Sep 6 2018

HPT Legacy Video: Matthew Richter

I’ve known Matt for around 2 decades, through our association with ISPI – the International Society for Performance Improvement – and Matt’s business partner, Sivasailam Thiagarajan (Thiagi).

From their website:

Matthew Richter is the President for The Thiagi Group. He is a facilitator, game designer, instructional designer, and management consultant. Matthew has consulted with organizations that include Redwood Trust, CenturyLink, EA, Microsoft, Carolina Power and Light, IGT, Cadence Design Systems, and Sony. He is an expert in the areas of management, leadership, and performance technology. He specializes in employee motivation. Matthew mixes corporate, not-for-profit, academic, and independent experience, enabling him to adapt and best serve his clients.

His book, The Leadership Story: A New Model for Leadership was published in 2016. Matthew is the co-creator (with Scott Rigby of Immersyve, Inc. and Richard M. Ryan of the University of Rochester) of MAPS (Motivation, Assessment, and Performance System), an innovative performance management system that breaks all of the traditional paradoxes of management.

He is a sought-after public speaker and has delivered keynotes and conference presentations for such organizations as the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), Training Magazine, the International Alliance for Learning (IAL), North American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA), Influent, and the National Society for Black Engineers. He was the 2006 ISPI National Conference Chair, and was an encore presenter for five years for his presentation Creating a Motivating Environment.

Matthew is a featured author in the 2001, 2002, and 2003 Training and Performance and/or Team and Organization Development Sourcebook, published by McGraw-Hill. His articles on learner motivation were published in Pfeiffer’s 2008 book The Trainers’ Portable Mentor. He has also written several articles on leadership, motivation, instructional design, storytelling, and organizational development.

Matt’s Book

The Leadership Story: A New Model for Leadership

December 1, 2016

The Leadership Story is a short book that explores how context, perspective, anddistance of time affect how we recognize leadership in others. In the first of several short volumes, leadership is viewed more as a narrative constructed by others than the application of skills, abilities, and traits originating from the leader. The real difference is in the stories told about that leader and how those stories become ingrained in the culture—whether that culture is within a small company, a large country, or the entire universe. The book looks at how context, perspective, and time become the narrative components that enable leadership stories to be told, adapted, and perpetuated throughout a culture.

If story is meaning, and leadership is a story we tell, then how we understand those stories and how we convey those stories becomes so much more important than the knowledge, skill, and ability leaders have. Examples in the book include the story of John Tyler and how he became the first US Vice President to elevate to the Presidency, how Jimmy Carter reshaped how the role of the Vice President was perceived, and how William McKinley tried to avoid the Spanish-American War. The book also asks whether Neville Chamberlain was really was an appeaser. Did Gerald Ford do the right thing pardoning Richard Nixon? And, more.

There are three ways to order the book. You can buy it as a downloadable ePub, a Kindle book, or a paperback. Both digital versions are $9.99 US. The paperback is $20.

For more information about ordering the book – please go here.