About John Mariotti | Biography

John Mariotti

John L. Mariotti is the President/CEO & Founder of The Enterprise Group (www.mariotti.net), a coalition of time-shared executive advisors™ , which he founded in 1994. Mariotti has served as a Director on several corporate boards including World Kitchen, where he was formerly Chairman; Henkel Consumer Adhesives; Doskocil/Petmate; Levick Strategic Communications; Union Tools, and HomeCare Industries.

Prior to this John Mariotti was President of Rubbermaid Office Products Group (1992-1994), a multi-national group of nine divisions spanning North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Before joining Rubbermaid, Mariotti led Huffy Bicycles (1982-1992) as its President, to the preeminent position of industry leader and the world's largest bicycle company at the time. The Celina, OH factory where Huffy bicycles were then manufactured was the most productive in the world; known for its exemplary, high-involvement working relationship with the United Steel Worker union; and where it pioneered what is now known as Global Sourcing, TQM, Lean Production and Mass Customization.

Following his BSME from Bradley University and MSME from the University of Wisconsin, John began his career in the high tech world of electronics R&D. with Automatic Electric Laboratories, the research center of GTE's manufacturing arm. Mariotti's career shifted from design and development to operations when he joined L. R. Nelson Corporation. Where he held all the senior operations management responsibilities, and 1/3 of the company's sales to major OEM accounts and Sears. He then became V.P. Planning & Development where his responsibilities included acquisitions to help the company grow to 6 times its original size during his 12 years.

Mariotti has written nine business books and a novel.

  • The Power of Partnerships, Blackwell, 1995
  • The Shape Shifters—Continuous Change for Competitive Advantage, John Wiley, 1997, was selected by Management General as one of 1997's Top Ten Resources for Leaders, and also received its Innothink Award.
  • Three books in Capstone’s Smart Things to Know series published by Capstone/Wiley—Smart Things to Know About Brands and Branding (1999), Smart Things to Know about Marketing (2000), and Smart Things to Know about Partnerships (2001).
  • Two books in the ExpressExec series Marketing Express (2002 and Making Partnerships Work (2002), also published by Capstone/Wiley.
  • He was a contributor to Business, the Ultimate Resource (Perseus 2003) and The Encyclopedia of Health Care Management (Sage Publications 2003).
  • There have been recently issued new editions of Smart Marketing, Capstone/Wiley 2004 and Marketing Express also by Capstone/Wiley 2005.
  • Mariotti’s book, The Complexity Crisis, was published by Adams Media’s Platinum Press in 2008 and named one of 2008’s Best Business Books. By Soundview Executive Summaries, and one of 2008’s Best for Small Businesses by Small Business Trends.
  • Mariotti’s novel on cyber-terrorism, The Chinese Conspiracy was published in 2010 by iUniverse.
  • Mariotti’s latest book is Roadmap to Profitable Growth, published by CreateSpace, division of amazon.com in 2012.

From 1995 to 2000, he was Management Columnist and Contributing Editor for IndustryWeek magazine, and moderator of its America's Best Plants Conferences, and since then has moderated panel discussions for National Conferences of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence. He has also written regular columns for the American Management Association, Management Centre Europe, Fortune Small Business and Netscape Netbusiness. During 2008-2009, his columns on complexity appeared in over 200 periodicals and publications. He currently writes periodic columns for Small Business Trends and for American Express Open Forum.

Since 2001 John as been writing and publishing a weekly newsletter: THE ENTERPRISE, and it now appears on a publicly available webblog: "Telling It Like It Is!." Mariotti also hosted the annual roundtable The Reunion Conference for 16 years.

Articles and interviews about his business successes have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Boardroom Reports/Bottom Line Business, Industry Week, Business Week, New Leaders, Executive Excellence, Personal Excellence, and many more publications. Mariotti has been a guest on CNBC's Today's Business and Power Lunch shows, a panelist on MSNBC’S Your Business, and his keynote speeches have been enjoyed by tens of thousands of people. Mariotti was also the host of his own 1-hour talk-radio show, "The Life of Business and the Business of Life" on the North American Broadcasting Network.

