PROFILE

Ian Percy

President, The Ian Percy Corporation

Ian Percy is a Possibilities Expert and the founder of The Infinite Possibilities Initiative, a process for applying principles from quantum and energetic science for exponentially higher levels of innovation and profitability. An organizational psychologist, he is one of the most acclaimed business and inspirational speakers in the world. Successful Meetings magazine declared him “One of the top 21 speakers for the 21st century” and he is one of only three speakers inducted into both the US and Canadian Speaker Halls of Fame. Ian’s remarkable ability to blend depth of insight with inspiration is sought after by a wide variety of corporations and associations.

Recently he’s developed a process that engages entire cities in ‘possibility thinking’ and in understanding that they control the collective ‘energy’ that attracts or repels new residents, investments and businesses. Many organizations are stuck in 16th century Newtonian thinking, he insists, and that makes them almost irrelevant to a 21st century marketplace. For starters, he says, we need to move far beyond ‘problem solving’ to ‘seeing possibilities’. When leaders focus on the latter, problems resolve themselves and a new and prosperous reality begins to emerge. That is the secret to building a culture of innovation!

In addition Ian is a co-founder of Verdant Technologies LLC, a company that brings advanced technologies to many sectors like sustainable energy, waste management, agriculture, water science, medical devices, electric vehicles. etc.

He has authored seven highly respected books including the breakthrough book on leadership titled: Going Deep and The Profitable Power of Purpose which challenges traditional thinking about corporate vision. His latest ebook is Make Your Life a Masterpiece, a modern English translation of James Allen’s 1902 classic As a Man Thinketh.

Ian has both Canadian and US citizenships and lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

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  • Posted on: 05/23/2023

    Will One CEO Work Better Than Two For PacSun?

    Two co-CEOs is usually a problematic strategy. Two co-leaders is another story. Way back in 2008, David Thomson wrote a brilliant book called "Blueprint to a Billion" in which he analyzed the similarities of all IPOs at the time that hit the billion dollar mark. There were seven common "essentials" to doing so. Number six was the idea of co-leadership - one focused on the 'inside' and one on the 'outside'. The examples are endless: Yahoo!, Microsoft, Tractor Supply, eBay, Seibel Systems, Starbucks, etc. The key is the inside/outside differentiation, not the assigned title. The direction is based organically on the personality, preference, propensity and passion of each leader. Trying to be what one is not is usually fatal. Still a good strategy today. Check for a current version of Thomson's research.
  • Posted on: 05/22/2023

    Is Smiths Grove Big Enough For Buc-ee’s?

    Pretty amazing!
  • Posted on: 05/22/2023

    Is Smiths Grove Big Enough For Buc-ee’s?

    You are right for sure. It's the number I'm thinking about. 120 is 5X what our local Costco has in the middle of Scottsdale. As I understand it, Buc-ee's isn't posed as a 'big box' destination.
  • Posted on: 05/22/2023

    Is Smiths Grove Big Enough For Buc-ee’s?

    I apologize for never having heard of Buc-ee's. From what more knowledgable colleagues have said, it's the location that matters. But, as someone conumed with the study and application of subtle energies...I suggest it will be successful because of the energy it manifests. Mr Beard called it "heart" which is an aka for energy. Organizations are collections of energy points. Those energy points include everything from "Colgate-sparkly smiles" to the "brisket" to the "award-winning bathrooms" to the logo. Get enough energy points and you dominate your category. Sadly so much of retail these days lacks energy and has little clue how energy works on the human psyche. Here's what's interesting: it takes just one energy failure to cause demise. It may be slow, but it will be. What I wonder is whether 120 fuelling stations is plus energy or minus energy. Does that add or detract from the intimate and infectious energy of the place?
  • Posted on: 05/19/2023

    How Can Enterprise Change Fatigue Be Reduced?

    These comments reminds me of the Henry Ford quote: "No one is apathetic except those in pursuit of someone elses objective."
  • Posted on: 05/19/2023

    How Can Enterprise Change Fatigue Be Reduced?

    This is one of those psychological issues that after eons of time we still don't understand. Some key principles as I see them: 1. People do NOT resist change, they resist being changed. 2. The old adage that you have to make people 'think' it's their idea is one of the most insulting and ignorant concepts ever perpretated in management school. "Involve stakeholders" is largely a 'smoke and mirrors' technique to reduce resistance to a change that's been pre-determined. 3. On the issue of fatigue...the gestalt concept of change follows these phases: AWARENESS (seeing a new possibility); EXCITEMENT (getting energized about it); ACTION (implementing the idea); COMPLETION (reaching the desired end-state); and REST (taking time to enjoy the accomplishment). Then the process starts over. This cycle can take a nano-second like suddently swerving to miss hitting something or it can take eternity like the government doing anything useful. ALL organizations and individuals tend to get stuck in one or more phases. When that happens stress and anxiety skyrockets and succes is almost unreachable. My favorite 'getting stuck' places are Awareness and Excitement. Sadly, I'm pathetic at acting on and completing my exciting ideas and I don't rest. You?
  • Posted on: 04/10/2023

    Why Are Retail Customers So Angry?

