"My mission is to be a facilitator (in the original sense of the word—making things easy) for leaders in the service of organizational success. I assist our clients in meeting the future—realizing a possibility not given by the past or by the circumstances—and in getting the power to achieve their vision."

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

With 27+ years in management and consulting, living on four continents, Dr. Thomas D. Zweifel has helped senior executives at numerous Fortune 500 companies—but also governments, UN agencies, and the military—develop strategy, leadership, and high-performance organizations in the action of meeting strategic and/or breakthrough objectives. Thomas' clients include Aventis, Banana Republic, Credit Suisse, DHL, Fiat Group, General Electric, Google, Hewlett Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Nestlé, Novartis, Procter & Gamble, Roche/Genentech, Siemens, Starbucks, UBS, Unilever, and Xerox. Some results were:

• Facilitating senior European executives at a top-tier global energy company with 80 million customers to produce €1 more per customer in shops ($73 million additional revenue) while spreading a leadership and coaching culture in the organization.
• Assisting the senior IT management team at a global bank in building a shared vision and strategy for off-shoring 5,000 knowledge workers, establishing channels for open communication, and boosting morale while achieving $200 million in cost savings.
  

Since 2000, Thomas has taught leadership at Columbia University, St. Gallen University, and business schools in Australia, Israel, Switzerland, and the United States.

Thomas is the author of six books on co-leadership, including Communicate or Die: Getting Results Through Speaking and Listening (SelectBooks, 2003); Culture Clash: Managing the Global High-Performance Team (SelectBooks, 2003); Leadership in 100 Days: A Systematic Self-Coaching Workbook (iHorizon, 2010); and The Rabbi and the CEO: The Ten Commandments for 21st Century Leaders (SelectBooks, 2008; with Aaron L. Raskin), a National Jewish Book Award and Foreword Book of the Year finalist.

Strategies based on Thomas' books are used by 30+ Fortune 500 companies, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and government agencies in North America, Europe, and Asia.

EDUCATION

• Master in International Affairs, Columbia University in the City of New York, 1996
• Ph.D. in International Political Economy, New York University, 2001

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

• Swiss Consulting Group Inc. (a New York-based global consultancy Thomas co-founded in 1997, built into a thriving business, and turned over to his partners upon joining Insigniam Performance) was named a “Fast Company” by Fast Company magazine.
• In 1996, Thomas realized his dream of breaking three hours in the New York City Marathon, and in 1997 was recognized as “the fastest CEO in the New York City Marathon” by the Wall Street Journal.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

• Thomas is often interviewed as an expert by the media, including ABC News, Bloomberg TV, and CNN.
• His interdisciplinary and action-packed keynotes have inspired audiences in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

LANGUAGES

• English, German, French, Italian (and broken Hebrew and Spanish)

THOMAS AFTER WORK

Thomas is based in Zurich, where he lives with his wife, Gabrielle, and their two daughters, Tina and Hannah. He loves to hike, swim, ski, play badminton, read, or watch movies with his family. (Of course, each wants to watch a different movie, which faces Thomas with a constant leadership challenge. No rest for the weary.)