mostly in North America.

Robin Sharma is superlatively effective in creating lessons from stories. His NY Times bestselling book The Monk who Sold his Ferrari set a new standard in combining personal development with leadership and taking readers on a mythical journey. While ideas of Robin Sharma are not new, he surely is the best at using bite sized leadership strategies to effect better leadership in his audiences. His mantra is that everyone, regardless of title, must be a leader in the new economy. They should take up challenges of personal excellence and do what is required. As a speaker, he is dynamic and structured. Robin Sharma is well known in North America, India, and Europe.

Jack Welch had been keeping his branding up as a leadership guru with his weekly column The Welch Way which appeared in Business Week, the New York Time and more than 45 major newspapers around the world. Unfortunately, his controversial allegation on the unemployment rate figures, he became non-existent and has stopped this contribution. However, he has added to the leadership arena and helped develop a great number of leaders with his ideas, and we do not do politics so here he is. He is mostly known for his ability to not only turnaround GE but creates an organizational culture that surpassed the wildest expectations of anybody. He later went on to co-author three #1 bestsellers: Winning, Winning, The Answers and Jack – Straight from the Gut. With the influence of The Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University where students can get an MBA online, Jack Welsh is back in the top 10.  Jack goes beyond the principles of leadership and management everyone talks about, his ideas and processes are surely his own style and we give him full marks for his unique methodology of leadership training and development. As a speaker, he is structured and steady. He is well known in North America and Europe.

Arthur Carmazzi has made his biggest impact with his Directive Communication Psychology, a group dynamics discipline used in rapid organizational culture change and leadership development. His research and contributions to the leadership development community got full marks for uniqueness including his Environmental (Culture Based) Leadership model, his Coloured Brain Communication model and various psychology based leadership development tools. The models and tools of Arthur combined into the Directive Communication system that has literally transformed thousands of companies through his licensed trainers, culture change consultants and personal involvement. Arthur wrote six books and two of those are international bestsellers and are available in most Asian Languages. The foundational philosophy of Arthur Carmazzi is that there is no one leadership model that fits everyone and by understanding how we affect and are affected by others in multiple environments, we can make small modifications to create our own personal leadership identity model to have a bigger more sustainable impact. As a speaker he is dynamic, energetic and inspirational. Arthur Carmazzi is well known in Asia and the Middle East.

Margaret Wheatley is a leadership studies writer and management consultant who studies organizational behavior. She received her doctorate from Harvard University and holds an M.A. in systems thinking from New York University. She has written several best-selling books, beginning with the path-breaking Leadership and the New Science. She also served as full-time graduate management faculty at two institutions, Cambridge College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and The Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. She is also a co-founder and President Emerita of The Berkana Institute, a global charitable foundation founded in 1991. The Leadership Excellence Magazine recognized her as one of the top leaders in management and leadership. She also wrote several books like, A Simpler Way, coauthored with Myron Kellner-Rogers, Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World, and more. Her newest book, So Far From Home: Lost and Found in Our Brave New World was published October 2012. The research of Margaret has inspired many new ideas and given thousands a new perspective on how they would become better leaders.

James Collins is a business consultant, author, and speaker on leadership and company sustainability and growth. His bestsellers include Built to Last which is coauthored by Jerry Porass, Good to Great and the most recent is Great by Choice. Built to Last was a fixture on the Business Week best-seller list for more than six years, and has been translated into 25 languages. Jim Collins talent and guru factor come from his ability to research and put that research data into an easy to understand format… his contributions to leaders around the world has been help them sustain superior success. His uniqueness is not from the content he creates but in his approach to gathering valuable information. He is a fact based speaker and uses that to inspire audiences to taking the required steps to creating and sustaining great organizations. Jim Collins is mostly known in North America but his books are internationally known and revered.

