Jim Cathcart

Biography

Jim Cathcart, CSP, CPAE, author, professional speaker and business leader, is the founder and CEO of Cathcart Institute, Inc. (founded in 1977), an organization devoted to helping clients create and grow High-Value Relationships. Jim`s thirty plus years of study in applied behavioral science has resulted in The Acorn Principle, a guide to understanding the many elements that make us who we are. This breakthrough work achieved best-seller status online, as well as through traditional hardbound book channels. In fact, it was the nation`s #2 best-selling e-book in the year 2000, second only to Stephen King.

As the author of 15 books including Relationship Selling, Mr. Cathcart has long been a trendsetter in the business community. He has his own TV show on TSTN network and has delivered over 2,700 speeches around the world. He is also a co-author of ConnectAbility: 8 Keys to Building Stronger Partnerships with Your Colleagues and Your Customers. His next book is tentatively titled Relationship Intelligence: It is who knows you that counts. Among professional speakers, Jim is a world leader: recipient of The Golden Gavel Award from Toastmasters International for 2001, Past President of the National Speakers Association (NSA), winner of the Cavett Award, member of the Speaker Hall of Fame (CPAE), Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), and a long-time member of the exclusive Speakers Roundtable, 20 of the world`s top speakers.

Jim sits on numerous boards of directors, including the business school advisory boards for Pepperdine University and California Lutheran University. In 2003, he founded The 101 Leaders Alliance to identify, encourage, develop and learn from the people in the L.A.-Ventura Corridor who are making a difference through personal leadership. Today, he is based in Lake Sherwood, California, just north of Los Angeles, where he regularly hikes the mountain trails and rides his motorcycle on the twistiest roads he can find.

Publications

The Acorn Principle:
Know Yourself, Grow Yourself

Self-awareness -- knowing your nature, your abilities, and how you react to people and situations -- may well be the greatest life-management skill you can have. The Acorn Principle is a guide to doing a complete "life checkup" that will help you pinpoint your talents and strengths. Nurturing those strengths is the key to the success you`ve always wanted but didn`t know how to attain. By reading this book and doing the simple exercises, you`ll learn things about yourself that you and most people don`t even suspect.
You will learn:
*Why some people attract you and others repel you
*How to predict your instinctive reactions to various situations to understand what circumstances you thrive in and why
*Where your intellectual blind spots are
*Why you like and dislike certain things and how to use that knowledge to motivate yourself
*Who are the most influential people in your life and how to connect with them and others more effectively
*How to control your simple daily actions in such a way that you develop new abilities and continually grow a better life.

The potential to live the life of your dreams exists within you. The more you explore your talents, your relationships, and the patterns in your life, the more readily you will be able to tap into those potentials. A more fulfilling and meaningful life is possible for you without changing your nature; it will come from discovering who you already are. The mighty oak sleeps within you... right now.

Titles

Motivation
Intelligent Motivation for a Challenging World
Knowledge and Skill will not win the day, but Confident Action can change your world. Learn how to increase your drive, strengthen your discipline, and sustain the action that is needed to succeed. Intelligent Motivation (tm) is determining what is important, identifying what action is needed, and doing what is necessary to generate and sustain that action until your desired outcome is achieved. It is Conscious, Objective, Intentional & Relentless Action on Vision, Focus, Standards, Meaning, Agreements, Measures & Rewards. In this program, Jim will teach you how to inspire vision, take focused action, create firm standards, make your work more meaningful, develop clear agreements, accurate measures, and appealing rewards.

Relationship Selling
The Eight Competencies of Sales Excellence
We need to rethink how we connect with our customers and suppliers, before our competition does. When Jim Cathcart wrote the book Relationship Selling it was considered revolutionary. Today it is considered standard practice. This presentation shows you what to listen for, how to be natural in your selling style, and how to connect with the underlying elements in buying psychology that most people never heard of.

Self-Leadership
Rethinking Ourselves For a New Era
"If you can`t lead yourself, please don`t lead others." The most popular methods of leadership, management, sales and service delivery are already dangerously out of date. New technologies require new ways of thinking. Every day another standard practice becomes obsolete. To continue to grow and thrive we must learn to constantly Rethink: our markets, our systems, our relationships, our strategies and ourselves. This presentation combines stories, visuals, research and audience interaction to dramatically improve the way we think and act.

Helping People Grow
The Acorn Principle
Every person can be very good at certain things, but most people don`t know what those things are. Jim shows people how to find and grow their natural strengths so that they can always be self-motivated. Based on nine years of psychological research into personal effectiveness. A fascinating exploration of what makes us who we are, and how to use it.

Lifetime Customer Loyalty
The Grandma Factor
When you find meaning in what you do, you bring value to what you do. Everyone knows how to provide good service; our challenge is getting them to want to. The real magic in customer service comes from discretionary efforts, when people go beyond their job description. This presentation focuses on the ways systems, strategies, standards and relationships impact service. Jim teaches building your clientele through "Up-Serving".