Robert Thompson's

Thought Grenades

Robert Thompson

Robert Thompson
Location
San Francisco, California,
Title
Author
Bio
Robert Thompson, author of “The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable”, is a sought-after speaker and executive coach. Founder of Applied Performance, a leadership and personal communication services company, Thompson’s clients have included AT&T, Amgen, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Qwest, Sony, Sun Microsystems, The Gap, and Visa to name a few. Thompson also was a senior consultant with the Tom Peters Company for many years. Before founding Applied Performance, Thompson created, managed, and sold a successful regional newspaper publishing company and a national advertising sales company, which he guided to international prominence through relationships with Proctor and Gamble, General Motors, Bayer and other major corporations. As the founder of a corporate nonprofit exchange program for aspiring post-communist business professionals, Thompson attained a key role in the Clinton-Yeltsin “Business for Russia” initiative. He has served on the board of advisors for a successful Internet start-up company and assisted the group through their initial public offering. After graduating from San Jose State University, Thompson spent thirteen years working for the San Jose Mercury News. Thompson’s “Inside Out” approach gets below the generalities of “leadership,” “teamwork,” and “employee passion” to what people are really thinking about the actual effectiveness of their managers and teams… about yet another offsite meeting… about their own fears of being exposed as a poser… about not knowing all the answers, or even the right questions… and turns it into bio fuel for organizational and personal advancement. “Leadership is not about being the boss, telling people what to do, or having all the right answers. It’s about passion, personal commitment and eliminating the gap between beliefs and behaviors,” says Thompson. “The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable, published by Wiley/Jossey-Bass, is a compelling new book that debunks many long-held myths about leadership. It is available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com as well as bookstores everywhere.

MY RECENT POSTS

MY RECENT COMMENTS

Robert Thompson's Links

Salon.com
APRIL 27, 2010 6:42PM

Blasts from the Past…First in a Series

Our Creative Thoughts

It was raining, it was pouring.  Yep, even the old man was snoring.  It was the perfect day for some office Spring cleaning.

With the phone silent, clients happy, projects completed (for the moment, anyway), I opened the storage door in my office and reached… Read full post »

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APRIL 2, 2010 1:36PM

Seven Leadership Lessons from "Undercover Boss"


It’s Not About the Tears or the Fears…

 

Generally, the manic “reality” television programs on the air these days don’t make it into my praise file.

Amazing Race is kind of fun and I’ll breeze in and out of shows like American Idol… Read full post »

2 Comments
FEBRUARY 15, 2010 2:16PM

Missing "Miss Bay"

 

Bayley Tigger Thompson

1997-2009

A Eulogy

 

 

“Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.  When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.

 

The… Read full post »

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FEBRUARY 9, 2010 11:49AM

If Patience is a Virtue, We’re Doomed!


 

“It is also helpful to think of adversity not as much as a threat to our peace of mind but rather as the very means by which patience is attained.”  The Dalai Lama

 

While reflecting on a collection of quotes the other day, the… Read full post »

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JUNE 12, 2009 7:13PM

Father Knows Beast

Hanging out with his kid was never a big priority for Andy’s dad.  Oh, sure, his dad took him to work from time-to-time, even treated him to an Eskimo Pie.  That was always special.  But they never went to a movie together.  Not even a lunch with just the two of… Read full post »

2 Comments
JUNE 1, 2009 1:22PM

Have Your Cake and...

I love cake.  No, really, give me a large piece of double chocolate cake smothered with dark chocolate gelato and cover it with melted, dark chocolate syrup and I’m in seventh heaven, as they say.


Just don’t give me that often.  It’s about the waistline.


Although there are… Read full post »

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APRIL 25, 2009 4:14PM

Seven Steps to Becoming a "Shovel Ready" Leader

We’ve heard quite a bit lately about “shovel ready” projects usually framed as “construction projects ready-to-go” but just in need of a bit of “stimulus.”


Well, in these difficult times, with perhaps more to come, the hour as arrived for our leaders to becom… Read full post »

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MARCH 18, 2009 2:15PM

Claremont Cowboys Ride Again

“So what should the secret password be,” I shouted.  “Something that only we know,” barked Tom, my older brother as he pounded the final nails into the roof.  “How about our street name,” said Phil.  “No, something more secret than that,”… Read full post »

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MARCH 7, 2009 1:54PM

Transparency Headed to Emergency Room



Pete Carey, Pulitzer Prize winner and a former colleague still slaving away at the San Jose Mercury News, penned a recent news story that stunned me.  Even though I have been following the plight of daily newspapers for years now, I was shocked to hear that The San Francisco Chronicle, sometimes… Read full post »

3 Comments
FEBRUARY 10, 2009 11:35AM

Advice for Obama

Dear President Obama:


You are now seated behind the desk of the most powerful job in the world. As you probably know, the chair you are sitting on has had plenty of “posers” and few great leaders. The country (even those who did not vote for you) needs you to fall… Read full post »

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