Annual Awards Program

Award Nominee

Name: Dan Toma
Organization/Company: OUTCOME
Job Title/Position: CEO
Country: Spain
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
Dan is an innovation thought leader and co-author of the award-winning books ‘The Corporate Startup’ and ‘Innovation Accounting’. Puzzled by ‘Why are innovative products mainly launched by startups?’, together with his team at the consulting firm OUTCOME, he focuses on enterprise innovation transformation, specifically on the changes blue-chip organizations need to make to become more innovative.

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: Open Innovation Works
Project/Contribution Description:
The latest book from the "The Corporate Startup" series, looking at how can large companies better collaborate with their respective ecosystems in order to drive sustainable innovation-led growth.
The Open Innovation Works book is designed to demystify the world of open innovation and help you get the most out of your innovation spend — through frameworks, hands-on templates, case studies and the right day-to-day practices.

Key Achievements and Impact:
Book launched in Jan 2026. Already an Amazon category leader.

Supporting URLs/Links:
https://openinnovation.works/
https://www.amazon.com/Open-Innovation-Works-Successfully-Leveraging/dp/1805920715/ref=sr_1_1?crid=YIGJ63JR5BJM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FOMpG7kjagxs1vCBouPzPsC2q_q2PRM46RdTheggo05sWsGiQ3rQuaphzSIN15cpV1YyLPxnXBmn25ZM8OQkLc6SQWGSwfz2PwPn-CWGs6W1PEdl6YrAXOIgOqvOwAXNQcxKRChW6yWSKS_hX2X3iGZoND_BZiF9USvjfflCSU2LJB7SZDTO6KEcH3E59XsHcWX2BbtFujD0N9Jn3T_LI82b_i8s2SHu28aK8uIRDX4.sVE1v4mnz55iU9FyYR_73a-isuNKuCJBE4eGRX8Y244&dib_tag=se&keywords=open+innovation+works&qid=1772213858&sprefix=open+innovation+wo%2Caps%2C342&sr=8-1

Supporting File (1): Click

Award Nominee

Name: Melanie Marshall
Organization/Company: Adapt & Excel
Job Title/Position: Founder
Country: Australia
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Thinkers360 Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
Melanie Marshall is the Adaptive Excellence expert, with over 20 years of people development and business engineering expertise across 13 industries.
A thought leader and author of two books, Melanie and her services have helped over 320,000 people increase their net value by at least 33% by optimising their engagement and productivity.

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: Thought Leadership in Team and Business Optimisation
Project/Contribution Description:
Book title: Adaptive Excellence – How the best leaders and teams optimise performance and profit

Purpose, scope, and deliverables:
The ultimate playbook for high value change!
Every year companies across the globe spend billions of dollars on transformation and change projects but every year around 75% settle for mediocre results, and around 13% fail completely.
The approaches in this book are a blend of complex systems thinking made simple, constraints theory, behavioural economics, human centred design, and organisational change.
Leveraging global research and over 20 years of experience in Australian organisations, this book shows how to:
· Develop leadership at every level
· Enable efficient and effective decisions
· Increase delivery quality and ease
· Facilitate change in a way that works
· Optimise return on investment.
This book is for leaders wanting realistic, easy-to-share, and proven methods for exceptional results and adaptive excellence at scale.
Using the approaches in this book, leaders and teams can measurably improve performance by at least 33% and feel good about it at the same time.

Key Achievements and Impact:
Melanie Marshall is the Adaptive Excellence expert, with over 20 years of people development and business engineering expertise across 13 industries. Key industries benefitting from Melanie's work are Defence, hospitals and healthcare, and technology.
A thought leader and author of two books, Melanie and her services have helped over 320,000 people increase their net value by at least 33% by optimising their engagement and productivity.

Supporting URLs/Links:
The book https://melaniemarshallau-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/melanie_melaniemarshall_com_au/IQBNn2dzBmXlSoZ43GGwnR1UAVFP5XI9HW_VX9bTF4FbIyU?e=Odcbfr
Blog articles https://melaniemarshall.com.au/articles-1
Most recent podcast feature https://vimeo.com/1154427745

Award Nominee

Name: Fatima Roumate
Organization/Company: Global Network on AI & International Society GNAI&IS
Job Title/Position: Executive Director
Country: Morocco
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Thinkers360 Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
Short Biography of Fatima Roumate

Fatima Roumate PhD. Recognized Doctor Honoris Causa by UNIFE, Lima, Peru
Full Professor of the International Law at the Faculty of Law, Economic and Social Sciences Agdal, Mohammed V University,
Rabat, Morocco.
Founding President of the International Institute of Scientific Research,
Marrakech since 2010.
Founder of the Global Network of AI and International Society GNAI&IS.

Member of the Ad Hoc Expert Group for the Recommendation on
the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence UNESCO, Morocco.

MEMBER of the Information Ethics Working Group IFAP, UNESCO since 2020.
Member of the Delegation representing Morocco in intergovernmental negotiations on
the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence UNESCO,
Member of International Telecommunication Union, ITU Focus Group on AI & Environmental Efficiency (FG-AI4EE)
Member of the Global Strategic Communication Consortium,University of South Carolina https://www.sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/cic/journalism_and_mass_communications/conference_symposium/gscc/members/index.php
Founding Member of AI Talk Initiative Code Explorer
Member of the Consortium Global AI Network for Social Good [GAIN4SG]
Expert, Cybersecurity and International Cooperation, Council of Europe as a part of the CoE Wiki Cybercrime project from 2014 to 2016.