Marcus Buckingham is the Strengths Guru, He is a British-American New York Times bestselling author, researcher, motivational speaker and business consultant. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1987 with a masters degree in political science. Some of his successful and best seller books were First, Break All The Rules Now, Discover Your Strengths, The One Thing You Need to Know and more. He also have numerous television appearances , including The View, I Want to Work for Diddy, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The Today Show, Larry King Live, and more. Marcus started his own company in 2006 The Marcus Buckingham Company (TMBC). They offer management training programs and tools dedicated to promoting the strengths revolution and to help jump start a worldwide conversation about how to get people focused on their strengths. Since he is research based, many elements of uniqueness are missing, but let’s focus on his strengths and identify that as a researcher he has transformed much of the way how leaders in North America deal with their staff. He is responsible for affecting the perceptions of hundreds of thousands of parents and how they deal with their children. His speaking style is indeed inspiring and he is able to take his research and not only make it easy to apply with specific steps, but it also inspires you to take those steps.

Fawn Germer is the personification of the heroine we see in movies. She has gone against the odds, she has been rejected and put down and yet, she has triumphs over her environment. She is an advocate woman in leadership and has compiled the wisdom, insight and leadership strategies from more than 200 famous women leaders for her new book Pearls. Her philosophy through her six books is one of adaptability and an ever-changing skills set. Fawn Germer is a bestselling author and four-time, Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist who has written for The Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report, and The Miami Herald. Fawn Germer deals with what it takes to be a great leader today and is an Oprah Winfrey must read author. As a speaker she is dynamic, energetic and inspirational. She is well known in North America but has had substantial international exposure.

John Baldoni is an internationally acclaimed leadership consultant, executive coach, author and speaker. He renders practical strategy to equip emerging and top executives to lead and manage their people efficiently. To broaden his reach, he started Baldoni Consulting LLC, a full service executive coaching and leadership development firm. As a speaker, he was noted for his functional inputs mixed with lighthearted humor. His passion for leadership emancipates through his genuine goal of helping leaders achieve their aspirations. John speaks widely to corporate, professional, military and university audiences. As an executive coach, John helps managers to achieve positive results by focusing on communication, influence, motivation and supervision. He is also the author of 10 books on leadership including his newest Lead With Purpose: Giving Your Organization a Reason to Believe in Itself. In 2012, Leadership Gurus International ranked John No. 10 on its list of global leadership gurus. While John did lose a little rank this year it is not because he is less of a guru, he just does not have anything new recently. John Baldoni is well known in North America and has a soft yet humorous speaking style.

Together with his co-author Adrian Gostick, Chester Elton has made his greatest impact in the leadership community with innovative workplace strategies on employee appreciation and how to inspire creativity for better organizational results. His 7 books including the New York Times bestseller, The Carrot Principle, and the #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller, The Orange Revolution, and All In have been translated into 20 languages. He is the highest rated speaker at the national Society for Human Resource Management annual conference. Chester Elton has been featured in The Financial Times, Washington Post, Fast Company, and the New York Times. He has been featured on 60 Minutes, CNN, ABCs Money Matters, MSNBC and National Public Radio. The 20 years of research of the two resulted into creating effective workplaces by providing proof and strategies that work, and while many of his concepts are not new, we give him high marks on for structure and his ability to get others to understand and take action. As a speaker he is dynamic, energetic and inspirational. He is known internationally but mostly North America.

Together with his co-author Chester Elton, Adrian Gostick yes, has made his greatest impact in the leadership community with innovative workplace strategies on employee appreciation and how to inspire creativity for better organizational results. Rather than repeating all same information as his co-author, we will just add that these two guys are almost identical in their contributions to leadership development and fan base. While each is a unique individual with different experiences, as a speaker Adrian Gostick is dynamic, energetic and thought provoking. He is known internationally but mostly North America.

James Kouzes is both a leadership expert and an experienced executive. Wall Street journal proclaims him as one of the twelve best executive educators in the U.S. He is also the Deans Executive Professor of Leadership at Leavey School of Business in Santa Clara University. Jim Kouzes is the co-author of Barry Posner of the award-winning and bestselling book, The Leadership Challenge, with over one million copies sold. As a leadership guru he has been around and has won numerous awards in addition to Top 30 Leadership Rank like HR Magazines Most Influential International Thinkers for 2010 and 2011 and Leadership Excellence magazine as number sixteen on its list of the Top 100 Thought Leaders. Jim Kouzes applies his vast business experience to support his ideas and talks as a leadership thought leader leaving audiences with nuggets of wisdom. His Evidence-based LEADERSHIP PRACTICES INVENTORY (LPI) helps individuals to learn and develop his own style of leadership. His mission is to empower others to make extraordinary things happen and supports youth leadership development through educating educators. He is mostly known in North America.

