About Us

Jim Colby

Jim Colby

Senior Consultant

Northern California, USA

Jim applies his extensive experience as a leader in a global setting to help clients develop effective teams and build highly capable HR organizations. He has a successful history of partnering with senior executives to clarify corporate vision, create effective strategy, implement initiatives, retain and develop top talent, and execute the achievement of corporate strategies, sales, and revenue capture. Jim is sought out for his candor and natural, inquisitive problem-solving approach. He focuses his collaborative style on aligning appropriate HR strategies to drive an organization’s vision and objectives.

Jim has supported multiple C-level officers and division presidents in companies with sales from $50 million to $12 billion. His portfolio of human resources experience includes integration and change management, leadership development and coaching, building talent development programs and related implementation plans, succession planning, talent acquisition and retention strategies, acquisition due diligence, employee relations, performance management, employee communications, compensation, benefits, workplace investigations, and conflict resolution.

Jim’s experience crosses a wide variety of business environments, including manufacturing, R&D, software engineering, OEM, media, corporate, field, sales, and marketing. In addition to working in various business environments, he has experience in industries such as consumer products, broadcast and professional products, components, media, service, and hospitality. He has driven HR strategy and execution for organizations in various stages of development, from start-up to growth, turnaround to closure.

Most recently before partnering with Japan Intercultural Consulting, Jim was Vice President of Human Resources for Sony Electronics Inc., in that role; Jim was responsible for HR support for all the Company’s business units and organizations throughout the United States as well as International Human Resources, Diversity, and Compliance. Jim has a deep understanding of the cultural differences inherent in globally-operating organizations. Thanks to his approach, he was invited to work on several global task forces, linking the U.S. perspective with Sony’s global needs and home-country culture to help create successful integrated solutions.

Specific to leadership and management development, Jim has led the creation of numerous leadership development training programs and succession planning workshops for managers and facilitated those programs across numerous businesses. For example, Jim acted as the key developer of the leadership plans and programs for one of Sony Electronics’ manufacturing companies, Sony Professional Products. In that role as a part of the strategic business turnaround plan, the leadership team was successful in helping a business that had not been profitable for 8 years become profitable within 18 months. During this same period, Jim served on an advisory board for the University of Denver’s Daniels Graduate School of Business for the creation of the high potential leader development program, “Emerging Leaders, Navigating the Future” based on the principles outlined in Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Challenge.

Jim earned his Bachelor of Science degree from James Madison University and has attended executive leadership and global leadership programs at the Daniels Graduate School of Business of the University of Denver, The International Institute of Management Development, and the University of Michigan’s Ross Graduate School of Business.