About Robert Whipple

Bob Whipple is CEO of Leadergrow Incorporated, an organization dedicated to development of leaders. He speaks on leadership topics and the development of trust in numerous venues. He also teaches leadership and business classes at graduate universities. As a leadership coach and business consultant, he works with individual clients as well as large organizations such as government agencies, corporations, and The Rochester Business Alliance. A highly successful leader at a Fortune 500 company for over 30 years, Mr. Whipple accomplished revolutionary change while leading a division of over 2000 people through the application of outstanding “people” skills.

Mr. Whipple is a student of the leadership process and has developed unique approaches to achieving excellent results through full engagement of people. He is author of four leadership books:

  • The Trust Factor: Advanced Leadership for Professionals (Productivity Publications, 2003),
  • Understanding E-Body Language: Building Trust Online (Productivity Publications, 2006),
  • Leading with Trust is Like Sailing Downwind (Executive Excellence, 2009)
  • Trust in Transition: Navigating Organizational Change (Association for Talent Development, formerly American Society for Training and Development, 2014)

In addition, Mr Whipple has contributed to the following books:

  • Group Dynamics and Team Interventions by Dr. Timothy Franz (Wiley Blackwell, 2012)
  • Trust, Inc.: Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset, edited by Barbara Brooks Kimmel (Next Decade, 2013)
  • Trust Inc.: A Guide for Boards and C-Suites, edited by Barbara Brooks Kimmel (Next Decade, 2014)
  • Trust Inc.: 52 Weeks of Activities and Inspirations for Building Workplace Trust, edited by Barbara Brooks Kimmel (Next Decade, 2014)

His ability to communicate pragmatic approaches to building Trust in an entertaining and motivational format has won him top ranking wherever he speaks. Audiences relate to his material enthusiastically because it is simple, yet profound. He is known around the world as “The TRUST Ambassador.”

The Trust Across America: Trust Around the World organization named Mr. Whipple one of the top 100 Thought Leaders on Trustworthy Business for five years and he has been awarded their Lifetime Achievement Award for Trust Leadership.  Mr. Whipple received the 2011 BEST Consultant for Learning and Performance Award in the Central New York region of ASTD.

Mr. Whipple has been published in Leadership and Training journals including Leadership Excellence Magazine, HR Magazine, Sales and Service Excellence, and T+D Training + Development Journal. He is a frequent contributor to The Rochester Business Journal and is an active blogger. He was named one of the top 15 thought leaders on the topic of leadership development by Leadership Excellence Magazine. His articles and information about Leadergrow can be downloaded from the corporate website. Mr. Whipple also publishes articles on Trust and Leadership through the  Evan Carmichael Motivation & Strategies for Entrepreneurs website. Inc. Magazine named Whipple to its 100 Great Leadership Speakers List in 2014.

Mr. Whipple holds a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Union College, a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering from Syracuse University, and a Masters of Business Administration from The Simon School at The University of Rochester.  He is a Management Quality “Blackbelt” and has achieved a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) certification from the Association for Talent Development (formerly American Society for Training and Development), recertified in 2014.

He is the past Chair of the National Leadership Development Team of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). He is past president of the local chapter of ASTD and served on the National Advisors for Chapters Team for ASTD. He is a founding member of the OD SIG in Rochester. He is also a member of the Rochester Professional Consultants Network (RPCN) and National Human Resource Association (NHRA). He has done volunteer work through SCORE and the United Way. He is now on the Board of Directors of the Rochester Area Business Ethics Foundation (RABEF) and is in charge of their Governance Committee. He is a Charter Member of the Rochester chapter of Conscious Capitalism.

Mr. Whipple is a member of the Rochester Business Alliance and a member of the Small Business Council. He is a member of the National Speakers Association, a certified Vistage Speaker, and a member of The Global Speakers Federation.

Bob lives with his wife/business partner, Kay, in Hilton, New York, a small town outside of Rochester where he has a “gentleman’s farm.” He enjoys doing landscaping and gardening, stained glass art, and woodworking.

Favorite quote:  “The highest calling for any leader is to grow other leaders.”

