Born without arms, John Foppe has had to break down and re-think every aspect of day-to-day life. He learned that the inability to do something didn’t rest on the lack of resources or vision. Instead, it has more to do with one’s subconscious perception to meeting a challenge head on.
In the field as part of his master’s degree in social work, John saw this scenario play out repeatedly. To his surprise, he discovered that many people subconsciously substitute personal improvement with systems to support their perceived limitations. As a speaker, John also witnessed this resistant mindset operate in all sort of companies. He repeatedly heard leaders complain about how difficult is to motivate their people.
John has addressed this common performance challenge through years of research, clinical study and field testing, which ultimately led to the discovery of the primary cause of failed vision execution. In light of this important, personally-significant discovery, he has developed a variety of solutions to help individuals and leaders overcome their exasperation and translate their visions into outcomes.
His compelling story and methods caught the attention of the legendary Zig Ziglar, who broke his long-standing rule of promoting from within and recruited and mentored John. He is the author of What’s Your Excuse?, which has been translated into six foreign languages. John is a contributing editor for U.S. Business Review. In 2007, he wrote a bimonthly column entitled, "The Vision Thing," focusing on how to maintain momentum when translating visions into outcomes.
John’s insights on how the biggest vision can be derailed by the smallest bit of reticence are now being used to orchestrate the missions of visionaries and change agents around the world. Since 1995, John’s work has taken him to 15 different countries, pro-football organizations like the Miami Dolphins, and to Fortune 500 clients such as Boeing, GE, and State Farm. Moreover, he has worked with international companies such as Fortis, ST Microelectronics, and UniCredit.
Recently, John put his feet where his heart is by taking on the role of Executive Director for Community Link, a non-for-profit organization, headquartered in Breese, Illinois, that helps adults and children with developmental disabilities. John oversees a six million dollar operating budget and manages more than 130 employees who provide a full array of services, including employment, job training, and housing, to more than 400 individuals. He will continue to speak to other companies on a limited and selected basis.
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