Joe is CEO and Head Coach of Values Coach Inc., which provides consulting, training and coaching on values-based life and leadership skills.  Values Coach clients include hospitals, corporations and nonprofit organizations across North America.  Their course on The Twelve Core Action Values is a comprehensive and systematic training program on living universal human values.  This 60-module course is often referred to by participants as being like “graduate school” for the seven habits, and is the subject of Joe’s forthcoming book The Power of Values.  Joe is also a speaker and seminar leader, and does pro bono work with support groups. 

Joe is the author or coauthor of nine books and is a powerful and effective speaker on the topics of values, leadership, and personal motivation.  He is a passionate and dynamic presenter who shares real-world strategies for personal, professional and leadership success.  He earned a masters degree in hospital and health administration from The University of Iowa and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was class co-president. 

Prior to founding Values Coach in 1994 he served as chief operating officer for a large community teaching hospital.  During his healthcare career he helped establish one of the nation’s most comprehensive emergency medical services programs at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and was first president of the Association of Air Medical Services.  As founder of the nonprofit organization STAT (Stop Teenage Addiction to Tobacco) he was a leading activist in the fight against unethical tobacco industry practices, especially those targeting children.   

Joe was one of the “generative leaders” profiled by Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Michael Ray in The Highest Goal.  In his book Finding Francis, Following Christ, Father Michael Crosby compared Joe’s mission to promote values as a secular reflection of Saint Francis. 

Joe and his wife Sally have two adult children.  They live on a small farmstead in Iowa, and their second home is a tent in the Grand Canyon.