What Mark Murphy created, Leadership IQ, focuses to ensure employee engagement through a research based compilation of studies that support leadership development. Marks leading-edge research has been featured in Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and more. He has also appeared on ABCs 20/20, CBS News, Fox Business News and NPR. Mark is a great story teller and uses various studies as a foundation to get his audiences to make realizations. His philosophy revolves around communication, connectivity and team interaction and is define throughout his 3 books. He has created a structured system that individuals can apply to develop better leadership ability and is constantly doing more research to maintain a cutting edge leadership development including various assessments and surveys. Due to his innovations and studies we give Mark Murphy full marks on uniqueness. Mark Murphy is a steady and structured speaker. He is well known in North America.

Dr. Ram Charan is more of a management guru than leadership, but much of his work has affected the leadership sphere. Aside from being known for providing relevant advices that takes into account the real-world complexities of business. Ram Charan has written 15 books which have collectively sold more than 2 million copies. He was identified by Fortune as the leading expert in corporate governance and has through in-house executive education programs. His ideas are practical and proven, so while the materials of Ram Charan is not that unique, it is brilliantly laid out and structured. His philosophy deals with the idea that people development and the expenditures that go with it, will provide a more effective work force and therefore improve the organizational bottom line. As a speaker, he is structured and steady. He is well known in India and the North America

We originally did not include Tony Fernandes in our list since he is a captain of industry, a great one, yes, but not one who develops leadership in others by profession, or so we thought. Well, with the many speeches, articles and public appearances Tony has been doing around the world  plus the votes he has gotten for sharing his leadership wisdom on the how he founded and grew AirAsia, the most successful budget Airline in the world, we could no longer refuse. While Tony has no books (we are still waiting), he has been extremely innovative in his leadership methodology. And he gladly shares his leadership development processes and strategies to his audiences and applies it with his staff, developing entrepreneurial leaders across his entire AirAsia organization. As a speaker, he is dynamic and inspirational. Tony Fernandes is well known in Asia.

With his new book The Icarus Deception, Seth Godin ended up on the Leadership Radar. While Seth is surely one of the Top Marketing Gurus, his books and writing these days seem to be going more and more toward the ability to influence change, not only in yourself, but in others. That sure sounds like Leadership to us. Then the votes he got over the past few months puts Seth into the Leadership Guru category. Besides 14 bestsellers out of fourteen books he has written, each of which have been translated into more than 30 languages, Seth Godin gets full marks for originality. His ideas and applications of psychology principles are surely unique. Seth Godin is not just a bestselling author and speaker, he has real companies including http://squidoo.com, which raises money for charity and pays royalties to its million plus members. As a speaker, he is dynamic and thought provoking. While Seth Godin is well known internationally, he is strongest in North America.

Tom Peters became world famous when he wrote his best-known book In Search of Excellence with Robert Waterman. The book was written, at a time when the competitiveness of America was being threatened by Japan and demonstrated that there were still many excellent American companies. On the Management arena, they call him the Red Bull of management thinkers. Tom encourages leaders to strive more for excellence despite the trying and tough times. He is also the chairman of the Tom Peters Company. While his popularity as dwindled and Tom Peters mostly focuses on management these days, he still has an impact on leadership development through his foundational ideas and is still a sought after Leadership Speaker. As a speaker is structured and steady and while his book is internationally recognized, Tom Peters is mostly known in North America.

Jason Jennings is a business leader, a researcher, a keynote speaker and a bestselling business author. He is an authority on leadership, productivity and innovation and he loves to help individuals and companies in reaching their full business potential. Jason began his career as a radio and television reporter and became its owner in the long run. Later, he founded Jennings-McGlothlin & Company, a consulting firm that became the world’s largest media consultancy. He traveled around the globe in search of the fastest rising companies of  the world for his landmark book Its Not the Big That Eat the Small  Its the Fast That Eat the Slow. Within weeks of its release it hit the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and New York Times Bestsellers Lists. Now published in 32 languages, USA TODAY named it one of the top 25 books of the year! Jason Jennings is a dynamic speaker with new ideas that shape leadership perspectives in those who read his books and attend hi talks. He is mostly known in North America.