Her Edited Book “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Diplomacy: Challenge and Opportunities” made it on the 20 Best-Selling Diplomacy Books All Time list release by BookAuthority, April 2024
20 Best-Selling Diplomacy Books of All Time - BookAuthority

As a head of The International Institute of Scientific Research she was ranked 25th in The Thinkers360 annual leaderboard for the 50 Thought Leading Companies on Artificial Intelligence for 2023.
50 Thought Leading Companies on Artificial Intelligence 2023 | Thinkers360
Top 20 Inspirational Women of the African Diaspora Professional Women (ADIPWO) list for 2023. This list recognizes and celebrates outstanding women who have made significant contributions in various industries and are putting Africa on the global map. Fostering prosperity for african women (francinebeleyi.com)

Her edited book titled “Artificial Intelligence, Higher Education and Scientific Research: Future Development” published by Springer Nature, 2023:
- Topped the list of the 20best Books on AI and research, of all time released by Book Authority by the end of January 2023.
20 Est Artificial Intelligence Research Books of All Time - BookAuthority

- The Year’s Most Popular Books from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders (1H’23)
https://www.thinkers360.com/the-years-most-popular-books-from-thinkers360-thought-leaders-1h23/

- Top 100 bestsellers (education), Springer Nature, 2024
https://www.springernature.com/gp/booksellers/catalogs-title-selections#c26958752

- Top 10 Generative AI Though Leader, Thinkers360
https://www.thinkers360.com/tl/badge/18722/3531
- 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Augmented Reality&
Virtual Reality
Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on AR/VR 2023 | Thinkers360
She received several awards such as the Award titled “Iconic leader creating change for a better world” organized by the Women Economic Forum in The Hague, 2017 and the Award received during the Conference organized by Technopark Casablanca and titled “Moroccan Women, a major player in sustainable and prosperous inclusive development”March 19, 2022 ; https://menara.ma/fr/article/le-technopark-met-a-lhonneur-la-femme-marocaine-acteur-majeur-du-
She is a guest editor of the special issue of the Journal of Social Policy Studies indexed in SCOPUS and dedicated to AI and social policy.
She is member of several scientific board comitees of indexed journals such Magazine Cátedra Villarreal Posgrado and the International Journal titled Revista Científica de Comunicación Social Bausate published by the University Jaime Bausate y Meza, Lima, Peru. She published several books and indexed articles in Arabic, French and English.
She organized a lot of sessions of training for young teachers, elected women, and entrepreneurs and she organized a lot of international conferences about education, science, technology, Artificial Intelligence and media, communication and journalism.

Speaker in a lot of international conferences one of them was organized in the House of State in Finland.

She was nominated by the Department of States of USA to participate in the IVLP International Visitor Leadership.

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: AI, Information, and Global Dynamics Shaping the Future of Geopolitical Landscape
Project/Contribution Description:
This edited volume discusses the convergence of AI, information, and the geopolitical landscape. Featuring contributions written by globally recognized experts from different sectors, the book explores the growing role of AI in areas such as information, communication, and geopolitics, offering theoretical and methodological frameworks to analyze its impact on global power dynamics and the future of the geopolitical landscape. Combining theory, practical cases, and tools, the chapters offer essential guidelines for assessing AI applications, considering the shifting power dynamics and the increasing importance of information warfare in the AI epoch.

This combination of multidisciplinary, multisectoral, and prospective approaches makes the book an essential read for policymakers, scholars, and anyone interested in understanding how AI and information are reshaping global power dynamics.

Key Achievements and Impact:
"AI, Information, and Global Dynamics: Shaping the Future of the Geopolitical Landscape", published by Springer and indexed in Scopus, demonstrates measurable academic and societal impact. As a Scopus-indexed volume distributed globally through Springer’s network (reaching over 190 countries and tens of thousands of institutional libraries), it contributes to high-level scholarship on AI governance, information warfare, and geopolitical transformation.

The book has achieved institutional recognition beyond academia, notably being featured by IBERPERIA, a specialized network supporting AI-driven journalism across Ibero-America. This endorsement confirms its practical relevance and policy resonance within professional media and technology communities.

Through its multidisciplinary and multisectoral contributions from internationally recognized experts, the volume advances theoretical frameworks and analytical tools that are now positioned to influence research, curriculum development, and policy discussions on AI and global power dynamics.

Supporting URLs/Links:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-13528-5

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/iberperia_ia-investigaciaejn-manipulaciaejn-activity-7431608945187909632-R2mR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAARo3KUBogoApaBO3-GUOs4uE3b08peB8Kg

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Award Nominee

Name: Jozef de Vries
Organization/Company: EDB
Job Title/Position: Chief Product Engineering Officer
Country: United States
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
Chief Product Engineering Officer at EDB

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: Building a Data and AI Platform with PostgreSQL: A Blueprint for Sovereign Intelligence
Project/Contribution Description:
In an era where 87% of AI initiatives stall due to data silos and complexity, "Building a Data and AI Platform with PostgreSQL" provides a definitive, executive-level roadmap for scaling generative AI. Authored by EDB leaders Jozef de Vries and Benjamin Anderson, along with tech analyst Tom Taulli, this book reframes the role of the database from a storage engine into the central "learning lab" of the modern enterprise.

