About the Authors
Ken Blanchard
Few people have impacted the day-to-day management of people and companies more than Ken Blanchard. A prominent, gregarious, and sought-after author, speaker, and business consultant, Ken is universally characterized as one of the most insightful, powerful, and compassionate individuals in business today.
From his phenomenal bestselling book The One Minute Manager (coauthored with Spencer Johnson)—which has sold more than 15 million copies and has remained on bestseller lists for more than 30 years—to the library of 60 other books—among them Leading at a Higher Level, Raving Fans, Gung Ho!, and Leadership and the One Minute Manager, co-authored with outstanding practitioners—Ken’s impact as a writer is extraordinary and far reaching. In July 2005, he was inducted into the amazon.com Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time.
Ken is the chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Dr. Marjorie Blanchard, co-founded in 1979 in San Diego. Ken is also cofounder of Lead Like Jesus, a nonprofit organization focused on developing servant leaders in every sector of society. He is a trustee emeritus member of the board of trustees at his alma mater, Cornell University. The college of business at Grand Canyon University bears his name.
Ken and Margie have been married 51 years and live in San Diego. Their son, Scott, their daughter, Debbie, and Scott’s wife, Madeleine, all hold key positions at The Ken Blanchard Companies.
Kathleen Riley Cuff
Kathy Cuff is a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies. Since joining Blanchard® in September 1987, she has worn many hats in the organization, her first being that of Ken Blanchard’s events manager—a time period in which, Kathy later realized, she was actually being mentored by Ken for a future position in leadership training and development. In her current role, she delivers training and consulting services to clients on topics such as leadership, self-leadership, teams, change, and her passion, customer service. Kathy successfully works with people at all levels of an organization, from entry-level employees through C-level executives. Her background in training and development with a wide variety of clients gives her the ability to flex her style as needed to enhance each client’s learning experience. She has trained in a wide array of industries, including retail, pharmaceutical, medical, financial, technology, healthcare, and government.
Kathy is coauthor, with Vicki Halsey, of Blanchard’s Legendary Service customer service training program and is also coauthor of Ken Blanchard’s bestselling book Leading at a Higher Level. In addition, she has coauthored many Blanchard custom products for her clients. Kathy is a regular contributor to The Ken Blanchard Companies’ LeaderChat blog, which reaches more than 20,000 readers each month. Her monthly posts explore service topics—both internally with peers and externally with customers—to identify best practices in customer service and servant leadership. Kathy holds a bachelor of arts degree in speech communications from San Diego State University and has completed numerous professional development courses.
E-mail: [email protected]
kenblanchard.com/Why-Blanchard/Meet-Our-Experts/Kathy-Cuff
Victoria Halsey, PhD
Vicki Halsey is vice president of applied learning at The Ken Blanchard Companies. Coauthor with Kathy Cuff of Blanchard’s Legendary Service customer service program and also Blanchard’s award-winning Situational Leadership® II, Vicki is sought out globally to inspire people to unleash their passion and skill and drive organizational success. She has designed and facilitated leadership and service initiatives at hundreds of Fortune 500 organizations such as Microsoft, Wells Fargo, Nike, Disney, Shell Oil, Toyota, and Procter & Gamble. With the same skill and finesse that made her a national champion platform diver, Vicki dives in quickly and deeply with her clients to identify and address their needs and visions. People leave Vicki’s presentations with renewed conviction that they can utilize their own brilliance to tackle key personal and organizational issues. Whether the audience is 50 or 5,000, Vicki’s energy, intellect, and passion motivate people to unleash their greatness. Vicki is the author of the bestseller Brilliance by Design and coauthor of bestsellers The Hamster Revolution, The Hamster Revolution for Meetings, and Ken Blanchard’s Leading at a Higher Level. She and her husband, Rick, have two sons and live in Escondido, California.
E-mail: [email protected]
kenblanchard.com/Why-Blanchard/Meet-Our-Experts/Vicki-Halsey