About Jeff Appelquist :

Jeff Appelquist is the founder and president of Blue Knight Battlefield Seminars.  Jeff is a former Marine Corps infantry officer, practicing attorney, and corporate executive. He has nearly twenty years experience both as an entrepreneur and small business owner and as a leader in Fortune 100 companies. Jeff has combined his expert knowledge of American military history with his many years of professional experience to create a unique and powerful individual leadership and team development program.  Jeff is an outstanding speaker and teacher whose expertise, energy, and passion bring historical stories to life for modern-day leaders.  

Blue Knight offers individual leadership and team development training that centers on a first-hand visit to a great American battlefield, either Gettysburg, Pennsylvania or the Little Bighorn battlefield in Montana, site of Custer's Last Stand.  Jeff Appelquist personally facilitates all battlefield seminars and is the author of the recently published book Sacred Ground: Leadership Lessons From Gettysburg and the Little Bighorn.  

The mission of Jeff Appelquist and Blue Knight Battlefield Seminars is to forge great leaders and teams.  Blue Knight is a limited liability company whose core proposition centers on the power of using history as a learning tool.  Blue Knight tailors its programs to meet the needs of individual leaders and teams.  The audience for Jeff's speeches, workshops, and battlefield seminars includes any organization- small, medium or large- that recognizes the criticality, even in tough economic times, of investing in its leaders.  The program is not limited to corporate executives.  Any organization that relies on leadership to get the work done, be it the military, government, academe or non-profits, can benefit greatly from Jeff's insights on leadership.

    
In addition to keynote speeches and battlefield seminars, Jeff facilitates half-day and full-day in-house workshops and provides leadership, team, and business consulting services.  Jeff has a Bachelors degree in Political Science from Carleton College and a combined Law degree and Masters degree in Public Policy and Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a member of the Society for Military History, the American Historical Association, and the Organization of American Historians. 

Watch this three-minute television interview in which Jeff talks about the Blue Knight leadership program and his book Sacred Ground.

Blue Knight Battlefield Seminars evolved from a leadership program that Jeff developed at Best Buy called Learning Through History. Watch this seven-minute video that depicts the experience of the Best Buy pilot team at the Little Bighorn in September 2007.
 

SPEECH TITLES

Sacred Ground: Leadership Lesson From Gettysburg and the Little Bighorn.  Based on his new book, Jeff explores six key leadership dimensions drawn from his study of these two momentous American battles.  Jeff uses historical examples and modern-day business case studies to illustrate each dimension.  Situational dynamics change over time, but great leadership is timeless.  Jeff encourages leaders to pursue their own individual passion, and also answers the question Why study history?

Moments of Truth: Lessons in Team Dynamics From Gettysburg and the Little Bighorn.  In this presentation Jeff focuses on three critical dynamics that teams must possess in order to succeed over time.  This talk is tailored to leaders from the same organization and/or intact functional teams.  The battles of Gettysburg and the Little Bighorn are rife with examples of teams that worked well, and teams that did not.  While the stakes for modern-day business leaders are not life or death, we can learn a great deal by studying the performance of historical teams in the crisis, chaos, and crucible of combat.

Wisdom Is Not Enough: Reflections on Leadership and Teams.  Based on the title of his next book (publication date 2011), Jeff teaches lessons based on modern-day business case studies, as well as historical examples.  He covers such subjects as strategy, communication, relationships, learning, and decision making.  He encourages leaders to think differently about complex problems and challenges and to recognize that sometimes, even despite years of education, training and experience, "wisdom is not enough."

Jeff's book, SACRED GROUND: LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM GETTYSBURG AND THE LITTLE BIGHORN was the Winner of the 2010 National Indie Excellence Award for Military History!