The book addresses a critical market gap: the "complexity tax" of fragmented data stacks. It guides leaders through the transition from running isolated AI pilots to building a unified, sovereign data and AI factory. By leveraging PostgreSQL—the world’s most versatile open-source database—the authors demonstrate how to integrate transactional, analytical, and AI workloads (including vector search and RAG) into a single, compliant architecture. This work serves as both a strategic manifesto for "data sovereignty" and a practical guide for CTOs looking to drive ROI from agentic systems grounded in trusted, real-time data.

Key Achievements and Impact:
Impact Summary:

Since its release, the book has become a foundational resource for enterprises navigating the "Sovereign AI" movement. Key achievements include:

Industry Validation: The book has earned high-profile endorsements from global AI and data authorities, including Professor Dr. Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes (Quantum-AI Governance Expert) and Dr. Anthony J. Rhem (Top 50 Global AI Leader), who cited it as one of the few works that "anchors AI success where it actually lives: governed, high-quality data."

Market Influence: The book successfully popularized the "Platform Mentality" for AI, influencing how organizations approach the convergence of Postgres and GenAI. It has been distributed globally as a definitive guide for EDB’s "Postgres AI" initiative, helping bridge the gap between open-source agility and enterprise-grade security.

Thought Leadership: The book’s framework for "Sovereign AI" has been featured across major tech podcasts (e.g., AI Literate Citizen) and industry webinars, directly addressing the concerns of the 95% of enterprises planning to build internal AI platforms within the next three years.

Educational Outreach: Beyond the PDF version, the hard-copy release has been utilized as a core educational tool at major industry events (like AWS re:Invent and Postgres events), providing a tangible blueprint for developers and executives to avoid "runaway AI costs" and technical debt.

Supporting URLs/Links:
https://www.enterprisedb.com/resources/building-a-data-and-ai-platform-with-postgresql

Award Nominee

Name: Rajesh Lingam
Organization/Company: Adobe Inc
Job Title/Position: AI Engineering Leader | Enterprise GenAI Evaluation Architect
Country: United States
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Thinkers360 Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
AI Engineering Leader at Adobe driving enterprise GenAI evaluation and trust automation. Architect of scalable AI quality platforms adopted across global teams. IEEE Senior Member, SCRS Fellow, published author, conference speaker, and international hackathon judge. Passionate about operationalizing Responsible AI through engineering rigor and measurable impact.

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: TrustOps: Building Reliable AI Systems and Human-Centered Digital Experiences
Project/Contribution Description:
TrustOps: Building Reliable AI Systems and Human-Centered Digital Experiences introduces a structured framework for designing and deploying trustworthy, production-grade AI systems in enterprise environments. Rajesh Lingam authored Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and contributed to Chapter 8, establishing the foundational architecture for evaluation-driven AI governance, lifecycle trust validation, reliability engineering, and human-centered system design.

The book addresses a critical industry challenge: while AI adoption is accelerating, trust, validation, and production readiness remain major barriers—particularly in regulated sectors such as healthcare, education, and enterprise software. Through structured evaluation models, risk mitigation frameworks, and operational TrustOps practices, the book provides a blueprint for transforming experimental AI into accountable, scalable, production-grade systems.

Key Achievements and Impact:
Authored six foundational chapters (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and part of 8) establishing the TrustOps framework for evaluation-driven, production-grade AI systems.

Introduced a lifecycle-based approach to AI trust that reframes trust as a measurable, continuously monitored operational metric rather than a theoretical principle.

Provided structured methodologies enabling organizations to embed evaluation, reliability, transparency, and governance early in the AI development lifecycle.

Addresses one of the most pressing industry barriers to AI adoption: lack of production readiness and trust in high-impact domains such as enterprise software, healthcare, and education.

Recognized through multiple verified 5-star professional reviews highlighting the book’s practical roadmap for operationalizing trustworthy AI at scale.

Bridges engineering rigor and responsible AI principles into a unified enterprise deployment model, advancing industry dialogue beyond experimentation toward accountable, scalable systems.

Supporting URLs/Links:
Amazon Book Listing – TrustOps: Building Reliable AI Systems and Human-Centered Digital Experiences: https://a.co/d/03scKPtY
Autor Profile : https://www.amazon.com/stores/Rajesh-Lingam/author/B0GP2YD6KV?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=172a7d64-a662-4368-b7d4-10481c38ed62


Supporting File (1): Click
Supporting File (2): Click

Award Nominee

Name: Debbie Jenkins
Organization/Company: The Asset Path
Job Title/Position: Founder
Country: Spain
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Thinkers360 Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
I help senior experts turn their thinking into books and frameworks that build credibility, attract clients, and open better rooms.

Discovery is shifting from search to inference. If your thinking doesn’t exist as structured, authoritative text, it won’t be recognised by people or machines.

My work is about building the version of your expertise that others trust, reference and act on.

I work with experienced consultants, founders, coaches, and independent experts who know a great deal but struggle to turn that knowledge into clear authority, defensible IP and commercial demand.

I’m an award-winning publishing strategist with more than two decades at the intersection of expertise, positioning, and commercial publishing.

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: Stop The Credibility Crisis
Project/Contribution Description:
Stop The Credibility Crisis
In a world where trust is scarce and competition is rampant, "Stop The Credibility Crisis" emerges as the essential guide for expert business owners navigating the murky waters of the expertise economy. Debbie Jenkins offers not just hope but tangible strategies to transform your business from overlooked to overbooked.

