The Average Is Not the Answer
What engagement scores hide, and how leaders find the signal in their own data. Audiences leave knowing which three questions to ask of any people report.
Speaking & facilitation
Make the room think differently.
Keynotes, leadership retreats and interactive sessions on culture, judgment, data and the human side of AI. Grounded in executive experience, built for audiences who have to act on Monday.
Why audiences remember James
Warm, direct and evidence-based.
James speaks as someone who has carried these decisions himself: an engineer who became an executive, sat on leadership teams at The Nature Conservancy, Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt, and helped oversee an enterprise AI deployment. Audiences get candor, stories and tools they can use.
KeynotesLeadership retreatsInteractive Deciding Factor™ sessionsPanels & moderationBoard & executive briefingsUniversity lectures
In conversation · SiriusXM Urban View
Big ideas. Human consequences.
The Mike Muse Show
James joins Mike Muse to connect conservation, community health and the everyday decisions that shape people’s lives.
Watch an excerpt on urban tree cover, heat and community resilience.
SiriusXM studio session · November 20, 2025. Video hosted on LinkedIn.
Signature topics
Talks that lead to action.
Every session is tailored to the audience, sector and goal of the event.
Decisions Under Pressure
The room makes real choices in a fictional scenario, then sees what shaped them. A memorable, participative look at judgment, assumptions and bias at work.
AI and the Human Side of Work
What changes for leaders and people teams when AI arrives, drawn from helping oversee an enterprise AI deployment. Practical, candid and free of hype.
Trust Is Built in the Follow-Through
Why employees stop answering surveys, and what leaders can do in the 90 days after listening to earn their trust back.
Selected stages
From TEDx to the board room.
- SiriusXM Urban View, The Mike Muse Show
Conservation, community health and everyday decisions · November 2025 - TEDxBaltimore
Why medicine must take patients’ cultural approaches to health seriously - Johns Hopkins Latino Health Conference, Centro SOL
KeynoteWatch ↗ - Johns Hopkins
A Path Toward DiversityWatch ↗ - FrankTalks, Franklin Tomorrow
Community conversation while Vice Chancellor at Vanderbilt - Great American Insurance Group
Women in Leadership program workshop
In one combined Deciding Factor and Communication Dimensions workshop, 15 of 16 respondents said they could apply the learning in their jobs. Participant perceptions do not measure subsequent performance.
Planning an event?
Share the date, audience and location. James will confirm availability and suggest a format that fits.