30 Responses to About Robert Whipple

  1. Becky says:
    October 8, 2009 at 5:20 pm

    I would love to subscribe to the regular scheduled email/newsletter if one does exist. Great columns!
    Thanks,
    Becky

    Reply
  2. Bob Whipple says:
    October 8, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    Hi Becky. Thanks very much for the compliment. So far I have not spent a lot of energy on newsletters. I am a big believer in the Golden Rule, and I do not like to have my mailbox stuffed with newsletters that I have no time to read.

    Actually, I am a neophyte in the social networking world. I only started this summer, but I do have a lot of leadership content that has been helpful to budding leaders for several years.

    Thus far, my habit is to put out chunks of content on my BLOG and create a link to them on LinkedIn. Perhaps someday I will get involved in a formal newsletter.

    Anyway, I am glad my material has some value for you. Perhaps we should be linkedIn to share our networks.

    Reply
    • Corey Vickers says:
      November 24, 2009 at 4:27 pm

      Understanding that you’re a relative neophyte to social media, a great forum for your content would be Twitter which can be technically linked to your LinkedIn profile.

      Reply
    • Shari Erdman says:
      April 15, 2013 at 10:22 am

      Hi Bob – I was wondering for a high performing executive team (at the individual level) – what would be one book you would recommend the team to read? We are trying to focus on “trust” and “having each other’s backs” – then we will be a GREAT high performing team…

      Reply
      • trustambassador says:
        April 15, 2013 at 4:41 pm

        Hi Shari. I think a good book for you would be “Smart Trust” by Stephen M.R. Covey.

      • Charles H. Green says:
        April 15, 2013 at 11:09 pm

        Shari,

        At the risk of some obvious self-interest, might I also suggest The Trusted Advisor.

      • trustambassador says:
        April 16, 2013 at 7:28 am

        Thanks very much, Charlie. I was going to single out your book, but I just finished reading “Smart Trust” and enjoted it very much, so it was fresher in my mind. I have really enjoyed and used your book as well over the past year.

        Shari, if you are picking this up, “The Trusted Advisor” book is full of ideas and hands-on exercises that are aimed at helping a team make the leap to higher trust. It is very well done.

      • charlesgreen says:
        April 16, 2013 at 10:43 am

        Bob,

        Thanks for your graciousness, and I should also have complimented Smart Trust. Like you, I found it a very good read, very useful and practical. Steven MR Covey Jr. has contributed tons to the intellectual capital on trust.

      • Shari Erdman says:
        April 16, 2013 at 11:20 am

        Thank you so much – I have ordered both books! Really appreciate your insights!

  3. Teresa Ritter says:
    October 20, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    Hello, Bob,

    I’m the webmaster for the Human Resource Management Association of Rhode Island, an affiliate chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). I routinely post information to the HRM-RI web site about meetings and events in the RI area which might be of interest to HR professionals. I recently heard about your presentation at the 10/29 meeting of the Bay Colonies chapter of ASTD and I’ve put that on the HRM-RI events calendar. I hope that some of our members will attend.

    I was checking out your blog and it seems to me that many of the postings/articles on it would be relevant an helpful to our HRM-RI members. We have a white papers page on our web site where I periodically publish short summaries of such articles with links to the full article. May I have your permission to add some of your recent articles to the HRM-RI white papers page?

    There would be full attribution, of course, and hence a little bit of free PR for you and your books — plus the link from our site to yours would be beneficial in terms of search engine rankings, as we enjoy pretty good rankings on a variety of HR-related keywords (as long as you also put RI or Rhode Island in the search phrase).

    Please let me know if it’s all right for me to feature some of your articles on the HRM-RI white papers page? If there are specific articles which you feel would be especially relevant to HR professionals, please tell me the titles of those. Otherwise, may I pick using my own judgement?

    Thanks!

    Teresa Ritter, Webmaster for HRM-RI
    Former SPHR, PHR

    Reply
  4. Piedad Zeiser says:
    January 6, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    Hi! I have been a long time reader, but am having trouble viewing your site in Opera today. Did you change something?