Stop The Credibility Crisis offers a lifeline to expert business owners submerged in a sea of AI, industry newcomers and diminishing trust. If you find yourself struggling to stand out, battling fakes, or losing your market grip, this book is your flag in the fog.

With proven strategies and a touch of humour Debbie guides you through the fog of modern business challenges. Learn why you must stop the credibility crisis to elevate your expertise, become the sought-after leader in your field, and finally get the business you deserve. Coaches, consultants, founders and leaders act now – your business can't afford to wait.

Key Achievements and Impact:
Won a Stevie Award in 2025, in New York. Global book awards winner. Amazon bestseller.

Supporting URLs/Links:
https://shortvaluablebooks.com/stop-the-credibility-crisis/

Supporting File (1): Click

Award Nominee

Name: Mandy Napier BSC
Organization/Company: Mindset for Success
Job Title/Position: High Performance Mindset Coach
Country: Australia
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Thinkers360 Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
Mandy Napier is a High Performance Mindset Coach who works with ambitious professionals and leaders navigating growth, identity shifts and increased responsibility. Through science-backed tools and lived experience, she helps them strengthen clarity, confidence and consistency so they can sustain high performance.

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: The REWIRE Model: Thought Leadership in High-Performance Mindset
Project/Contribution Description:
Train your mind. Rewire your brain. Take control of your life.
In a world filled with constant distraction, pressure and complexity, mastering your mindset is no longer optional — it is essential.
REWIRE is a practical guide to developing the mental foundations of sustainable success: clarity, consistency and impact.
Through the REWIRE Model, readers learn how to:
Build a high-performance mindset from the inside out
Develop deep clarity about who they are and what truly matters
Create powerful habits that drive purposeful action rather than busyness
Align thoughts, emotions and behaviour to accelerate meaningful results
Harness mindset to create lasting impact in life, work and leadership
Blending neuroscience, behavioural science, coaching strategies and real-world stories, REWIRE shows how small, intentional shifts in thinking and behaviour can unlock extraordinary results.

Key Achievements and Impact:
Over the past 19 years Mandy Napier has helped more than 20,000 entrepreneurs, professionals and leaders strengthen their mindset, gain clarity and improve their ability to follow through on meaningful goals.
Her REWIRE methodology has been delivered through coaching programs, workshops and leadership development initiatives across multiple industries.
Participants commonly report:
• 40–50% improvement in consistency of action toward meaningful goals
• 20–30% improvement in productivity and effectiveness through clearer priorities and stronger habits
• 25–35% improvement in energy, motivation and focus once limiting patterns are addressed
• Increased confidence and faster decision-making when navigating complex challenges
The REWIRE framework distils nearly two decades of practical coaching insights and behavioural science into a structured system that helps individuals build sustainable high performance without burnout.
Mandy’s work sits at the intersection of behavioural science, neuroscience and performance coaching, helping high-achieving professionals reprogram the mental patterns that shape clarity, consistency and sustainable success.

Supporting URLs/Links:
https://mindsetforsuccess.com.au/rewire-book/
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/0994231644
https://mindsetforsuccess.com.au/mental-fitness-training-high-performers/
https://mindsetforsuccess.com.au/consistency-key-healthy-habits/

Supporting File (1): Click

Award Nominee

Name: Danny Wareham
Organization/Company: Firgun Ltd
Job Title/Position: Culture & Engagement Director
Country: United Kingdom
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Thinkers360 Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
Danny believes that happy bees make tasty honey. make tasty honey. With a purposeful culture, strategy and support systems, high performance becomes a side effect.

He is a psychologist, author, accredited coach, and psychometrician whose work lies at the intersection of leadership, culture and personality, with a focus on individual differences – especially the “dark triad” traits of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism.

An expert in culture and leadership dynamics, Danny has been recognised among the Global Top 25 Thought Leaders on Culture and the Top 50 in Leadership and has spent nearly 30-years in
contact centre, retail and fintech industries, designing cultures, leadership systems, and strategies in which energy, clarity, and collaboration multiply success.

He is the founder of Firgun, a consultancy whose Hebrew name captures his core motivation: “the genuine, sincere and pure happiness for another person’s accomplishment or experience”, whose clients include Worldpay, M&G Investment Bank, and LEGO.

He lives in Stoke-on-Trent, UK, with his partner, Charlene

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: Thought leadership in culture and leadership
Project/Contribution Description:
What if leadership didn't need a leader?
For decades, leadership studies have circled the same questions: how individuals influence, how authority is shared, how teams perform.
But what if the most effective form of leadership lies not in individuals at all, but in the spaces between them?

Constellation - the debut book from Danny Wareham - presents the first ever academic research into a model of leaderless leadership - where purpose, culture and context, rather than people at the top, become the guiding forces.

This ground-breaking study draws on psychology, organisational science, and fresh empirical evidence to reveal a revolutionary approach to leadership for a world too complex for hierarchies to keep pace.

This is not a reworking of old theories. It is a new map.

A map that asks "who leads when the leader is not in the room" - then provides not only a scientifically-researched answer, but a practical, applicable roadmap to use that answer in your organisation.

The project had two key deliverables:

1. To showcase the first ever academic study into whether culture can replace a leader, and to make that research accessible to allow researchers and academics to build upon a new model; and

2. To allow for leadership practitioners, business owners and organisations to practically apply the approaches in real world situations today.

Both have been achieved.

