Jim Haudan

CEO and Chairman

Jim Haudan is a different kind of CEO. He has a passion that goes beyond building his own successful company, Root Learning. For more than 20 years, he has been helping organizations and individuals unleash hidden potential by fully engaging people in the critical changes of their business. Starting as a coach, it’s not a stretch that the company he co-founded focuses on tapping the discretionary efforts of people – the kind that produces real results by engaging people to deliver on strategies.

Headquartered in a small town in Northwest Ohio, Root Learning’s team, just 110 people strong, partners with senior teams at major companies worldwide to build creative ways to execute strategy. They do this through drawing people into the business by appealing to basic human curiosity and intelligence. Jim believes that business results don’t come from creating a great strategy, but by meaningfully connecting all of the people in the company to bring it to life. And the Root team agrees, resulting in six straight years of making the list of the 25 Best Small and Medium Companies to work for in America and being named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the top small employers with “winning workplaces.” Over 500 clients and prospects have paid a visit to Root’s home office in Sylvania, Ohio.

Jim leads a group of creative, analytical people who combine insights, art, visualization, and dialogue in innovative ways. Clients include some of the biggest names in business, including Gap Inc., PETCO, Dow Chemical, Pepsi, FirstEnergy, Taco Bell, and Hilton Hotels – more than 500 companies and tens of millions of people. In 2008, Jim wrote a national best-selling book in response to the impact that the Root method has had on such a great number of people. The Art of Engagement: Bridging the Gap Between People and Possibilities (McGraw-Hill, 2008) reflects two decades of lessons learned in consulting with senior teams at some of the largest companies in the world.

Jim is a frequent speaker – most recently at TEDxBGSU – on leadership alignment, strategy execution, employee engagement, business transformation, change management, and accelerated learning. He also contributes regularly to numerous business publications. He lives in Sylvania with his wife Michelle. They have three children, Brad, Brooke, and Blake. When he’s not traveling the globe visiting clients, he enjoys relaxing with his family at their lake
cottage, playing golf, fishing, photography and going to Jimmy Buffett concerts.