Mark Sanborn is an international bestselling author and noted authority on leadership, team building, customer service and change. Mark is the author of eight books, including the bestseller The Fred Factor. As a leadership guru, he has been on this list for a few years and keeps getting votes but Mark Sanborn is more than just a guy people voted for. His unique ideas and leadership talks have supported the development of greater leaders and even better people. The Fred Factor: How Passion In Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary Into the Extraordinary sold more than 1.6 million copies internationally has added to his impact on the leadership sphere. Mark Sanborn is an inspirational speaker with a powerful and steady voice that commands respect. He is mostly known in North America.

Named as one of the Top 50 Leadership Coaches in America,Dr. Barry Posner,was greatly known for his groundbreaking research study on leadership which was translated into his book, The Leadership Challenge. This book combines keen insights with practical applications and captures both why and how leadership should be a concern for all. The book was translated into over 20 foreign languages and receives several awards. Dr. Posner was also active in the academe; He is a professor of Leadership at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University where he served as Dean of the School. Enthusiastically welcomed as a warm and engaging conference speaker and dynamic workshop facilitator, Barry has consulted with a wide variety of public and private sector organizations around the globe and to several professionals. With those achievements at hand he was regarded as one of the Top 50 Leadership Coaches in America. As a speaker, he is structured and steady. He is well known in North America.

Richard Chang is an author of over twenty-five books on business and personal development, including his best-selling works: The Passion Plan at Work-Building a Passion-Driven Organization, Performance Scorecards-Measuring the Right Things in the Real World and The Passion Plan -A Step-by-Step Guide to Discovering, Developing, and Living Your Passion. He is also the author of a number of award-winning video and audio programs. Richard Chang also known as the highly respected for his quality improvement, organization development, customer value, strategic planning, measurement systems, team development, performance improvement, product realization and human resource development expertise. Richard Chang has served as part-time faculty member at Loyola Marymount University and as an Associate Professor for the Graduate School of Human Resource Management and Development at Chapman University. And he also served on the faculty for California State University and several community colleges in Southern California.

Paul Bridle has gained his place on the leadership gurus list greatly due to his Thoughts on Leadership (TOL) series and as he explains it, his job is to put leadership principals, ideas and information in to context. Paul Bridle calls himself a leadership methodologist, a fitting title for one who studies successful business and leadership and refines the data and delivers it in a fashion that is easy to understand and apply. His speaking style is inspirational and informative and he is mostly known in the UK.

Dr. Noel M Tichy is an American management consultant, author and educator. Dr. Tichy not only extends his expertise in business firms and private sectors but to the academe as well. Yes, he is a Management guy but as many of the top leadership gurus, his contribution to the leadership sphere has been substantial. He is a dedicated Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.  Being the Director of Global Business Partnership which ran the Global Leadership Program prepared him for the Leadership Guru award. He has a great impact in developing senior executives managing skills especially in the threat of globalization. His past works includes heading GEs Leadership Center and also a professor at Columbia University Business School Dr. Tichy is the author of countless books. His most recent book is JUDGMENT: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls. His huge contribution in management literary regarded him as one of the Top 10 Management Gurus by Business Week. He is known in North America.

Steve Farber is a leadership keynote speaker, executive coach, and bestselling author. He enriched his leadership skills with The Tom Peters Company as Vice President for 6 years where he met several mentors and gurus. Steve Farber is the president of Extreme Leadership, Incorporated, and the founder of The Extreme Leadership Institute, organizations devoted to the cultivation and development of Extreme Leaders in the business community, non-profits and education. The books of Steve Farber, The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership is a recipient of Fast Company magazines Readers Choice Award and was named one of the ten best business books of 2004 by the on-line resource, CEO Refresher. His second book, The Radical Edge: Stoke Your Business, Amp Your Life, and Change the World was hailed as a playbook for harnessing the power of the human spirit. He totally inspires business leaders to reach to the extreme of their leadership endeavors through his passion, enthusiasm and humor. He is an inspirational speaker and is mostly known in North America.