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Jim Lawless is an architect of velocity, working with CEOs and executive teams to rebuild the way decisions get made, turning ambitious strategy into courageous action at scale.
His clients include Apple, Microsoft, Diageo, Bayer, BAE Systems, Novartis and VW Group. He is the author of the global bestseller Taming Tigers (Penguin Random House), and has delivered keynotes to well over a million people across five continents. He is also ranked among the world’s leading business speakers by Global Gurus.
Jim’s work focuses on what happens when organisations need to move faster, make better decisions and act decisively in the face of uncertainty. His DARE Loop and Second Strategy frameworks give leaders practical ways to turn strategy into action, build greater ownership and overcome the hesitation that can slow organisations down.
His ideas are grounded in experience rather than theory. Jim tests his own frameworks at the extreme edge. In just eight months, he went from a recreational diver to becoming the deepest freediver in British history, reaching 101 metres on a single breath. He also went from non-rider to televised jockey in twelve months. Both were deliberate applications of his DARE Loop methodology, undertaken alongside his day job and, most importantly, fatherhood.
Jim began his career as a commercial solicitor in the City of London before moving into high-performance, leadership and organisational change. He was elected a Fellow of the UK’s Royal Society of Arts in recognition of his business writing.
As a speaker, Jim leaves audiences with a practical framework for navigating uncertainty, making courageous decisions and turning strategy into action. His work is designed to create lasting behavioural change, helping leaders and their teams move from hesitation to ownership, and from ambition to measurable progress.
The unit of transformation in a knowledge economy is the human. Velocity is achieved when our people have the courage, clarity and skills to do new things, fast, to deliver the strategy.
Yet nobody teaches your people the map to ‘outside the comfort zone’ so that they can navigate confidently through the self-doubt and emotional turmoil it will bring.
The DARE Loop is the mental model for adopting a growth mindset, designing from the future backwards to build tomorrow’s action list and taking accountability for your results.
Jim’s keynote – which takes people from their own ambitions and fears to 101m under the ocean, challenges their limiting beliefs, make high performance accessible and lights up your delegates with energy, laughter and confidence in their ability to deliver the ambition.
The enterprise strategy, the ‘behaviours’ and the instruction that people are ‘empowered’ have all been rolled out. Yet there is no change. You have a ‘wicked’ problem to solve and ‘The Second Strategy’ is a proven way to approach it.
Humans cannot be commanded into being empowered. People need specific things before they will leave their comfort zone, enter uncertainty and become vulnerable to self doubt, failure and criticism: at their workplace.
A disciplined Second Strategy is how to deliver the enterprise strategy at the speed required to win today. Every leader from the CEO down needs to be able to understand it, regulate emotion, deliver consistency and nurture the courageous action you need for progress to accelerate.
At Apple we pride ourselves in thinking differently, this is why we work in partnership with Jim. Our big conference pitches and our key sales presentations have both been inspired by the Lawless touch.
I would without hesitation highly recommend Jim. He made a real impact, understanding and adapting to our business and objectives and with great attention to detail and care for our priorities. I was personally impressed, and I received unanimous positive feedback.
