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 John J. Scherer
Scherer Leadership Center
2201 Third Avenue, Suite 1404
Seattle, WA 98121
SchererCenter.com
206-406-2457 Office
206-406-2457 Cell

John attended Roanoke College, Salem, VA, graduating with honors in History and Philosophy in 1962. After graduation, he finished high in his class at the US Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI, and served as Combat Officer aboard the USS EATON (DD-510) in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Caribbean Fleets, receiving commendations for his work in Anti-Submarine Warfare Air Control and Intelligence. In 1966 he finished his four-year tour of duty and enrolled in the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Columbia, SC.

He again graduated with honors and served an Internship in Norfolk, VA, where he conducted one of the nation's first Street Ministries, working with "people of the night." From there he went to Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, as Lutheran Chaplain, where he created programs linking the spiritual domain with the educational and business communities. His reputation as a facilitator of change grew, as he responded to more invitations from business and non-profit organizations to lead management seminars and resolve workplace conflicts.

In 1973 John went to Spokane, WA, to join the Leadership Institute of Spokane (LIOS), serving as Co-Founder and Core Faculty for the nation’s first competency-based Masters Program in the Applied Behavioral Sciences. In 1982 he founded his own leadership and organization development firm.

Since then he has worked with large and small organizations, including Ford, Nissan, Sisters of Mercy Health Corporatio
n, Boeing, GTE, Polaroid, AEtna, The US Army, Northern Telecom, ACE Hardware, TV New Zealand, Blue Cross-Blue Shield, the van Melle Company, Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Cook Inlet Housing Authority and many others. Each year he addresses national conferences as a keynote speaker.

He is a Member of The World Business Academy, author or co-author of many professional articles, including most recently, “On the Shoulders of Giants: The Origins of Organization Development,” and “The Role of Individual Development in OD” in PRACTICING ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT.

He is a pioneer in the emerging field that shares the name of his 1993 book, WORK AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT, and is the author or creator of over a hundred articles and video programs in the fields of leadership development, conflict resolution, high-performance and unleashing the human spirit at work. He has two chapters in the best-selling CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL AT WORK as well as one in the recent THE MANY FACETS OF LEADERSHIP. His BREAKTHROUGH SERIES was the first application of video-based technology to assist work groups in becoming high-performance teams during regular meetings. His next book, THREE QUESTIONS THAT CHANGE EVERYTHING, is in progress.

Based in Seattle, WA, John has four children, plays the guitar, does the occasional magic show, runs and does yoga daily, and loves to read a good novel.

JOHN J. SCHERER
OD CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
• Co-creator and Founding Faculty of LIOS MA-ABS, America’s first purely competency-based graduate program in OD and applied behavioral science.
• Co-creator of the PEOPLE-PERFORMANCE PROFILE, the first computer-scored, holistic organizational effectiveness survey instrument and process.
• Developer of the EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT INTENSIVE, one of the first solo leadership programs integrating body, mind and spirit. Business leaders from 21 nations have graduated from this experience.
• Developer of THE BREAKTHROUGH SERIES, pioneering the use of video technology to enhance a team’s abilities during regular staff meetings.
• Co-developer of WHAT IS OD?, a program of The National Training Laboratory’s Institute of Applied Behavioral Science.
• Author of WORK AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT, describing the life-changing experiences of nine executives and spouses as they discovered what they had lost on the way to the top—and what they re-discovered to replace it.
• Author of over 100 articles, CD’s and DVD’s on leadership development, conflict resolution, organizational change and breakthrough thinking.
• Author of two chapters in CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL AT WORK, as well as co-author of two chapters in PRACTICING ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT, “On the Shoulders of Giants: The Origins of OD” (with Billie Alban), and “Individual Development in OD” (with Udai Pareek and Lynnea Brinkerhoff).
• Founder of THE SCHERER LEADERSHIP CENTER, providing transformational experiences for leaders and their organizations.
• The first Western speaker to address the sales and business-development division of an Eastern European multi-national company. His topic: “Unleashing the Human Spirit at Work.”
• His next book, FIVE QUESTIONS THAT CHANGE EVERYTHING, is in process.