About John G. Miller
John G. Miller is the founder of QBQ, Inc., an organizational development firm dedicated to helping organizations and people be outstanding by making personal accountability a core value. Through his writings, speaking, and a nationwide network of certified QBQ! training distributors, he has brought his message to countless organizations including Bausch & Lomb, American Cancer Society, Wells Fargo, Verizon, WaWa, WellPoint/Anthem, Aramark, Wilson’s Leather, Autotrader.com, Merck, the U.S. Dep’t of Defense, Alabama Power, and Lowe’s Home Improvement … just to name a few.
Born in 1958 in Ithaca, N. Y., John’s dad, Jimmy Miller, was both the Cornell University wrestling coach and a small town Christian pastor. John wrestled in middle and high school himself, though while a student at Cornell University, he chose not to compete but rather coach the middle school team and the Ithaca city youth wrestling program. He also served—at age 20—as the youngest high school varsity wrestling referee in the Southern Tier Athletic Conference in UpState, N.Y. It was during this time in life that he discovered just how much he loves to teach, coach—and make quick decisions!
And the best call he ever made was when, as a freshman in college at age 18, he asked Karen Giles, age 16, out to a movie and just over three years later they married in June 1980. Hired by Cargill off the Cornell campus to be a “grain trader,” John, along with his young bride, moved to Mankato, MN; Great Falls, MT; St. Louis, MO; and to the Twin Cities, MN–all in five years! It was there in early 1986 John left Cargill and began a new career—and passion—selling (and implementing) leadership and sales management training to Mpls/St. Paul organizations from all industries.
It is also where he created QBQ! Throughout a decade of selling and facilitating training to and with executives and middle managers, he discovered the incredible need for personal accountability. In 1995, he chose to become a keynote speaker, titling his sessions “Personal Accountability and the QBQ!” even though he was told by some that “accountability isn’t a topic.”
But, his speaking career took off and he then began writing books, gaining the new title “author.”
In December 1997, John and Karen left Minnesota to move to Denver, Colorado, where the sun shines over 300 days each year. They have seven children ages 29 to 13: six girls and one son! As John likes to say, they achieved four “the homemade way” and then gained three through an adoption process in 2000. They also have one grandson.
John and Karen have recently written Parenting the QBQ Way, which will be released by Penguin as an e-book in March 2012. Click here for more on the new parenting book.
Reach John by email at John@QBQ.com. He responds to every email he gets!