Key Achievements and Impact:
Academic:
- Research published
- Presented at Henley Business School Centre for Leadership
- Keynote at annual Institute of Leadership global conference
- Meet The Author events for Institute of Leadership (IoL) and at Association for Business Psychology (ABP)
- Panel discussion at GWOP - the Global Work and Organisational Psychology conference

Leadership:
- Book reviews from organisations and individuals ranging from ABP, IoL, Henley Business School, to LEGO, Contact Centre Management Association (CCMA), Glasgow University, and multiple commercial businesses
- Amazon top seller in 'Leadership Science' and 'Management and Leadership' categories

Supporting URLs/Links:
Amazon (reviews and feedback): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1836887973/
Other reviews also available at Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads etc (though most sites "share" reviews between them)

Award Nominee

Name: Casey Fleming
Organization/Company: BlackOps Partners Corporation
Job Title/Position: CEO
Country: United States
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Thinkers360 Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
T. Casey Fleming is an internationally recognized senior advisor and keynote speaker specializing in national security, counterintelligence, and geo-economic risk. With a distinguished career spanning key sectors, he has consistently demonstrated his exceptional leadership and expertise in navigating complex challenges and emerging threats facing boards, CEOs, C-suite, and government.

Serving as the CEO of BlackOps Partners Corporation, Mr. Fleming is at the forefront of strategic risk. Under his visionary leadership, BlackOps Partners Corporation has emerged as the premier partner for senior executives seeking cutting-edge solutions for strategic risk assessment, strategy alignment, cyber risk and exercises, corporate counterintelligence and business wargaming. Through tailored cyber exercises and business wargaming initiatives, his leadership has enabled organizations to proactively identify hidden risks, and uncover new opportunities within their operations and supply chains.

Notably, Mr. Fleming is author of "The Red Tsunami - The Silent Storm Killing Your Freedom." This highly-acclaimed work is a must-read by all citizens in today's chaotic world.

His extensive contributions extend beyond technology and strategy development. He is a prolific author, contributing numerous articles on strategic risk and strategy. His insights have been featured in conferences, media interviews, prominent publications, and as a 2X TEDx speaker. His exceptional contributions to the field have earned him the title of Cybersecurity Professional of the Year from the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards and the Directorship 100 Governance Award from the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).

Mr. Fleming's expertise is sought after by a diverse range of institutions, including the private sector, domestic and foreign governments, and academia. He offers guidance and counsel to Congress, the Pentagon, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Counterintelligence Security Center (NCSC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), The White House and various other vital institutions responsible for national security and strategic decision-making. He also serves as an expert witness in matters of strategic risk, cybersecurity, and national security.

His professional journey has been marked by many outstanding achievements. He has held pivotal roles as a board-appointed turnaround executive for Silicon Valley companies, Managing Director for Deloitte Consulting's Global Risk and Strategy Group, and Founding Managing Director for IBM's early Cybersecurity Division, now known as IBM Security. His career began with IBM Corporation, where he laid the foundation for his expertise.

Mr. Fleming earned his bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University and later became an instructor within IBM's internal MBA program. He continued his leadership acumen through executive programs at renowned institutions such as Harvard Business School, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and IBM Corporation.

Mr. Fleming may be reached through: contact@blackopspartners.com.
Company website: www.blackopspartners.com
'Follow Us' Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blackops-partners-corporation
google.com/+BlackOpsPartnersCorporationWashington
Book: www.theredtsunami.com

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: The Red Tsunami: The Silent Storm Killing Your Freedom
Project/Contribution Description:
Author: The Red Tsunami - The Silent Storm Killing Your Freedom

Key Achievements and Impact:
The citizen survival guide of our time in chaos. Based on counterintelligence and connects the dots to provide the big picture.

Supporting URLs/Links:
www.theredtsunami.com

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Award Nominee

Name: Zack Hamilton
Organization/Company: Higher Oak
Job Title/Position: Head of Advisory, Creator and Author of The Experience Performance System
Country: United States
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Thinkers360 Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
Zack Hamilton is a customer experience thought leader, author, and advisor who reframes CX as a business performance system. Creator of the Experience Performance System (EPS), he helps organizations shift from passive insights to cross-functional execution that drives revenue, reduces friction, and delivers measurable P&L impact.

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: The Experience Performance System
Project/Contribution Description:
The Experience Performance System is a category-defining book that reframes customer experience from a passive insights function into a business performance system. Its purpose is to close the long-standing gap between customer data and executive action by giving CX leaders a practical operating model tied directly to revenue, cost, risk, and growth.

The scope of the book goes beyond theory. It introduces a complete, end-to-end system covering signal architecture, friction identification, prioritization, internal influence, operating cadence, and execution designed to help organizations move from insight reporting to measurable P&L impact.

Key deliverables include a proprietary multi-model framework, mad-lib style business tools, real-world case examples, and repeatable execution patterns CX leaders can immediately apply. The book equips practitioners and executives with a shared language, decision logic, and operating system to turn experience into a durable competitive advantage.

More than 1k+ copies sold in 52 countries since self-published on Amazon Sept 2025

Key Achievements and Impact:
The Experience Performance System has driven measurable impact by changing how organizations prioritize, fund, and execute customer experience work.

