BONSTINGL

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT WORLDWIDE

Excel at every level.
Let us show you the way.



Hello! My name is John Jay Bonstingl.  I help school leaders and their business and community partners, showing them the way to get the measureable and sustainable results they want through Quality-focused principles and practices.

My national Bonstingl Leaders for the Future program — now celebrating our 30th year — teaches students at all levels how to develop their innate leadership abilities, how to learn more effectively and efficiently, how to develop their unique “voice,” and how to apply logic and creativity to their thinking and behavior.

Students who think of themselves as leaders take greater responsibilty for their conduct.
They exercise better judgment.
They look after each others’ well-being.
They become achievers.

I show people in the business world and the field of medicine practical ways to work smarter not harder or longer, for better results and improved job satisfaction.

School leaders and their business partners learn the crucial processes, systems, and tools essential for creating a true Culture of Quality based on the research in my ASCD/Corwin book Schools of Quality and my experience as a Blue Ribbon Schools judge and national examiner for the Baldrige National Quality Award.

Best of all, you and your team can benefit directly by applying my Seven Personal Practices of Quality to improve your relationships at home, at school, at work and in the community — in fact, in every aspect of your daily life.


MOTIVATIONAL KEYNOTES

My signature motivational talk is called HOW TO MAKE QUALITY YOUR WAY OF LIFE. It’s enjoyable, empowering, and very interactive. No sit-and-get here! Your people — faculty, administrators, support staff, business and community partners — will take away a new way of looking at the important challenges they face, and a new approach to language that creates relationships that work for everyone! Your people will feel better about themselves and each other. They will feel heard and valued in a brand new way. Best of all, they will leave with a set of actionable and transformative ideas and tools to make Quality a personal and organizational way of life.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT & SERVICE LEARNING

Our popular BONSTINGL LEADERS FOR THE FUTURE workshop is back! Upper elementary, middle, and high school student teams learn how to work together peacefully and productively, how to conduct a strength analysis of their school, and how to create a Quality improvement project to build upon their school’s strengths into areas for potential improvement. These are some of the same Quality tools and strategies I have taught to college student leaders and business executives around the world. I always enjoy returning to help our student teams present their work to the community as they celebrate the leaders they have become! Every child is a leader. Do your students act like leaders?

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT RETREATS & CONSULTING

I offer to district superintendents and their leadership teams new ways of approaching their work so their best efforts bring about the best possible results. Business and community leaders are often invited to join us for district-wide leadership retreats, either onsite or at a retreat center or hotel. My work with leadership is based on the research in my bestselling classic SCHOOLS OF QUALITY, as well as my experience as an administrator and as a teacher at every level, from elementary school through postgraduate education. My work is for leaders who want to make genuine lasting changes, resulting in greater achievement and satisfaction for every stakeholder.

* Native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Go Steelers!)
* 17 years experience as a classroom teacher
* Founding director of the Summer Center for Gifted Students
* Education director of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh
* Author of six books, including the ASCD/CorwinPress bestseller Schools of Quality
* Guest lecturer at Harvard, Princeton, Waseda (Japan), City University of London, and other leading universities around the world
* Twice keynote speaker for Brazil’s National Quality Education Conference
* Keynote speaker for India’s Quality conference for school administrators
* Keynote speaker for the Taiwan National Principals Conference
* Keynote speaker for the Singapore ASCD Conference
* Advisor to ministries of education worldwide
* Advisor to the Johns Hopkins medical systems
* Visiting professor of education at Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary’s leading teacher-training institution
* National judge for the U.S. Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon Schools Program
* National examiner in Education and Healthcare for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, created by an Act of Congress in 1988.
* AASA executive coach
* Co-creator and host of annual International Virtual Youth Leadership Summit for Peace in cooperation with the Peace Education Network—Nepal (PENN) on September 21st, International Peace Day
* Creator of the international student voice and youth leadership development program Bonstingl Leaders for the Future — We are celebrating our 30th anniversary this year!

Try putting my Seven Personal Practices of Quality to work in your life and see what a difference they can make in your relationships at home, at work, and in your internal satisfaction.

Check out my Seven Practices bookmark in the PHOTO GALLERY above, where you will find an affirmation for each of these Personal Practices based on the Quality Philosophy in my book Schools of Quality:

1. Personal Leadership

2. True Partnership

3. Systems Thinking

4. Process Orientation

5. Deeper Understanding

6. Love and Appreciation, No Matter What

7. Ongoing Learning and Improvement

Copyright John Jay Bonstingl 1997, 2023. All rights reserved worldwide.

If you are not yet getting the results you want, take a close look at the way things are done inside your circles of influence.

By improving your systems, processes, and protocols, you will see much improved results.

One of my mentors was Dr. W. Edwards Deming, an early pioneer of the philosophy and practice of Quality. He once told me this: “Dumb systems make smart people look dumb. This is unnecessary. More than 90% of all results are a direct reflection of how things are set up in your organization.”

I advise my clients to sample their own systems. Phone your organization from an unrecognizable number. What kind of experience do you think you will have?

Sit with your community members as they try to navigate your website without guidance. Take notes. You will be amazed!

Ask your people what they need, in order to do their work at the highest levels of achievement and job satisfaction.

What organizational obstacles do you and your leadership team need to be aware of, and how can your team best address those roadblocks?

Take time to talk with the students. See what their perspectives are. What do they think of the way things are going in their school?

In my student voice and leadership development program, students from 3rd grade through high school are invited to do a strength analysis of their school. Parent and faculty groups do the same exercise. We typically find 85 to 90% correspondence between all groups, proving that we are all on the same page! Powerful stuff!

On a personal level, what stands in your way of a Quality life in your most significant relationships? What roadblocks are you encountering again and again? Stephen Covey advises that you take time to “sharpen your saw” before you attempt to cut down the tree. Good advice from his classic book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Finally, a word from one of the world’s greatest thinkers. Aristotle is credited with this sage advice, well worth remembering:

“Quality is not a single act. It is a constant habit — a dedicated daily practice, a way of living one’s day-to-day life.”



Easy!  Just send me your contact info on the next page and I will get right back to you.

Or simply call me directly at +1 (410) 218-1776.

My email address is bonstingl@aol.com.  

Let’s talk about the results you want and need. We can make it happen!


  • PO Box 810, Columbia, MD 21044, USA