    With utmost respect and general agreement with the insights presented, I think we have to look deeper than frustration with hour-long holds on the phone though that frustrates the heck out of me. Way back in 1997 I published my understanding of why I'd spent so much of my life being angry. And there was no shortage of things to be angry about. To be brief, both as individuals and as organizations it may be that we go through six phases before we find the satisfying reason for our existence. They go like this: Innocence. Independence. Institution. Irritation. Insight. Integration. The most critical phase of development is Irritation, the angry, restless phase. We become angry when, on some deep level, we know we have surrendered our true self to the imposed Institutions of our life. Work being one of them. Unfortunately, seeing what is really going on (Insight) is really hard and many never attain it and become stuck in Irritation about pretty well everything. That seems to be our world today. I know that too well. Irritation/anger/restlessness is the sign that there is something greater waiting for you and/or your organization. It takes Insight to see what that purpose or destiny might be. Even a glimpse of it, gratefully, helps you to make sense of or to Integrate life experiences. Also unfortunately, this is not a linear process where you "arrive" at some nirvana. It is cyclical and neverending. I'm learning to be happy with the glimpses.
  • Posted on: 04/10/2023

    Why is Walmart Taking up Pickleball?

    My sentiments exactly, well said.
  • Posted on: 04/10/2023

    Why is Walmart Taking up Pickleball?

    If there is a sociological movement, the secret is to affiliate with it before it is recognized as such. Walmart has done so just in time. I've always thought of pickleball as tennis for those with bad knees so I don't quite understand the appeal.
  • Posted on: 03/24/2023

    Will AI-generated Models Replace Human Models In Ad Campaigns?

    Thanks David. Further to the point we're both making, I just read a piece about how robots are being used to replace human practioners in certain religious rituals. God must be so pleased!
  • Posted on: 03/24/2023

    Will AI-generated Models Replace Human Models In Ad Campaigns?

    At least a mention of the role of subtle energy might help here. Why is it that though you follow your grandmother's recipe precisely it still doesn't taste the same? The difference, I suggest, is the subtle energy she put into it through those hands. Computer generated art might look pretty but again, there is no spirit emanating from it. Truly valuable art is valuable because of whose energy created it. Almost everything we find appealing, attractive, persuasive and memorable is the result of subtle energy. The mechanistic option is called "artificial" for a reason. Lose soul and you lose everything.
  • Posted on: 03/20/2023

    Do Good Looks Matter in Retail Sales?

    I am one and trust me--we don't really understand the human heart any more than anyone else. We just use long words to pretend we do.
  • Posted on: 03/20/2023

    Do Good Looks Matter in Retail Sales?

    First, this is 2023. Second there is a huge difference between the visual impact of livestreaming "hosts" and in-store standing-in-front-of-you associates. Most viewers do not expect TV hosts, etc. to look like them -- though that is relevant when it comes to diversity. But when it comes to real-life connections things are different. My wife modeled from the age of five to 45 up in Canada. Now at 75 she's getting back into modeling here in Arizona because there is a demand for senior models who look like senior customers. Strangely, they don't call them "seniors," they are "lifestyle" models. More strangely, many agencies still ask females for measurements. Georganne is absolutely right -- Make it stop! There is still an old-school aversion to reality I guess. At a photo shoot the other day there were still the 20-somethings wearing a size two and weighing 100 pounds and they were beautiful and likely very successful. But the energy was different, warmer, more engaging when the older models were up. It was more fun and there was more conversation even from the young. Both categories are perfect for their purpose. I suggest that beauty is in the heart and mind of those who are being beheld. Beholders often get it wrong. It made me sad to read the phrase "self-perceived unattractive consumers." The only purpose of ALL retail is to help EVERY customer become more fully themselves. They are all children of God and it doesn't get any more beautiful than that.
  • Posted on: 03/15/2023

    Will Wendy’s Chili Have a Long Shelf Life in Grocery Stores?

    You and Bob are right about the packaging, Al. Boring. And of course it's "with beans." What kind of chili doesn't have beans?
  • Posted on: 03/15/2023

    Will Wendy’s Chili Have a Long Shelf Life in Grocery Stores?

    I have had the best in-laws on the planet. My father-in-law lived past 100 and my mother-in-law is 101 and sharp as a tack. They LOVED Wendy's chili and taking them there was a moral obligation. While having it in cans would have saved a lot of time, somehow you're supposed to have Wendy's chili AT Wendy's. It was doing that with them that made it special. I'm sure their longevity is due to the chili--though my science side remembers that correlation is not causation.

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