Across retail, SaaS, and service organizations, EPS-based initiatives have helped teams identify high-impact customer frictions and convert them into executive-approved business cases, resulting in 7–8 figure revenue uplift and cost-to-serve reductions within 30–90 day execution cycles. Organizations applying the system have reduced first-time buyer lapse rates by 15–20%, lowered repeat contact drivers, and accelerated time-to-value for CX investments.

At a leadership level, EPS has shifted CX from a reporting function to an execution and influence role. CX teams using the system have increased executive sponsorship, secured recurring budget allocation, and embedded CX into quarterly operating cadences rather than ad-hoc insight reviews.

The book’s impact extends beyond individual organizations. EPS has influenced industry dialogue by introducing a new vocabulary, experience performance, friction economics, internal influence, and agentic CX, challenging traditional CX maturity models and helping practitioners connect experience directly to P&L outcomes, not vanity metrics.

Supporting URLs/Links:
Book: https://www.theexperienceperformancesystem.com/the-book-experience-performance-system

Amazon (5 x 5 star ratings) -> https://www.amazon.com/Experience-Performance-System-Zack-Hamilton/dp/B0FPPRSTG7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3UBSYLKNS6VJF&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.kPjlGARxjxqg6rMKmwVLjZcD3VxImv1ExNNetRJAo7_96jGnnvULnP2zCt5H00J8Easj_Gh4M_r5J4XcAvGoJ2aWDxTBXl5L4NxzInB3U5l-F0uMO0FX8rw36If2jb4wsDD6agTXFZfA4IEERAPbTqX4SNq5OITzoraEdyr6fxp-XnJL_AhbvLPi8e97miBIQv148EIsuCsn1myJqpCg80C8er4MQCoOToCJBYPu07A.YIAngu6IGylCREkQg0G_VefGKg6ideTrjM6JIliUvbM&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+experience+performance+system&qid=1757672419&sprefix=the+experience+performance+system%2Caps%2C160&sr=8-1

Award Nominee

Name: Dr. Corrie Block
Organization/Company: Paragon Consulting
Job Title/Position: Founder & Chief Executive Coach
Country: United Arab Emirates
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
Dr. Corrie Block is a globally recognized leadership authority, TEDx speaker, and two time Amazon number one bestselling author known for redefining executive coaching through measurable, neuroscience based methods. Ranked number 24 worldwide by Thinkers360 and number one in MENA on LeadersHum’s Biggest Voices in Leadership Power List, and named UAE’s number one Executive Coach by leading global authorities, he operates at the highest level of executive advisory. As a Certified Performance Neuroscience Coach and Master Neuroplastician, his programs consistently deliver measurable impact, with documented one year returns ranging from 53 times to 901 times ROI.

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: Chief Executive Coach: How the World’s Best Leaders Build Trust, Performance, and Meaning at Work
Project/Contribution Description:
Chief Executive Coach is a leadership book by Dr. Corrie Block that redefines executive leadership for a modern, complex, and human-centric world. The book challenges traditional command-and-control leadership models and positions the CEO not as a controller of outcomes, but as a coach who creates the conditions for trust, engagement, and sustainable performance.

Grounded in organizational behavior, executive coaching practice, and decades of real-world leadership experience, the book provides leaders with a practical framework for improving performance by focusing on human motivation, meaning, and relationships at work. Dr. Block draws on academic research, case studies, and coaching insights to demonstrate how leaders can unlock higher levels of commitment and effectiveness by leading with clarity, care, and purpose.

Chief Executive Coach is written for CEOs, senior executives, and leadership teams seeking to improve organizational performance without sacrificing ethics, wellbeing, or long-term value creation. The book serves as both a strategic guide and a practical playbook, offering leaders actionable tools to build stronger cultures, better decision-making, and more resilient organizations.

Key Achievements and Impact:
Chief Executive Coach is authored by Dr. Corrie Block, a globally recognized leadership expert, executive coach, and best-selling author, whose work focuses on organizational behavior and executive performance, as documented in his official media kit and publications.

The book’s frameworks and leadership philosophy are actively applied across Dr. Corrie Block’s executive coaching, corporate training, and keynote engagements in 150+ companies across more than 30 countries, demonstrating sustained global relevance and real-world application.

The book reinforces Dr. Block’s recognized leadership positioning as “UAE’s Top Business Coach”, supporting his work with CEOs, senior executives, family enterprises, multinational organizations, and public-sector leaders.

Chief Executive Coach contributes directly to leadership development initiatives delivered to executive teams managing hundreds of employees, aligning leadership behavior with trust, engagement, and sustainable performance outcomes.

The book supports Dr. Corrie Block’s standing as a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, with its ideas aligned to his published thought leadership in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fortune, CEO Magazine, Psychology Today, Gulf Business, and peer-reviewed academic journals.

Continues to influence leadership conversations around human-centred leadership, ethical decision-making, and performance through meaning, themes consistently reflected in Dr. Block’s speaking engagements, coaching case studies, and client testimonials.

Supporting URLs/Links:
https://www.corrieblock.com/book/chief-executive-coach/,
https://www.corrieblock.com/books/
https://councils.forbes.com/profile/Corrie-Block-Chief-Executive-Coach-CorrieBlock-com/c94dd10a-21d7-4081-b5a3-9f297e18434d
https://www.linkedin.com/in/corrieblock/
https://www.youtube.com/user/corrieblock

Award Nominee

Name: Jana Werner
Organization/Company: Amazon Web Services
Job Title/Position: Executive in Residence
Country: United Kingdom
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
Jana is a global advisor at Amazon, helping enterprise executives on transformation, innovation, and ways of working at the business-technology intersection. She helps Fortune 500 companies accelerate business value and build responsive organizations.
With multinational experience from growing a start-up acquired by HP to leading digital change in multinationals, she holds a PhD, is a thought leader and Harvard author, engaged with pioneers from Harvard, NASA, Nike, and Slack.

