John attended Roanoke College, Salem, VA, graduating with honors in History and Philosophy in 1962. He was Captain of the Varsity Swim Team, Vice President of the Student Government, President of the Honor Council and selected for membership in the Blue Key Honor Society, winning the Granville P. Meade Award to "the graduate with the greatest service to the world potential."

After graduation, John finished high in his class at US Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI, and served as CIC Officer aboard the USS EATON (DD-510) in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Caribbean Fleets, winning commendations for his work in Intelligence, Anti-Submarine Air Control and Public Information. In 1966 he finished his tour of duty and enrolled in the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Columbia, SC.

There he majored in Counseling and Hermeneutics and graduated with honors, including the Lutheran Brotherhood Graduate Fellowship Award. He carried out his Intern Year in Norfolk, VA, conducting the nation's first Street Ministry working with "people of the night" in addition to normal parish responsibilities. He then went to Cornell University as Lutheran Chaplain, where he began programs linking the business, educational and spiritual communities.

It was during this period that John began his work in organizational and community development, creating at the request of the Mayor and University Officials - The Collegetown Community Council, a group dedicated to the resolution of campus/community conflict. His reputation as a facilitator of positive change spread, and he began to receive invitations to conduct leadership seminars and conflict-resolution projects in other organizations regionally and nationally.

In 1973, John left Ithaca, NY, for Spokane, WA, to become Associate Director of the Leadership Institute of Spokane (LIOS). He and his colleagues developed the nation's first competency-based graduate program in the Applied Behavioral Sciences, offered through Whitworth College. In 1979 he founded his own leadership and organization development firm. Since then John's clients have included ACE Hardware, AEtna, Babcock & Wilcox Engineering Division, Basalt Nuclear Waste Isolation Project, Boeing, GTE, Nissan, Ford, Northern Telecom, Marriott, Polaroid, U.S. Army, U.S. Naval Weapons Center, van Melle Company in Holland, and other large and small organizations in both the public and private sectors. He specializes in executive and leadership development, conflict resolution and personal and organizational transformation through the unleashing of the human spirit.

In 1987 John created the EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT INTENSIVE, one of the nation's first holistic, solo experiences helping senior leaders "stretch the body, expand the mind and deepen the spirit". Then in 1994 the LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT INTENSIVE, a group version of the EDI was created. Hundreds of men and women from 18 nations have completed this challenging and life-changing program.

The Scherer Leadership Center provides developmental experiences of life-long value which integrate body, mind and spirit. He is a pioneer in the movement which now shares the name of his 1993 book, Work and The Human Spirit. He has authored over a hundred articles and numerous audio and video programs and was creator of The Breakthrough Series, a new use of video technology for training leaders and their organizations to cope with change and conflict during regular staff meetings.

John lives in Seattle, WA, and has four children. He plays the guitar, performs the occasional magic show, runs, practices yoga daily and loves to read a good spy novel.

Five Questions that Change Everything: Unleashing the Human Spirit at Work

Based on John's latest best-selling book, Five Questions that Change Everything. Imagine your workplace being a 'classroom' where everyone is equipped to turn the 'stuff' that happens at work into a developmental experience for themselves, enhancing their contribution to their team, the organization, and the larger world. It can be done, and Five Questions shows you how. (To find out more about this extraordinary book, visit www.the5questions.com)

The Questions:

1. What CONFRONTS me?
2. What am I BRINGING?
3. What RUNS me?
4. What CALLS me?
5. What will UNLEASH me?

Developing the Leader Within: Just How Good Could You Be?

Changing the Chart - Changing the Heart: Do Your Merger Right

Facing the Tiger: How to Turn Conflict into Creative Change

The Secrets of Enlightened Leadership: Mastering the Inner Principles of High-Performance

Beating the Odds: Accelerate your Recovery from Organizational Trauma

Making Change Happen: Moving Yourself and Your Organization from the Past to the Possible