    Reply
  5. Jake Lacsamana says:
    June 24, 2010 at 8:55 pm

    I’m learning so much. This is great 😉

    Reply
  6. Valerie Hahn says:
    June 29, 2010 at 12:12 am

    Great information as usual Robert!

    Thank you!

    Valerie

    Reply
  7. Ed Stillman says:
    March 27, 2011 at 7:32 pm

    Robert,a meaningful article on trust, your link is being sent to my clients and members from our South Texas Chair group. Well done and thanks for the opportunity to jot you a note and say thank you.

    Reply
  8. Frederick Talbott says:
    July 1, 2011 at 8:20 am

    Thanks Bob,
    Your focus on workplace bullying is essential reading for professionals at all career phases, especially those about to begin or change jobs. I’ve known screamers, “my way of the highway” types, manipulators, incompetent and jealous “messiahs” and many more. Your column should be posted on the walls of every MBA program. One major challenge is identifying the presence of bullies before joining an organization. Often it’s all polite, encouraging chit-chat during the recruiting and interview phases. Raising questions focusing on leadership attitudes and approaches is essential–if the potential boss is offended or suspicious, you’ve got your answer! I taught more than 6,000 students at Old Dominion University and Vanderbilt and trained thousands of professionals, and heard so many stories about workplace bullying from grads and training contacts that I wrote a humor book in 2003 targeting bullies and other bad bosses. It’s called JJ’s Business Bullets. One former student being savaged by a mocking, belittling bully boss said it saved her life–that’s the power of humor.
    Thanks also for focusing on trust. In 1998 we did research that revealed most Americans were going to withdraw most of their bank deposits just before the year 2000 date change–Y2K. Worked with more than 800 banks and helped them turn customer fear into–you guessed it–sustained, focused trust. Yes, trust was the foundation of the entire program. And it worked.
    So glad I just joined the Professional Presenters, Speakers & Trainers group on Linkedin.
    Again, thank you for this remarkable and essential column. And thanks to all contributors for such interesting, focused and helpful postings.
    Fred Talbott
    Naples, FL
    cell: 615.364.4804
    fredtalbott@comcast.net

    Reply
    • trustambassador says:
      July 1, 2011 at 5:28 pm

      Hello Frederick. I am glad you liked my article on bully behavior. It did get a lot of action on LinkedIn.

      Reply
  9. Lying is to Trust as Kryptonite is to Superman | Trusted Advisor says:
    December 12, 2011 at 7:01 am

    […] Robert Whipple told me of the experience of being lied to, to his face, with full eye contact. That degree of trust destruction is strong enough to take effect instantly. Let’s examine why. […]

    Reply
  10. Daisy Zhou says:
    February 26, 2012 at 7:16 pm

    Hi, Bob
    I just read your artical – “Don’t do A Survey”, I’m not a HR person or a leader, but I like your artical. Thanks for sharing your thoughts… I’ve followed you, cheers!!!

    Daisy

    Reply
  11. Jim Cecil says:
    April 23, 2012 at 8:06 am

    I met another ‘natural nurturer’ today when I read your post’ Bon and immediately forwarded your post to my tribe. Would love to connect with you.
    Jim

    Reply
  12. charlesgreen says:
    July 22, 2012 at 8:14 pm

    Bob,

    I think this is a terrific observation you make about productivity; very sharply pointed, and dead right.

    Let me do my little part to help promote it.

    Thanks,
    Charlie

    Reply
    • trustambassador says:
      July 22, 2012 at 8:29 pm

      Thanks Charlie. Coming from you, that is high praise indeed. I appreciate your support.

      It is amazing to me when I coach groups that they really do not see the obvious connection between trust and productivity. It gives people like you and me a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

      I will be bounding out of the rack tomorrow a little quicker as a result of your kind note.

      Reply
  13. Kellie says:
    April 18, 2014 at 3:14 pm

    I came across your article and then website via a post on LinkedIn. I love the concept and practice of trust, and will visit your site often to listen to your musings.
    Cheers!
    Kellie Garrett

    Reply
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  15. kskaliprasad kotagal says:
    September 14, 2014 at 6:46 am

    Nice reading. very practical in thought process, a very much necessary in organization building.

    Reply
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