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Jim Lawless
Expert on change, team motivation and leadership communications
Jim is one of the most inspirational and popular speakers in Europe.
He is the only speaker to have developed a unique model for facing personal challenge and business change and to have proved the model in response to an audience challenge.
He put his life on the line to go from 36 year old, 12 stone, smoking, drinking, (and non-riding) business consultant to a 9 stone jockey competing in his first televised race in just 12 months to prove the power of the Ten Rules for Taming Tigers (and to win his £1 audience bet).
On Saturday 28th August 2010 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, Jim broke the British No Limits freediving record with a dive to 101 metres and became the deepest British diver ever – the first to dive deeper than 100 metres.
Audiences love his business empathy (having been CEO of international change consultants, Optimise, and previously international legal counsel at computer giants ICL (now Fujitsu)), his huge energy and humour, the practical tools that he leaves behind for them to use immediately and his tales of mistakes made and painful lessons learned at racetracks and on the gallops. Most of all they respect the fact that he will only preach what he has practiced!
He has great credibility with audiences having not only achieved in his adventures but also at board level in business and sales and as a current advisor to many major British and International companies. He has been profiled by the BBC and RTE, appeared in the Daily Telegraph and the Racing Post and writes widely with recent articles appearing in Finance Week, Human Capital Managements and Personnel Today. He has also recently launched the revolutionary training company, TTLearning.
His book, “Taming Tigers”, was published in the autumn 2009.
Jim speaks frequently on the following topics:
• Inspirational/Motivational Keynote and call to action - Taming Tigers
• Taking the leap into leadership - Taming the Leadership Tiger
• Leading Change
• Engaging the Organisation
• Leadership Communication
Testimonials
"The day was a great success and Jim took us to places that we didn’t think we could get o in terms of out of the norm thinking. His style is massively professional and very impressive and he adapted to this teams ‘heart beat’ exceptionally well" -
Quality and Business Improvement Director, Rolls-Royce plc: Civil Aerospace
“Your Key Note presentation was spot on and linked perfectly. You managed to bring across a strong inspiring message, packaged in a story that was also a lot of fun." - Elke Anders, Organiser, HP Software Universe, Nice
“Jim. Your brief was to enlighten, inspire and entertain our Salesforces and I am delighted that you achieved all of these in equal measure. I was particularly impressed by the way you took the time to understand our business, spend time with our people and ensure your session both supported and reinforced the other key messages from the day. Thank you!” - Graham Storrie, Managing Director, RBS/NatWest Bancassurance
"From taming tigers through to learning to become a jockey, Jim Lawless provides a masterclass in taking control and accepting personal responsibility, in the management of change. A high energy and engaging presentational style makes his message accessible for all, promoting engagement in organisational change, individual and collective reflection and personal growth." - Paul Snell, Chief Inspector, Commission for Social Care Inspection
"Just wanted to extend my thanks once again for the excellent talk you gave on Friday morning. It managed to lift people after a particularly big night, make them laugh and also gave them a lot to think about in terms of shaping their own careers." - Dan Beanland, Partner, Deloitte
"The De Beers client lunch at Ascot during De Beers Diamond Day 2006 was greatly enhanced by the amusing anecdotes from Jim Lawless. His insight into the world of racing and his personal experiences as a jockey fascinated all our guests. Working with Jim was an absolute pleasure and it certainly made it a most entertaining pre race lunch . I would certainly endorse any company's invitation to him to be the speaker at their lunch or dinner, be it relevant to racing or not." - Lesley Tabard, Special Events Executive, The Diamond Trading Company Limited (De Beers)
“I thought your talk was excellent . The business transformation work (a revolution in the way things are done around here) that I am leading requires ambition, tenacity and considerable risk taking - the more I look at your 10 rules the more I understand how they articulate exactly what my team and I need to make this programme a success!” - Stephen McCormick, Director of Strategy and Business Development, The Home Office
