- Public speaker, published expert, thought leader on diversity & inclusion and the impact on consumer and workplace demographic trends, and a CEO.
“To understand diversity is to understand the complexities of human intelligence and consumer behavior.” – James Sun
We’ve all heard of overnight success stories of a new college grad who builds an app and sells it for a billion dollars. But let’s be real….that’s the exception to the rule. Business is and has always been tough…. like a battle…like a war. But it’s become even more challenging as competition’s become more global, faster-paced and hyper competitive. So are there some known secrets or principles…that’s been tested over time….that can be applied to your business today? Absolutely, there is a set of strategies that’s been used in ancient warfare written centuries before even the birth of Christ. It’s called Sun Tzu’s Art of War which lays out brilliant strategic philosophies…proven over time, to help you gain a competitive advantage in your business and your career. Famous 4 star general Colin Powell relied upon it during wartimes and even Bill Belichick, the head coach of the New England Patriots, used it to win multiple super bowls. And you’ll even find it being taught at the Harvard Business School. In the classic movie Wall Street….Gordon Gekko states, “I don’t throw darts at a board. I only bet on sure things. Read Sun Tzu,The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is fought.”
James Sun, a modern day millennial entrepreneur, who’s applied Sun Tzu’s Art of War principles in his business and personal life. These principles have helped him successfully build a quarter of BILLION DOLLARS of business value and exits. He’s succeeded helping launch 7 out of 8 startups, that’s a batting average of .875! Compare that to the average success of a venture backed company of 15-20%! He’s accomplished this, by applying the principles of the Art of War. He even used these strategic battlefield tools to gain a spot on Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” and became the runner up against 800,000 applicants. He’s starred in his own international television show with BBC and CCTV the world’s largest network in China where h turned around 13 companies in 9 countries in 18 months by directly applying the principles of Sun Tzu.
He is the founder & CEO of Pirq, a loyalty application for small and medium sized businesses where he successfully raised venture financing and launched the top 3 loyalty CRM app in the nation. He also created an education joint venture called Idapted Korea and sold for over $45M to one the largest online education training companies. James also ventured into India for his entrepreneurial ventures and helped grow the largest luxury taxi company in India called Meru cabs.
He is also the former owner and publisher of the longest running Asian-American magazine called Koream and Audrey magazine. His newest projects include being the co-founder of AppZocial – the newest mobile app platform that helps mobilize and socialize trusted communities, and owner of Dramabeans – the largest online editorial hub for Korean drama and Kpop fans.
James graduated from the University of Washington, and he was recently selected in the “Wonderous 100 Alumni Award” (top 100 alumni) which included prominent individuals like Bill Gates Sr. and Kenny G.
We are now entering a new era of diversity. Diversity 1.0 started out as initiatives around fairness in hiring practices and building defensive policies against discrimination. Next, diversity 2.0 consisted of shaping and understanding the business case for diversity such as McKinsey’s findings that diverse teams outperform industry norms by 35%.
Diversity 3.0 is the next wave of leveraging the differences in your employees to drive and execute clear offensive strategies. This new trend transforms the original philosophy that everyone is the same; and instead puts the focus on the difference as the underlying strength.
In this next evolution of diversity as an offensive strategy, executives will recruit and build teams specifically for their understanding of certain cultures and environments and leverage them as key innovators and market leaders for further growth and consumer segmentation. It will not be about trying to create the largest common denominator but rather having pods of employees who specifically identify with a certain consumer segment and leveraging their experiences and background to create new micro-plans for further customer engagement. For example, CEO’s will encourage the Asian American group to gather within the organization instead of trying to assimilate each person to the larger group.
This new evolution requires managers, directors, and executives to not be afraid of showcasing the differences in people. This requires a whole new way of thinking and setting up horizontal organizational structures and processes to build and obtain documented case stories and data points as integral strategic pillars of knowledge.
Follow James Sun through his personal journey as a global diversity speaker and thought leader. James has built over $200 million dollars of exits in the past 10 years in 3 different continents. He was the first Asian to become a finalist on Donald Trump’s hit reality show “The Apprentice” and then starred in his own international business show called “War on Business” with BBC. James graduated Cum Laude from the University of Washington Business School with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Computer Information Systems. James was recently selected as a top 100 alumni from the University of Washington in the “Wonderous 100 Alumni Award” which included prominent individuals like Bill Gates Sr. and musician Kenny G.
“I am sending this note to express my heartfelt thanks to you for your stellar performance as Keynote Speaker in Las Vegas at IMEX America 2014. I believe that your dedication to diversity and your personal experiences with racism helped motivate and inspire our attendees to take a deeper look at their business practices and interactions.”
“James is terrific in every way. He is so creative, and I love creative people.”
“I have heard so many positive comments about James Sun’s insightful presentation. Amazing! Thanks, again, for presenting at our diversity event!
“James Sun was an excellent close to our business forum in Canada. The delegates loved his engaging speech on the diversity in a world of globalization. Attendees left the event feeling informed and motivated to look at diversity as an offensive business tool, rather than focus on diversity as a defensive policy.”