John Mariotti |Favorite Quotes

"If nothing changes, nothing changes." -Brad Myers

"A person really only needs 4 things in life: Something to do; someone to love; something to hope for; and someone to look up to." -Lou Holtz

"The musician must make music, and artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to ultimately be at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be." -Abraham Maslow

"Security is mostly superstition--it does not exist in nature. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." --Helen Keller

"I wake up every morning determined both to change the world and have one hell of a good time. It makes planning the day a little difficult." --E. B. White

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world: indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. " --Margaret Mead

"The only happy people I know are those who are working well at something they consider important." --Abraham Maslow

"Try not. Do! Or do not. There is no try." --Yoda

"My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions." --Peter Drucker

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The more I help others to succeed, the more I succeed. " --Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's

"Vision without execution is a hallucination." -Thomas Edison

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." -Albert Einstein

"Leadership is the courage to admit mistakes, the vision to welcome change, the enthusiasm to motivate others, and the confidence to stay out of step when everyone else is marching to the wrong tune." -E. M. Estes (former Chairman of GM)

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you will do. Attitude determines how well you do it." -Lou Holtz

"The best way to predict the future is to create it." -Peter Drucker (and others)

"The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer." -Theodore Levitt

"Leadership is about calling people to do things beyond themselves." -David Gergen

"Leadership is the ability to take people to places they would be afraid to go alone." -Robert Galvin

"The block of granite that is an obstacle in the path of the weak becomes a stepping stone in the path of the strong." --Thomas Carlyle

"A hug is a perfect gift. One size fits all and no one minds if you exchange it." --from a Brush Dance greeting card

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you; it's what you think you know that ain't so." -Will Rogers

"Nothing so focuses the mind as the prospect of being hanged." -Mark Twain (and others)

"I keep six honest serving men. They taught me all I knew. Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who." -Rudyard Kipling

"The truth has a million faces, but there is only one truth." -Herman Hesse

"Beautiful is what we see. More beautiful is what we understand. Most beautiful is what we do not comprehend. " -Nicolaus Steno, 1673

"After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut." -Will Rogers

"If A equals success, then the formula is: A=X+Y+Z. X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut. " -Albert Einstein

"If you don't go where you don't go, you won't know what you don't know." -Steve Goubeaux

"Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. And dance like no one is watching. " -source unknown

"This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew." -Goethe

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed." -C. G. Jung

"The three most important questions all winners ask themselves: 1. What do I want? 2. How am I going to get it? 3. When am I going to do something about it?" --Mark Gibson in 'Going For It!'

"God is in the details." -Mies van der Rohe

"There is nothing more exciting, more exhilarating, and more habit-forming than being an integral part of a winning team--one that has fought the battles of competition, together--and emerged victorious, together. " -John Mariotti

"In theory there is very little difference between theory and practice; in practice there is a lot of difference. " -John Mariotti

"Think Big. Try small. Then adjust and go like hell." -John Mariotti

"Don't doubt in the dark what you saw in the light. " -John Mariotti (borrowed from an forgotten source)

"How often do we climb the ladder of success without checking to see if it's leaning against the right wall?" -John Mariotti (derived from Stephen Covey)

"What is behind the door that is 'One Door Away From Heaven'?"

"If your heart is closed, then you will find behind that door nothing to light your way. But if your heart is open, you will find behind that door people who, like you, are searching, and you will find the right door together with them. None of us can ever save himself; we are the instruments of one another's salvation, and only by the hope that we give to others do we lift ourselves out of the darkness and into the light." -From the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz

John Mariotti | Founder and Host: The Reunion Conference Series

p>The Reunion Conference™ is an invitation-only roundtable format gathering of executives, consultants, academics, professionals, and entrepreneurs who share a common set of values and goals--to openly discuss and share perspectives on issues that are important to the group; to find camaraderie and fellowship among a diverse group of all ages and life stages; and to seek affirmation and to do networking for personal and professional development.

Prior Conferences and Themes:

  • 1997 – First Reunion Conference™ – A Celebration of Values
  • 1998 – Second Reunion Conference™ – Many Paths to Success
  • 1999 – Third Reunion Conference™ – Changing the Way America Works – The Search for Truth
  • 2000 – Fourth Reunion Conference™ – Finding Meaning in the New Millennium
  • 2001 – Fifth Reunion Conference™ – Knowing What's Right
  • 2002 – Sixth Reunion Conference™ – Rights vs. Responsibilities
  • 2003 – Seventh Reunion Conference™ – Sharing Success
  • 2004 – Eighth Reunion Conference™ – Innovate, Emigrate or Evaporate
  • 2005 – Ninth Reunion Conference™ – A World of Change and Opportunity
  • 2006 – Tenth Reunion Conference™ – Changing the Way America Works™
  • 2007 – Eleventh Reunion Conference™ – Finding America's Future™

For more information visit the Reunion Conference© web site.

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