“Fantastic! Jim is a totally inspirational and animated speaker. He took the audience with him on a journey of filled with energy and motivation that had me personally inspired to achieve even more. The best speaker I have seen in the last five years.” - Maria Deacon-Viney CIPD
“Jim's enthusiasm, humour and vigour exactly complemented the mood of our event. He made a lasting impression on the people in our business, who were galvanised with a clear vision of how they must act and think in order to 'go the extra mile' and achieve outstanding things for our business. Highly recommended.” - Martin Allison, Head of International Banking, The Royal Bank of Scotland
"Your talk/presentation/performance was a highlight of our Legal Conference. The delegates were captivated by the story you had to tell - and it's not easy to capture the imagination of a group of hard-bitten (well, some of them!) in-house lawyers. You went out of your way to find out about the delegates, the event and the company, to ensure that you made as many connections as possible with the 'audience'. The fact that you yourself had been a lawyer added an additional layer of credibility - you were able to talk as a peer. I have no hesitation in recommending you for any similar event." - Ian Storey UK Legal Counsel, AstraZeneca
"We have worked with Jim for many years with varied clients, audiences and objectives. Without exception every client has been delighted and we trust him implicitly as a business partner who is always flexible and adds value to our proposition. He understands business, has been there and this together with solid messages, excellent delivery and racing adventures has made him a favourite of our clients and our internal team." - Tim Waygood, CEO, MotivAction Group plc
“I just wanted to say how much I, and I am sure many others, enjoyed your presentation this week. I have a self confessed attention span of half a nano second (well, I am in sales!) but I cannot remember being drawn into another person topic as much as yours. Your speech yesterday was so motivating and as it was driven by your own experiences, it made me realise that I should make this a turning point in my life.” - Insurance sales manager, Groupama Insurances
“The content and style of Jim Lawless' presentation is both interesting and enjoyable. He has an ability to reach people and encourage them to raise their sights and expectations.” - Peter Belcher, Managing Director - Schwarzkopf Professional
“Jim Lawless's talk on Ten Rules for Taming Tigers was a fast paced, informative and entertaining presentation which owed much to a charismatic presenter and a very innovative style. I don't think I've ever seen anyone else speak for over half an hour whilst standing on the arms of a chair in a crouched position as if riding a horse. It has to be seen to be believed.” - Terry Moran, Chief Executive, Disability and Carers Service
"Your session last week wasn't just inspiring it was life changing! It is easy to feel defeated by the endless bureaucracy in the NHS (Gerry Robinson was right!) but your session gave me the will to continue with the battle....and to NEVER give up." - NHS Scotland Manager Name Withheld
"A true professional, great eye to detail, captures the mood of any event" - Bob Wilson - co-founder of The Willow Foundation and Scotland and Arsenal Footballing Legend
"Jim is a Stimulating and Motivating speaker of the highest order" - Professor John Adair
"I have worked with Jim on stage at three high-profile Barclaycard leaders' conferences. Not only is he engaging, challenging, inspiring and very funny but he delivers a practical, compelling model for achieving results which he has risked his life on the racecourse to prove." - Gary Hoffman, Group Vice Chairman, Barclays Bank plc.
"This was a very important event for my department. Your challenging and inspiring presentation and professional (but hilarious) hosting made the day for us. One of the delegates went straight back and ran a 'Taming Tigers' training session for his own team! No racehorses where involved, thank heavens." - Ian Dyson – Finance Director, Marks and Spencer plc
"You did an outstanding job closing our European Sales Kickoff in Barcelona, you delivered a faultless performance, capturing our imagination with your racing analogies and using humour to engage with a pan-European audience. The '10 rules for taming tigers' resonated with our people.” - Jo-Anne Miller, HR Director, Sun MicroSystems / StorageTek
Book Jim Lawless now
To book Jim Lawless for your event, or to discuss your requirements further with one of our consultants, contact us via the web, or call +44 (0) 1628 636 600.
Add Jim Lawless to your shortlist.









