Hi, I'm Charles St.John

The world needs better leaders and I want you to be one of them.

Simply put...learn how you can be a better boss... to be a more effective leader so your career advances and your team/organization thrives.

Thank you for visiting Bite Size Leadership. With this site I hope to be a catalyst for your growth and success.  To bring you the tips, techniques, success stories, and action-oriented ideas that can have a big impact on your effectiveness as a leader.

Three Sources for This Website

Everything in this website comes primarily from three sources:

  • 1
    My Experience - from working my way up the corporate ladder into senior positions, to starting and running several businesses, and consulting with leaders at .coms; ,orgs; .govs; and, .edus.  This includes what I've discovered from all the times I was successful and from the times when I missed the mark.
  • 2
    What I have learned from other experts - talking with them, studying their materials, attending their workshops, and reading dozens of books.
  • 3
    And, most importantly, the incredible people I have been privileged to teach and coach.  I've helped hundreds of managers, executives, and business owners.  They all have grounded me in the realities of what it means to be a leader and have shared with me their struggles and triumphs along the way. They have taught me a great deal.

What Got Me Here

I grew up in a working-class neighborhood on the south side of Chicago.  There were a lot of good, solid people there who taught me the value of hard work, becoming expert at your trade, teamwork, and treating each other with respect and kindness.

But, in my “hood,” there weren’t any white-collar executive role models to mentor me about management, leadership, running a business, or how to be a good boss. 

I had to figure out all that stuff on my own.

As I set out into my work life, three personal drives served me well:

  • First, was a desire and vision to become successful.  Initially I had no idea where I was headed.  I just felt this strong pull towards a larger life in which I could use my talents and make a difference.  I intuitively moved toward what seemed right.  Kinda like a plant that leans toward the light.
  • Second, I was very curious.  I had a strong need to understand how things worked, how they can be made better, and why people behaved the way they did. I became a keen observer of the world around me.  What people did to be successful.  What they did to shoot themselves in the foot.  What worked and didn’t work.  Thus began my exploration of organizations, management, and leadership.
  • Third, make the path to being a better leader - clearer, simpler, and easier to do. I keep looking for ways to take large, complex, abstract leadership principles and distill them down into easy to understand ideas that can be put into action - thus, Bite Size Leadership.

My journey from those early days led me through a multi-faceted career that has included:

  • Corporate management with global marketing responsibility for a major airline headquartered in New York City
  • Director of Marketing for Vail (the Colorado ski resort)
  • Being a marketing consultant with clients around the world
  • Founder/Owner of five small businesses
  • Leadership coach/trainer/consultant having coached hundreds of individuals and trained thousands in workshops with over 60 client organizations around the world
  • Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Think Like a Genius Foundation

And, in addition, I’ve been fortunate to have:

  • Climbed 19,300 ft Mt. Kilimanjaro and trekked in a remote area of the Maasai lands of Tanzania
  • Been member of the Bio-Bio River, Chile whitewater exploratory expedition
  • Skied the Tasman Glacier in New Zealand.  At the time it was 5 miles long, 2 miles wide, and 2500 ft deep. Got to the top on a small aircraft with my skis strapped under the wing.
  • Traveled to over 30 countries
  • Been a professional photographer with work published in nine countries

For the long bio - click here

For client list - click here

What all this means for you is…

  • You don’t have to spend years figuring it all out – I’ve done it for you.  I’m passing on what I’ve learned to give you some leverage.  You still have to do the heavy lifting, but now you have some help.
  • Everything on this site is designed to be solid essentials that are easy to understand = Bite Size.
  • Action orientation – every post concludes with an Action Step that you can do right away.
  • Lots to come - I’m sharing everything I know and continue to learn about leadership and will bring it to this site for your use, so you can be a better boss.

For more about how Bite Size Leadership can serve you - click here.

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