Tom Morris
Tom is one of the world's top public philosophers and pioneering business thinkers. He was a Morehead-Cain Scholar at the University of North Carolina where he graduated with honors in Religious Studies, and then went on to Yale University where he earned PhD degrees in both Philosophy and Religious Studies. He taught for many years at the University of Notre Dame and received many grants and fellowships in support of his work from such institutions as Brown University and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He's the author of over 30 groundbreaking books and is a legendary speaker whose electrifying talks reengage people around their deepest values and reignite their passion for work and life. He’s now available by Zoom and other platforms as well as for in person talks to serve any business navigating our time of radical and disruptive change as well as pervasive uncertainty, bringing real wisdom to the challenge. He also offers consulting and advising services to a few executive clients. His newest book is Stoicism for Dummies, co-authored with Greg Bassham. Contact Tom through the world’s oldest address, TomVMorris@aol.com, to connect.
Performance. Leadership. Success. Change. Commitment. Imagine the wisdom of Yoda, Gandalf, and Dumbledore, rolled together and linked to the spirit and energy of the world's most winning athletic coaches. Stir in the unexpected humor of a Seinfeld or Fallon, and you have an idea of what Tom's audiences experience. Bring him to your next event and find out why so many people call him, "The best speaker ever!" Today, he’s the philosophical guide for virtual events worldwide.
Follow Tom on any of these social media sites:
See Tom’s New Super Short Videos - all “Wisdom Nuggets” - on YouTube. Just click HERE.
Tom’s Newest Books
Tom’s new little book The Everyday Patriot: How to be a Great American Now is inspiring readers of all ages and political perspectives. Based on the founding values of our nation, this rousing call to action for our time is already motivating people to take positive action and make a difference. Click on the title to see more.
The Art of Achievement, newly “re written for our time” in a Silver Anniversary Edition, Tom’s longtime favorite, is now available on Amazon at at bookstores nationwide. Click the title to see more!
Also: The newest book is now Stoicism for Dummies, co-authored with philosopher Greg Bassham, a book that premiered recently at the top of various Amazon categories and with especially strong presales. The Stoics are hot! Tom and Greg offer a new and innovative take on their best ideas.
Plato’s Lemonade Stand
Tom’s most popular recent book is Plato’s Lemonade Stand: Stirring Change into Something Great. You know the old adage: “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” Everyone says it but nobody explains how to do it. Finally, the deepest wisdom of the great practical philosophers on how to move from difficulty to delight, and into that far country beyond the valuable qualities of resilience and grit, where true transformation happens. There is an art of change that can be applied to any challenge or adversity, a sort of spiritual alchemy that can use the sour lemons that come out way for truly great lemonade. This book gives the universal recipe for dealing well with challenge and leading change wisely and well! It’s available now on Amazon and through your favorite bookseller. For more, click HERE.
Perhaps, the most practical book of wisdom you’ll ever read.
It’s all about challenging change and how to overcome adversity in our lives, digging deep and transforming our toughest situations in amazing ways. It’s about what may be the most ancient art we have, but what most of us neglect day to day. The book is packed with great stories, humor, and insights that we can use right away. What are you waiting for? Go get a copy!
Socrates in Silicon Valley
Tom's New Leadership Book on Steve Jobs and his Massive Success
Steve Jobs, despite all the obstacles he faced, created the world's most valuable and exciting company, and changed the way we all live. Tom's newest book explores how he did it, and is the first book to explore the deep philosophical operating system behind Steve's success. In beautiful hardcover, paperback and E-book, its central cover image is surrounded by a border of pristine white, like one of Steve's magical devices. To find what Steve, the Socrates in Silicon Valley, did that you can do in your own business to give you the ultimate edge, click the cover below!
The book can also be ordered in hardcover from your favorite chain or local bookstore.
Tom Morris, Ph.D. (Yale University)
Tom Morris has become one of the most active public philosophers in the world due to his unusual ability to bring the greatest wisdom of the past into the challenges of the present.
A native of Durham, North Carolina and a Distinguished Alumnus of Durham Academy, Tom was a Morehead-Cain Scholar at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, which has honored him, along with Michael Jordan, as a recipient of their "Distinguished Young Alumnus Award." He holds two masters degrees as well as a joint Ph.D. in both Philosophy and Religious Studies from Yale University, as well as other, honorary doctorates in recognition of his public work of bringing practical philosophy back into the cultural mix. Tom served for fifteen years as a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, where he quickly became a campus legend, in many years having an eighth of the entire student body in his classes. Recent projects involve novels, nonfiction books, and a script for an immersive theatrical experience featuring AI and the robotics of five hundred years in the future. He is a firm believer that ideas rock the world. Tom is now Chairman of the Morris Institute for Human Values in Wilmington, NC.
The Old Well, UNC, where the wisdom quest began for Tom in his Freshman Year as a Morehead Scholar.
