Ole Carlson - author, international keynote speaker, corporate trainer and strategic planning consultant - has spoken to CEO and business executive audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and South America on corporate leadership, personal growth and strategic planning.

In 1999, Ole was recognized as one of Australia's top international business speakers and has received awards and recognition for his presentations by various CEO organizations in the United States and the United Kingdom.

In 2002, Vistage - The World's Largest CEO Membership Organization, recognized him as one of their top 45 rated speakers from among thousands of speakers over the past five decades and in 2006 Vistage selected Ole as their Impact Speaker of the Year.

More recently, Ole was honored as one of the top five speakers in the history of Vistage International at their 50th Anniversary Celebration.

Ole has been a lead trainer for international transformational seminars, served as a CEO coach, group facilitator, and a corporate trainer for Vistage, Inc., a San Diego based international leader of CEO forums. His strategic planning clients range from small start-ups to international New York security exchanges.

His book, Beneath the Armor - How Business Leaders Stand Tall in a Turbulent Global Economy, identifies seven strategies defined by CEOs and owners of small- to medium-sized companies to provide a road map to overcome their possible isolation and scarcity of assets and position their organizations at eye level with your worldwide, giant competitors.

Ole's newest book, Aspire: 3 Powerful Strategies for Creating More of What You Want, Now, helps individuals in demanding leadership positions to dig beneath the surface and uncover the root causes of why they fail to achieve all they could. It defines the process that highly successful people implement to overcome their self-made limitations and live the life they choose and deserve.

His corporate meetings effectiveness training program, Making Meetings Matter, establishes a robust template for companies of all sizes to save time and money by having fewer, more effective meetings that result in better decisions and higher-value action items.

A graduate of the University of Washington, Ole and his wife, Sue Ann, currently reside in the states of Washington and California.