About

Tom LaForce

As a boy, my Grandma described me as loud. As teenager, an uncle would proclaim that I had a gift for gab. After getting married, my wife regularly reminded me that I talk a lot. A workshop participant once asked me after presenting my sixth topic in as many months, “Is there anything you don’t talk about?”

Yep, I do talk a lot. I talk on many topics. And I like it. Lucky for me, I have found a profession that allows me to do what I do best.

While my presentations do cover a wide range of specific topics, they all have a unifying theme; helping people work together. I believe most of the problems in organizations (and in the world for that matter) are created when we focus on that which divides us, rather than on what we have in common.

My goal is to convince others that building strong relationships is necessary for achieving better results. I’m also interested in giving people practical ideas for how to do that.

I was born and have spent my whole life in Minnesota. That means I talk about the weather more than I should, call casseroles “hotdishes,” and secretly believe that our cold climate (see, weather again) makes us hardier than most.

In the spirit of bringing people together I have degrees from both St. John’s and St. Thomas. There ought to be special combo alumni group for those that call themselves Johnnies and Tommies.

Prior to starting my own business, I spent nine years working at Dataserv, a national computer services company that was owned by BellSouth. During those years I had seven jobs, seven bosses, and a whole bunch of cubes. In at least five of those jobs, I wrote the job description because it was something brand new. I often worked on problems that were new to the organization. Since nobody really knew how to proceed, I was delighted when I was the guy who got to figure it out.

The thing I liked most about Dataserv was the variety in the work I did. One day I realized I could add even more variety by having multiple clients, rather than just one employer. So in 1996 I struck out on my own, starting a training and consulting company. Since then I have been serving clients of every type and size, usually right here in Minnesota. I help them strengthen their teams through workshops, meeting facilitation, and consulting.

As a proud member of Free Agent Nation, I find that work and the rest of life sometimes blurs together. But when I’m not working, my time is usually focused on four major activities.