About the Program’s Creators

Shaun O’L. Higgins

Shaun O’L. Higgins is the managing principal and owner of The Oxalis Group, a marketing and management consultancy based in Spokane, Washington.  He is former chairman and CEO of Print Marketing Concepts, Inc., of Houston; and, former Chief Operating Officer of New Media Ventures, Inc., from which he developed and, in 2009, purchased the Management Goes to Movies training program and moviesforbusiness.com.

Higgins extensive work in media and marketing management, much of it for a major Pacific Northwest newspaper, is a past president of the International NewsMedia Marketing Association (INMA) and former  trustee and executive member of the Paris-based World Association of Newspapers (WAN). Noted for his lively and informative presentations, Higgins has addressed media, marketing and management audiences in 24 countries on six continents. His comments and projects have been reported in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today and in major newspapers in China, Central America, South America, Germany and France. He has published nearly 100 articles on a wide array of topics for periodicals, including Library Research Journal, INMA Ideas, Campaigns & Elections, The Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Presstime, and The Executive Speaker.

A life-long movie fan, Higgins began using movies to train managers in 1986. Higgins holds a B.A. in Communications from DePauw University and has serve as a lecturer and adjunct faculty at major colleges and universities throughout the Northwest United States. His audiences colleges throughout the  with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications, spent 18 years as a newspaper reporter, editor and freelancer in Indiana, Montana, Virginia, New York and Washington.

His books include:

• Movies For Leaders, first published in November 1999 by New Media Ventures, Inc., and now in its third printing , is currently available in paperback. This book was the first in the Management Goes to the Movies ™ series created by Higgins and Colleen Striegel, and it contains “Management Lessons from Four All-Time Great Films,” each of which is also featured on this Web site.
• Movies For Business, published in February 2003 by New Media Ventures, Inc., is available in paperback. Higgins and Colleen Striegel co-authored this book containing “Big-Screen Lessons in Corporate Vision, Entrepreneurship, Logistics And Ethics,” along with special contributions by James Lessersohn and Nora Lessersohn on the Billy Wilder film,  One, Two, Three. The book presents five of the Management Goes to the Movies ™ films featured on this Web site.
• Leadership Secrets of Elizabeth I, published in January 2000 by Perseus Publishing, is a collaboration between Higgins and Pamela Gilberd. In the book the authors have created vivid vignettes from Good Queen Bess’s remarkable 45-year reign and translated her leadership challenges into contemporary business settings. Their mission:  to apply Elizabethan practices — ‘Bess’ practices — that can help you establish the ‘best’ practices for managing modern organizations.
• Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: W. C. Field On Business. Higgins collaborated with author Ronald J. Fields (W.C.’s grandson) on this humorous and helpful book based on business lessons to be learned from the great comedian’s life and movies. The book was published by Prentice Hall Press in January 2000.
• The Newspaper in Art, was published in 1997 by New Media Ventures, Inc., and distributed internationally by The University of Washington Press. An oversized, deluxe-bound art volume, The Newspaper in Art presents nearly 200 full-color reproductions with commentary by Higgins, Colleen Striegel and art historian Garry Apgar. The book is out-of-print, but available on the used-book market.
• Press Gallery: The Newspaper  in Modern and Post Modern Art, published in 2006, is a companion volume  to The Newspaper  in Art, authored by Higgins and Striegel. The volume focuses  on art and print media from 1950 to the present. It particularly notes the ongoing use of newspaper  imagery in age of digital journalism.  The book is available exclusively from The Oxalis Group. Originally priced at $69, Press Gallery is available through this website for $29.95 per copy, shipping,  handling and (if applicable) Washington state sales tax.
• Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: W. C. Fields On Business. Higgins collaborated with author Ronald J. Fields (W.C.’s grandson) on this humorous and helpful book based on business lessons to be learned from the great comedian’s life and movies. The book was published by Prentice-Hall in January 2000.
• Vachel Lindsay: Troubadour in “The Wild Flower City” contains a collection of essays on the arts and civic planning by the well-known American poet and the father of film criticism, Vachel Lindsay. It was published in June 1999 by New Media Ventures, Inc. and is available in hardcover.
• Ice Storm ’96: Days of Darkness, Days of Cold, a regional “instant” book dealing with the worst Northwest natural disaster since the 1981 Mount St. Helens’ volcanic eruption. Published by New Media Ventures, Inc., this book is currently out of print.

Other images of Shaun (click to enlarge)