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: The Octopus Organization: A Guide to Thriving in a World of Continuous Transformation
Project/Contribution Description:
The Octopus Organization is a strategic leadership guide that introduces a new organizational approach designed to thrive in a world of continuous transformation. It contrasts rigid, industrial-age "Tin Man" models—characterized by standardization and centralized control—with the "Octopus" model, which prioritizes adaptability, distributed intelligence, and curiosity.

The book addresses the high failure rate of traditional corporate transformations, which treat organizations as machines to be fixed rather than complex, living systems. The book identifies 36 common "antipatterns"—predictable, formulaic mistakes that hinder progress—and provides actionable "levers" to help leaders shift mindsets and behaviors toward a more fluid future.

It consists of a taxonomy of 36 organizational antipatterns categorized into three pillars: Creating Clarity, Increasing Ownership, and Inciting Curiosity. Practical, data-informed "Levers" for each antipattern are given to drive systemic change through small, impactful interventions.

The "Antipattern Escape Canvas," a double-loop learning tool designed to help teams experiment with, reflect on, and evolve their patterns of thought.

Key Achievements and Impact:
In just the first month sales have exceeded our expectations for the year. We have had over 20 large corporates reach out, inspired both by the book and the HBR article published in November 2025. Social media has been constant, driving multiple podcasts and invites to forums such as the Conference Board, London School of Economics and Oxford University to keynote. Both authors have applied these principles in organisations that include McDonald's Corporation driving significant business impact

Supporting URLs/Links:
www.theoctopusorganization.com

Award Nominee

Name: Abdurahman Kajumba
Organization/Company: Qatar airways
Job Title/Position: Acting final load and dispatch coordinator
Country: Qatar
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
I am the founder of vision edge social media solutions which is still working online only but has got numerous attractions based on my work that I bring out online when I am still an employee with qatar airways.

I have written two books which both are on amazon.
Applied psychology for better living and the 20 life questions and answers to empower every teenager.

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: Applied psychology for better living
Project/Contribution Description:
It is a valuable book that will help the next generation because it is written based truth of what is affecting us everyday.

Key Achievements and Impact:
It has changed lives of those who have read it.Applied Psychology for Better Living.

Supporting URLs/Links:
Applied Psychology for Better Living. (The life changing books of all generations): KAJUMBA, ABDURAHMAN: 9798313845951: Amazon.com: Books https://share.google/lT8E4dAK1q1RRY0Cd

Award Nominee

Name: Johann Botha
Organization/Company: getITright
Job Title/Position: CEO
Country: South Africa
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Thinkers360 Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
Digital Transformation, Strategy, Change & Innovation Leader | Lean, Business Agility & Scrum Coach | Cybersecurity & Governance Assessor | Author & Keynote Speaker. (HDI Top 25 Thought Leaders of 2021, itSMF Lifetime Achievement Award 2014)

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: Innovation-driven digital Business Transformation
Project/Contribution Description:
Johann is the Chief Architect of Agile ADapT ® 0 - an innovation-driven Digital Business Transformation model and framework.

He began this work in 2017 and published the third book (the previous two were Thinkers 360's 50 must-read books) on the subject, co-authored with Christoph Danker, at the end of 2025. The book, titled Innovation-Driven Digital Business Transformation: How Industrial–Age Organizations Can Compete in a Digital Future, is available on Amazon (free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers).

Industry praise included some of the following:

This book is not only about a model – it’s a call to action! It invites leaders, teams, and organizations to treat transformation as a continuous discipline, to navigate uncertainty, scale innovation, and rethink their organizations' roles in a rapidly evolving world. It will inspire you to lead with intention, experiment with confidence, innovate with empathy, and transform with courage. Dr. Kulpreet Nanda (Global Emergent Practices Lead – Capgemini)

It cuts through the noise and provides a straightforward common-sense approach to strategy, technology, innovation, and transformation. Once you have read the book, it’s so obvious, it’s so simple, and Johann’s thought Leadership is profoundly relevant. David Cannon (Executive VP nfinity3, and long-time best-practice (ITIL®) lead author)

During this work, it became clear to Johann that many senior leaders—often highly capable in their own domains—continue to interpret “digital transformation” primarily as a technical or IT-led endeavour.
This misconception has led organisations to invest substantial resources in technology-driven initiatives that improve operational efficiency or speed, yet deliver little to no lasting impact on strategic relevance or competitive advantage.

In practice, technology is merely an enabler.

The true challenge lies in transformation itself: how organisations must fundamentally adapt, structurally and culturally, to remain relevant in an environment shaped by continual technological, societal, and market change - and the tech cannot do that - only people can.

What Johann and his team observed repeatedly is that transformation is ultimately about an organisation’s capacity to embrace change, not about deploying technology per se.

George Westerman of MIT Sloan captures this distinction succinctly: “Digital transformation is about becoming a beautiful butterfly, not making faster caterpillars.”

Too often, organisations use technology to accelerate existing ways of working rather than undertake the deeper metamorphosis required. Digital transformation, like evolution, has no fixed endpoint—it is a continuous journey of adaptation.

