Barry Wishner

Biography

Barry Wishner is "The Can Opener For People's Minds." His job is to open the tops of peoples heads and put fresh ideas in. His personal in-depth interviews with more than 350 Fortune 500 CEOs and over 2000 high-powered business leaders, news-making entrepreneurs, award winning top producers and ground breaking innovators reveals; What smart leaders do differently in difficult times.

From Brooklyn to the Boardroom. Barry combines street smarts with real world business experience. He has been a risk taker in the business world with over 30 years as a successful entrepreneur and corporate executive with Fortune 500 companies. Barrys "Dare To Be Different" strategy has produced businesses that are special, difficult to duplicate, and memorable. As founder and CEO of ProFormance, a management consulting firm with over $50 Million in revenues, he answers the question: "Why do some companies prosper and grow while others struggle to merely stay afloat?"

Barry graduated from Pratt Institute, followed by Bernard Baruch School of Business (CCNY) MBA program. He then joined the Air Force as a Captain where he served as a hospital administrator under the Surgeon General.

He has been an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University, lecturing on High Performance Leadership, City College of San Francisco Business School, and Canada College Management School.

Barry donates his time and energy by serving as a Consultant to the American Heart Association, and board member for the Santa Clara Methodist Retirement Foundation, Jewish Welfare Federation, the Japanese Federation, and the Elks National Federation.

His fun and entertaining speaking style comes from his early childhood performances on NBC juggling and doing magic with his father, the original "Magic Clown," and Shari Lewis & Lamb Chop.

Barry's fast paced, high-content, entertaining business keynote provokes executives and leaders to Shake Things Up! He gives his audiences; The COURAGE to take a sledge hammer to all business assumptions. The BACKBONE to break free of the status quo. The PERMISSION to put everything you are doing on trial. The THUMBS-UP on throwing out the old-rule book. The GREEN LIGHT to creating a gung-ho culture that focuses on what should be done vs. what is currently done.

A newsmaker who is often featured in USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and CNN Financial News, Barrys forthcoming book, DONE! The Only Business Principle That Matters, is scheduled for release in 2011.