Ideas That Last: Tom's Talks
The impact of a Tom Morris talk can last and last. Here's a recent email (October 28, 2017) about an event decades ago.
Tom: I saw you in Houston at an AT&T sales rally nearly twenty years ago and have touched base via email a handful of times. I’ve always carried the 7 Cs card you handed out at that event and have incorporated those points as part of the framework for my approach to life since then.
I am visiting my 30-year-old son this weekend and found myself introducing those points and your work to him in a discussion about philosophy and life this morning.
Just wanted to let you know I don’t know whether or not your wisdom is timeless but it has definitely passed through at least two generations of my family now.
Hope things are going well for you.
Take care. Frank Prager
Books and Speaking Clients
Tom is the author of over twenty-eight published books, so far, and with many more on the way. His twelfth book, True Success: A New Philosophy of Excellence, launched him into a new adventure as a public thinker and advisor to the corporate world. His audiences have included such organizations as Toyota, General Motors, The Ford Motor Company, Mercedes Benz, Hewlett Packard, Merrill Lynch, UBS, Verizon, IBM, Coca Cola, The US Air Force, Prudential, Fidelity Investments, International Paper, Price Waterhouse, Target Stores, Mattel, NBC Sports, Business Week Magazine, Bayer, Deloitte and Touche, Federated Investors, Mass Mutual, Raymond James, Citi Mortgage, Goldman Sachs, Taco Bell, Campbell Soup, MasterFoods, Minute Maid, The American Heart Association, United Health, and The Young President's Organization, to name just as few, as well as a great many of the largest national and international trade associations. A more comprehensive list can be found on the Clients page, indexed above.
Tom is the author of the highly acclaimed and bestselling leadership classic If Aristotle Ran General Motors and of the big yellow book, often seen in college dorms nationwide the night before final exams, Philosophy for Dummies. Other more recent books include The Art of Achievement, The Stoic Art of Living and Superheroes and Philosophy, where Superman and Batman finally meet Plato and Aristotle. Tom's most unexpected bestselling book about life and business is entitled, If Harry Potter Ran General Electric: Leadership Wisdom from the World of the Wizards. It's currently bringing magic into people's lives around the world. And his new book, The Oasis Within, is sparking wisdom in new ways as it launches an epic series of novels set in Egypt in 1934 and filled with the insights of the ages. And the first two subsequent books in the series are now also available! Click the title here or the image below for The Golden Palace, the philosophical adventure of our time! And also click the title here or see the Novels page on this site for the next books, The Stone of Giza, The King and Prince, The Mysterious Village, The Magic Ring, and The Ancient Scroll are now also available.
Click this image for one of Tom's newest books!
Tom philosophizes around the world, and has been featured in numerous major media outlets, including those mentioned below.
Coverage in International News and Entertainment Media
Tom's work has been featured, noticed, commented on, or covered by such diverse news outlets and media as CNN, NBC, ABC, CNBC, The Learning Channel (TLC), NPR's "Morning Edition," NPR's "Talk of the Nation," The New York Times, Fast Company, The New York Times Magazine, USA Today, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post, The Las Vegas Sun, USA Weekly, The Economist, Readers Digest, The Globe and Mail, Die Zeit, German Elle, Voce:SA, L'Agefi, ABC.com, The Leaky Cauldron, and many other magazines, newspapers, and websites across the globe.
Tom in the New York Times, launching the book If Aristotle Ran General Motors.
Television and Movie DVDs
Tom has also appeared as the philosopher he is in the Special Features Section on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: DVD Collection presented by Lucas Film, and on The Complete Superman Collection DVD, presented by Warner Home Video. You’ll often see The Sage of Steel wherever wisdom is found.
Tom's blogs about life often appear on The Huffington Post, as well as here, and he has a presence on various social media sites. He even philosophizes through images and photographs at TheFancy.com.
Born Thomas Victor Morris, and known by his undergraduate students long ago as "TV Morris", he is the first philosopher in history to appear in network TV commercials, where he has served as the national spokesman for Winnie the Pooh, on Disney Home Videos. He is also the only thinker ever to engage in early morning philosophy with Regis Philbin, on his old talk show, and on "The Today Show" with Matt Lauer, among many other national broadcasts.
Tom is known for bringing the insights of the great thinkers into the drama of everyday life with high energy and good humor. His message is helping to change lives and revolutionize business practices everywhere.
He may be the world's happiest philosopher.
You can email Tom at any time through TomVMorris@aol.com or through the contact link at the top right of this page.
Tom at dinner, talking philosophy and life in the Dean Smith Center, "The Dean Dome" UNC Chapel Hill, down on the floor, center court, where there was no game, no foul, but great fish and wine. The Morehead-Cain Alumni Forum, October 10, 2016.
