Garden Variety

Don’t let the hardcore, tongue-out, rocker vibe fool you. Jim Knight is a man with a humble heart, ready to change the world, one experience at a time.

The spiky-haired Winter Garden resident first made a name for himself at Gatorland Zoo, with the scars to prove it. From there, Jim cut his teeth in public school education before transitioning to the hospitality industry, where he eventually spent two decades in Global Training at Hard Rock International. These days, his set list of success spans multiple genres—keynote speaker, podcaster, author, father, and proud Kissimmee Kowboys booster, his high school alma mater. He’s also the mind behind BookyCall, a book marketing app best described as Tinder for Book Lovers. (Go ahead, swipe right, we dare you.)

A vast and varied career, to be sure, but there’s one underlying chord: Jim simply loves making a difference through his unique brand of “edu-tainment.”

“I love being a positive force in people’s lives,” he says. “What I don’t want to be is some spiritual guru. I’m not trying to do the motivational stuff; I personally don’t need it or like that. I’d rather deliver practical, tactical, how can I make my life better, results than fluffy, feel-good, woo-woo. I want people to leave the experience—whether it’s the room, the book, the podcast—and think, ‘Holy sh*t, that was an awesome use of my time!’”

And that he’s done. His list of repeat clients reads like a best-of Fortune 500 list, but when the pandemic slowed down his in-person speaking gigs, Jim shifted his perspective. “I really refocused my priorities. I looked for opportunities to serve and give back, whether that was volunteering locally or doing virtual training for free. I pretty much said yes to every new opportunity that came my way, things that normally wouldn’t have crossed my radar.”

Jim also used the pandemic slowdown as an opportunity to revise and expand his best-selling book, Culture That Rocks: How to Revolutionize Your Company’s Culture. “That book was published in 2014, and I’m super proud of it. But a lot has changed in the past eight years, and the book needed to reflect that. Plus, I wanted it to be even more practical, an actual tool that people could use to change their life or business.”

So he parsed the book into three succinct concepts. The first book, Leadership That Rocks released in May 2021. The second book, Service That Rocks, comes out October 3, during National Customer Service Week.

“This book on service, it’s so timely,” Jim shares. “We’re in a service drought right now, and everyone is feeling it. I don’t know if that’s the pandemic effect or generational neglect or education issues, but everyone is feeling it. And let me tell you … if there’s one thing that can break any business, it’s bad customer service.”

“The reality is, you have a bunch of people who don’t care. And you know what? I can’t control their behavior, but I can help control the employees. I can help businesses control how they hire, recruit, and interview, and train, and reward, and recognize all that stuff. It’s all my training and development coming back to me, right? But at the core, we as people—parents, business owners, citizens—need to get our act together. We need to get back to service, to serving one another. It’s my life’s work coming full circle. Seeing lives change because of something I’ve shared, said, or done … that’s my version of nirvana.