Thomas J. Lee brings decades of experience and expertise to employee engagement for breakthrough change and performance in business. An authority on leadership influence and impact, he draws on an extraordinary command of best practices to drive your strategy, support your initiatives, and change your culture.
A dynamic speaker with international experience, Tom has spoken at professional conferences and corporate venues throughout the United States and across Canada, as well as in Europe, South America, and Africa. Audiences from London to Buenos Aires, Warsaw to San Francisco, Johannesburg to Calgary, and Amsterdam to Bogotá have applauded his affirming message of opportunity, growth, and actionable priorities.
As a consultant, Tom brings clarity and creativity to your strategic vision, direction, and goals. As a trainer, he teaches a simple, easy process of leadership to thousands of managers at some of America’s biggest and best companies. As a speaker, he shares colorful, real-life stories that illustrate extraordinary leadership and performance. As a coach, he helps managers become energetic, inspiring leaders who truly connect with people to sink the roots of change deep in a culture and make the change last.
Over the last 15 years, Tom has culled best practices in engagement, leadership, and organizational communication from major, pace-setting corporations. Once he identified and documented what really works, he created a powerful process with proven strategies and practical tools that build workforce engagement and help managers learn to work as leaders. That clears a path for change and barrier-breaking business performance.
Tom believes that anyone in any position of authority in any organization must exercise credible and compelling leadership. That most certainly includes front-line managers and supervisors, typically overlooked and undervalued. He recognizes clear communication as the very energy of leadership. Without it, leaders are unable to lead, for they cannot connect with people. That connection is everything. It must be mutually engaging, mutually productive, and mutually sustained. Otherwise, leaders won’t be able to lead. They will only manage.
A former journalist and speechwriter for Fortune 100 CEOs, Tom is an alumnus of the University of Chicago, where he serves as a mentor to graduate students, and of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. His clients have included Anheuser-Busch, Pfizer, Lockheed Martin, Harley-Davidson, Northwestern Mutual, FMC, and Chick-fil-A. Beginning in 2010, he will teach an online course in communication and engagement for the University of California.
On the personal side, Tom enjoys high-elevation alpine hiking, wilderness canoeing and kayaking, listening to music from jazz to opera, discussing politics and public policy, and cooking for friends. A native of Wisconsin and a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan—he actually owns one of those yellow foam cheeseheads, and he keeps an ice-cold piece of Lambeau Field turf in his freezer—he lives now in north suburban Chicago. He is the single father of a grown daughter, who is a law student at Northwestern University.
Feel free to give Tom a call at +1-847-247-2241 or write to him at tom@arceil.com, and connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter. He enjoys keeping in touch with Minding Gaps readers.