Tom speaks on True Success to 4,00 people in the Denver Convention Center, June 2017. A great fun hour of wisdom, laughter, and energy ending with a long, loud and raucous standing ovation for philosophy!
Tom Morris is all about real wisdom, and a deep understanding of true virtue, and how they work for the best in business and life.
Top Keynote Speaker
Tom speaks with insight, energy, and humor to many of the leading companies and association groups in the world. His most popular topics include:
True Success: The Art of Achievement in Times of Change
There are exactly seven universal facilitating conditions for achieving success in any challenging endeavor. In this immensely popular talk, Tom presents them with high energy and good humor.
Years ago, Tom did a quick 59 second review of The 7 Cs of Success for all the HR executives at Verizon. He had spoken on True Success the previous year and was back to talk on The Four Foundations of Greatness. If you'd like to get a quick outline of what The 7 Cs are, then click the man in the white shirt below.
The Four Foundations of Greatness: A Deep Operating System for Business Today
Truth, Beauty, Goodness, and Unity - these are the intellectual, aesthetic, moral, and spiritual foundations of true greatness for any enterprise. In this groundbreaking and surprising talk, Tom lays out what every leader should know about creating the right conditions for remarkable, ongoing excellence.
Alchemy: The Power to Change
The great imperative of modern business is to master change. Tom reveals the deepest wisdom of the ages about how.
Off to the airport for another talk somewhere in America.
Plato's Lemonade Stand: Stirring Change into Something Great
When life, or the market, hands you lemons, what do you do? Here's the profound and practical recipe for stirring sometimes difficult change into something great.
Many companies who have undergone big changes and high anxiety have credited this talk with turning things around and helping to restore the great spirit it takes for top results.
Socrates in Silicon Valley: The Essential Jobs@Work.
The Success and Leadership Secrets of Steve Jobs
The talk is now a book. See below.
Steve Jobs created one of the most amazing success stories of the past one hundred years. And yet, he was hobbled by many personal problems that would have stopped most people in their tracks. What were his secrets? The full story has never been told before now. Tom looks deeply at this icon and discovers a philosophical operating system that can be used in any business. The accolades for this new talk are through the roof!
See what Steve did that you can do, in your own way, and in your own business.
Click the Clients link at the top of this page to view a list of Tom's Speaking Clients and their recent testimonials about the positive impact of his talks.
Or click the Talks page for more details on this topics and more.
Tom with 875 healthcare executives at the American Hospital Association meeting in Phoenix, February 5, 2018.
Vol. 5: Walid and the Mysteries of Phi
Vol. 6 Walid and the Mysteries of Phi
Bestselling Author
Tom's book reminds us that, for all the amazing technological wizardry of the twenty-first century economy, the real magic of leadership comes from moral virtue and strength of character.
Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman and CEO, Verizon
Recently pondering the new book.
Click this cover to get the new book!
Below, Tom talks to Matt Lauer on the NBC Today Show about his book If Aristotle Ran General Motors, back when they both had a little more hair.
And this is indeed an oldie, below. Tom's first book on success, the one that launched everything he does now, was first promoted nationally on the top ABC TV nationally syndicated show.
In the clip above, Tom sits down 20 years ago this month with Regis Philbin and Kathy Lee Gifford on their morning show, at the peak of its popularity, to talk about success for kids going back to school. Gelman was waving frantically off camera to hurry things along.
A book group at the immensely popular company PopSockets, reading Tom's book If Aristotle Ran General Motors. The topic of the day: Truth.
A well attended public talk on True Success at a great university’s beautiful art gallery, April 30, 2019.
Talks on Video
A sample of Tom's talks for larger audiences.
True Success. The philosopher speaks to a financial services firm in the first video below, and then in the second one to lots of Home Depot executives and managers, at their national meeting. In each version, after a few minutes to set things up with fun and frivolity, the wisdom of the great thinkers begins to flow like a river. These are closely related versions of the much requested talk, True Success: The Art of Achievement in Times of Change, a talk that has many forms, depending on the group.
Next up, the Four Foundations of Greatness, from Tom's groundbreaking book If Aristotle Ran General Motors: The New Soul of Business. See a clip below.
Now, a look at the first talk Tom ever gave on how to deal with difficult change in our lives. The title here is "The Art of Change." Other, more recent versions are "Alchemy: The Power to Change" and the very popular version based on the old adage, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade" - which everyone says to do, but no one until now has told us how!
Go to the Talks section on this website to see more of Tom's presentations.
Philosophy Retreats
We occasionally have retreats at the beach near my home in Wilmington, NC. Here's a short video featuring the place.
The Epic Adventure of Walid and the Mysteries of Phi started with Vollume 1: The Golden Palace
Vol. 2: Walid and the Mysteries of Phi.
Vol. 3: Walid and the Mysteries of Phi
Vol. 4 Walid and the Mysteries of Phi
