“You can build your brand, create raving fans, fish for great employees, build teams, rewrite your value equation, partner strategically, create six-sigma quality, search for excellence 24/7 and find out where your cheese went, but if leadership is lacking, it is all for nothing. Leadership doesn’t make a difference, leadership is the difference.”

Those words from Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE explain why he has dedicated his work to developing leaders in business and in life. He is the president of Sanborn and Associates, Inc., an idea studio for leadership development.

As a professional speaker, Mark has presented over 1700 speeches and seminars in every state and 10 foreign countries. Because of his ability to educate and entertain simultaneously, Mark Sanborn is known internationally as the high-content speaker who motivates.

It wasn't always that way. Mark became interested in public speaking when, at the age of 10, he represented his local 4-H club in a speech contest. He did so badly and was defeated so soundly that he decided to enter again the following year and win. He did, and that’s what set his course as a speaker.

Mark worked his way though college as an after-dinner speaker. After graduating he worked as a sales and marketing executive in the publishing

Mark has written five books, has contributed to nearly a dozen more, and is the author of more than 20 videos and numerous audio training programs on leadership, change, teamwork and customer service. His book titles include: Upgrade! Proven Strategies for Dramatically Increasing Personal and Professional Success, Teambuilt: Making Teamwork Work, Sanborn On Success and Meditations for the Road Warrior.

His most recent book, The Fred Factor: Every Person's Guide to Making the Ordinary Extraordinary sold 100,000 copies in China in the first 100 days after its release.

He is a member of the prestigious Speakers Roundtable, 20 of the top speakers in the world today. Mark holds the Certified Speaking Professional

(CSP) from the National Speakers Association and is a member of the exclusive Speaker Hall of Fame (CPAE).

Mark is the 2003-2004 president of the National Speakers Association, the 3500 member association of experts who speak professionally.

He also serves on the board of U.S. Learning, a Memphis-based corporate university developer and is a founding professor of MentorU.com, an internet based learning company.

Mark’s clients include Costco, Chik-fil-A, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Exxon, Harley-Davidson, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Mortons of Chicago, New York Life, ServiceMaster, Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo and the U.S. Army.

Mark is known for the high level of tailoring he does for each client. His research and familiarity with clients is so deep that audience members often think he works for the company he’s addressing.

“Speaking was for me an entry into leadership at a very young age,” he says. “My high school years as a member of the Future Farmers of America culminating in serving as National FFA President in 1978-79 taught me some of the most valuable lessons of my life. I’m still studying, researching and applying what I learn about leadership today, both with my clients and in the organizations in which I’m privileged to have a leadership role.”