Agile ADapT is an iterative, innovation-driven transformation approach grounded in nine transformational principles (and associated recommended practices) across three phases: Extract, Explore, and Expand.
• The first phase focuses on strategy—not as a static planning exercise, but as a dynamic, iterative process grounded in customer needs and deep market understanding.
• The second phase centres on rapid innovation, experimentation, and validation, embedding innovation as an organisation-wide capability rather than a specialised function.
• The final phase addresses execution and realisation, recognising that organisations themselves must continually change to support new products, services, and business models. This phase explicitly acknowledges organisational resistance to change and the critical leadership role required to ensure that validated innovation is protected, sustained, and scaled.

ADapT helps Leaders and their Organizations become truly relevant in the digital age and has shown that industrial age organizations can compete with Unicorns!

Key Achievements and Impact:
Organizations that have adopted the ADapT principles consistently demonstrate enhanced agility and a stronger capability to deliver digitally enabled or digital‑native products and services. These improvements translate into measurable gains in customer engagement, acquisition, satisfaction, and overall operational efficiency and profitability.

One notable example is a financial institution that achieved an average 400% increase in IT‑enabled innovation projects, with one initiative achieving more than 2500% year‑over‑year ROI growth.

Supporting URLs/Links:
https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Driven-digital-Business-Transformation-ebook/dp/B0FNKBVCGL/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YYA222W3RYQX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Cy5T-6pTRxDRe1_deyI_fjDT97ZEa2Vy7N9v4rx-w30E_zVAcTun244FYzEv8o2crMleAm7e3Apgu9Q4ARhOg2TGCi1Ridxg8SNyWP3WzKbSAsfjAyUxxoO6yVBD92701uHgrk2sx8vGEXN1ETTTvO_u6W-rWseu-A8DL_ARKspbJ4CNKTP-vLClbtJgU5nUoDVYATvSfTjpmtP0iscUqnlmTe9Qz7z-rQw404EwtFY.jGgBvmyRG9_PKHUYG1YXiLx3_yAkVSro-MU4MxGdNjc&dib_tag=se&keywords=innovation+driven+digital+business+transformation&qid=1770216718&sprefix=innovation+driven+digital+business+%2Caps%2C618&sr=8-1
AND
Agile-AdapT.com

Supporting File (1): Click

Award Nominee

Name: Lauren Clemett
Organization/Company: The Audacious Agency
Job Title/Position: CEO
Country: Australia
Website/LinkedIn Profile URL: Click
Thinkers360 Profile URL: Click
Short Bio/Description:
Lauren heads up The Audacious Agency, a premier profile building and award writing specialist company. A global thought leader in personal branding, with over three decades of experience in brand management and a reputation as a sought-after keynote speaker, Lauren empowers entrepreneurs and business owners to build powerful personal brands. As the brand navigator Lauren and her team help leaders to boldly stand out from the competition and be sought-after credible brand champions.

Awards Category Selection

Major Category: Content Excellence
Sub-Category: Book of the Year

Submission Content

Submission Title: The Itty Bitty Shitty Committee: Fire Your Inner Critics To Achieve Your Dreams
Project/Contribution Description:
This book is a high-impact, interactive audit of the ten internal critics currently living rent-free in your head. It’s a hilarious yet grounded guide to externalising the self-doubt that keeps high achievers playing small.

By personifying the toxic inner voices - like Tallulah Poppy (Imposter Syndrome), Tiffany (The Fear Of Failure) and Prof. Crastinator (Analysis Paralysis) the book transforms the abstract struggle of managing mindset into a tangible boardroom battle. It’s about taking the destructive alliance of voices that whisper "you aren't enough" and giving them their marching orders, effectively firing your inner critics so you can finally hire your Big, BOLD, Brilliant Board.

This is the stop-stalling handbook for the innovators, the changemakers, and the visionaries who are ready to make a bigger impact but find themselves ambushed by their own thinking.

It’s specifically crafted for business owners, speakers, and professional service providers who have reached a level of success only to find that their own "lizard brain" is trying to keep them safe by keeping them stuck.

Whether you are a start-up entrepreneur, a stressed-out CEO or a frantic franchisee, this book is for anyone who knows they are capable of more but needs the tools to overrule the internal committee of critics holding them back.

The Itty Bity Shitty Committee provides a cognitive rewiring of resilience, introducing the BOLD Mind Model (Breathe, Observe, Look, Do), and giving readers a four-step neurological circuit breaker to bypass the amygdala’s fear response in real-time.

Readers move from analysis paralysis and fear of change to audacious momentum, learning how to leverage their perceived limitations as their greatest leadership assets.

This book takes the world’s best-kept secrets and turns them into visible, credible, and award-winning leaders who lead with confidence rather than caution.

Key Achievements and Impact:
Published in December 2025, the market has already spoken - the book immediately secured #1 Best Seller status on Amazon and has been nominated for multiple prestigious industry awards.

Its core message has already moved from the page to the global stage, debuting as a featured keynote in New York City and soon to headline a major women’s business conference in Sydney.

At a time when change is happening far too rapidly for most leaders to keep up, and SME resilience is at an all-time low, this book provides the measurable metrics and psychological framework needed to turn internal critics into an unstoppable competitive advantage.

Supporting URLs/Links:
https://ittybittyshittycommittee.co
https://ittybittyshittycommittee.co/ibsc-book

Supporting File (1): Click
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