Mark Thompson
Author: Success Built to Last and his latest book co-authored with Brian Tracy, Now ... Build A Great Business!
Style
Saavy, experienced business executive with entertaining and intelligent platform delivery.
Books
Profile
One of the most successful senior business communication executives and angel investors of our time, Mark C. Thompson has been a board member and advisor to Global 1000 companies and is Charles Schwab's former ChiefCustomer Experience Officer, Chief Communications Officer and Chief of Staff. During his tenure, the company’s customer assets grew ten-fold to more than $800 billion dollars in over five million client accounts and continue to grow during the greatest economic storms in history. Thompson created the Schwab Leadership Series and worked face-to-face with many of the world’s best global leaders and entrepreneurs – from Richard Branson and Steve Jobs to Warren Buffett, AG Lafley, Herb Kelleher, Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Zappos founder Tony Hsieh.
Thompson did research for Jim Collins and Jerry Porras on Built to Last and Good to Great; during his presentations, he shows how to implement the principles discussed in Good to Great. Along with Jerry Porras and Stewart Emery, he co-authored the bestseller Success Built to Last. By focusing on Collins’ five levels of leadership, Thompson coaches leaders to get things done fast!
In 2010, the American Management Association published Thompson’s bestselling book – Now, Build a Great Business. He also edited two books for Harvard Business Press – Weathering the Storm and Crisis As Opportunity.
Today, Thompson is an expert advisor on Level V Leadership and Built to Last, transforming how leaders inspire managers to boost sales, innovation and lead change in a volatile world. In addition, Thompson is Chairman of the American Express Leadership series for Peter Drucker’s Leader to Leader Institute. He is a member of the Board of Governors for the Institute and is a board member, investor and advisor to 8 companies while serving on the faculty of the World Economic Forum, John F. Kennedy University, and a visiting scholar at Stanford University.
Corporate Experience
- Thompson is a current Member of the Board of Directors and founding investor in Smule.com, one of Apple’s top iPhone and IPad applications companies. He was also Executive Producer of Schwab.com and Chairman of Rioport, which popularized the mp3 audio technology now used in Apple’s iTunes.
- Thompson is a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and a founding advisor to the Stanford Realtime Venture Design Lab. He has also served on the faculty of John F. Kennedy University and Tony Robbins Business Mastery series.
- He is a faculty member for the prestigious World Economic Forum, a by-invitation-only organization comprised of the top 1,000 executives in the world.
- He is the producer & host of the Leadership Dialogue Series sponsored by American Express.
- Forbes Magazine calls Mark C. Thompson “a venture investor with the 'Midas' touch.”
- He was a Member of the Board of Directors and on the Nominating & Audit Committees (2000-2004) for Best Buy Enterprises.
- From 1988-2000, Thompson worked with Charles Schwab & Company as Chief Customer Experience Officer, Chief of Staff, Chief Investor Relations Officer, Senior Vice President, Executive Producer of Schwab.com and Chief Communications Officer -- reporting to founder Chuck Schwab.
Educational Background
In addition to an MBA, Thompson holds a Masters degree in Social Media studies from Stanford University, where he became an investor in Facebook, Baynote, CNS Response, Cancer Genetics, Goldman Sachs Special Opportunities.
Clients Comments
“Mark Thompson is the Napoleon Hill of the 21st Century. A best-selling author, corporate advisor, economic wizard and leadership guru whose best selling books and keynotes inspire leaders.” - Teri Whitcraft, ABC NEWS
Topics
- Make Change Happen - Success Built to Last
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- How do you convince your team not only to embrace change, but actually lead the transformation now — with urgency and passion?
- How have world-class firms taken the leap that you're facing?
- What's the difference between the top 3 market leaders & all others?
- How do you take advantage of turbulence in your markets in order to steal bases on competitors and build value for customers?
- What are the three fundamental factors that galvanize change in every person?
- What are the seven steps to change in every organization?
- Make Sales Happen - Practical Ways to Boost Business
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- The Invisible Close — How to win clients who don't want to be sold. What is Level 5 Sales Growth and how it can take Business Performance from Good to Great?
- Create Your Irresistible Offer — Defining better outcomes and benefits
- How to Build Partnerships From the Start — Investing in client loyalty
- What Does Your Market Crave? Helping clients understand the cost of ignoring your offer. How to gain strategic advantage over every other offer.
- Five Mistakes That Repel Customers & Cut Sales in Half
- Five P's That Double Sales: Positioning–Pain–Promise–Proof–Planning
- How to convert loyal clients into higher ticket up-sell opportunities
- The Two Personalities of the World's Most Profitable Clients
- Now, Build a Great Business! - Service That's Built to Last - 7 ways to boost profits in any market.
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- How world-class teams generate unstoppable growth
- Five Customer Service strategies that are Built to Last
- Seven ways to boost profits in any market
- How to actually grow leaders from Good to Great — Level 1 to 5 — What are the three steps necessary for developing the best teams?
- What are the best practices from managers and entrepreneurs with track records of more than two decades of success?
- What are the critical three drivers of influence for every high achiever?
- What I learned from my friend Steve Jobs - this story and more.
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My first memory of Steve Jobs is back from high school, when he was a senior and I was a freshman. I went to Prospect High but showed up weekly at Homestead High School, where Steve went, because my mom was the principal’s secretary and I’d work in the office after school.
One afternoon, some kids were throwing a football out in front of the office and one jerk fired it at the back of Steve’s head. He must have noticed my shocked expression as I approached him, trying to intercept the ball flying his way. But like Yoda, he smirked, ducked, and the football skimmed his back collar and pounded my chest. It knocked the wind out of me – even though I saw it coming! That’s how Steve lived his life – Zen like – seeing not only what others couldn’t in the future, but also what would normally hit the rest of us in the back of the head.
As sick as Steve had been many times before, there was always a twinkle in his eye, always a sense of the impossible, always a confidence that he could change the world. Steve loved Richard Branson’s signature phrase: Screw it, just do it. Greatness, for him, was not just Thinking Different, but getting things done differently.
Book Mark Thompson to hear his newest presentation! “What I learned from my friend Steve Jobs.”