About Gary Harpst
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Contact us today to interview Gary, or to inquire about having him as the keynote speaker at your next event.
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The Solomon Software Years
Following several years of working for the Ohio State University (BA and MBA in Computer Science) and Marathon Oil, Gary co-founded and became CEO of Solomon Software, originally named “TLB, Inc.” (The Lord’s Business) headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. Under Gary’s leadership from 1980 through 2000, Solomon Software grew to more than 400 employees and $60 million in revenue, servicing over 40,000 clients worldwide, and was sold to Great Plains Software in 2000.
A pictorial history of Solomon Software is preserved at SolomonHistory.org, and an oral history of Gary’s journey with Solomon is preserved at the Computer History Museum.
Microsoft acquired the combined Great Plains and Solomon organizations in 2001, and located a software development and support campus in Findlay, Ohio until 2004. When Microsoft consolidated their development locations, Gary founded a new organization with these resources and established Plumbline Solutions, a software engineering service firm for Microsoft Independent Software Vendors (ISV) and Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) Channel Partners. The former Solomon product continues to be developed and supported by Plumbline Solutions, as Microsoft Dynamics SL.
The Author
In 2004, Gary published Six Disciplines for Excellence: Building Small Business That Learn, Lead and Last, which became an award-winning "handbook" for continual business performance improvement. The book details the Six Disciplines Methodology, step-by-step, holistic business-building process that is based on proven best-practices in strategy, planning, organizing, executing, innovating and organizational learning.
In 2008, Gary released his newest book, Six Disciplines Execution Revolution: Solving The One Business Problem That Makes Solving All Other Problems Easier. Amazon customers ranked it in the Top 10 of all Business Books for 2008, and 800-CEO-READ ranked it in the Top 25 Best-Sellers for 2008. It was also named a finalist in the Entrepreneurship & Small Business category of the National “Best Book” 2008 Award by USABookNews.com, and it received the Bronze in the Entrepreneurship category of the 2009 Axiom Business Book Awards, designed to honor the year’s best business books and their authors and publishers. The book has been translated into Portuguese and Korean.
The Teacher, Keynote Speaker, and Thought-Leader
Gary is a dynamic teacher and insightful keynote speaker who challenges and motivates his audiences. His presentations weave together the principles that are the foundation of the Six Disciplines strategy execution coaching program, with humor, wisdom, energy, and incisive anecdotes from his many years of business management experience. He's conducted hundreds of presentations, keynote addresses and specialized webcasts on a variety of practical topics related to strategy and execution.
Gary's also been recognized as being in the Top 100 of the nation's top thought-leaders by Leadership Excellence magazine.
Because of his expertise, Gary's also been interviewed and quoted by national and local press for newspaper and magazine articles, as well as for podcasts, radio, and TV interviews.
Contact us to interview Gary, or to inquire about having him as the keynote speaker at your next event.
Contact us to interview Gary, or to inquire about having him as the keynote speaker at your next event.
The Journey Continues!
Gary’s vision continues to accelerate and expand. The TLB Corporate Center in Findlay, Ohio houses several related organizations: Six Disciplines, Plumbline Solutions, and Beyond Software (offering cloud-based project accounting software for small businesses.), as well as providing office space for a variety of technology and community-based organizations.
If you ask Gary, one thing you're sure to hear: "The best...is still ahead!"
