EXPERT ON:
◉ Motivation & Mindset
◉ Goal Setting & Achievement
◉ Overcoming Adversity
◉ Entrepreneurship & Innovation
◉ Leadership Development
◉ Team Building & Collaboration
◉ Decision-Making & Emotional Intelligence
EXPERIENCE:
◉ Leverages curiosity as a leadership advantage, helping leaders replace assumptions with better questions that unlock innovation, clarity, and smarter decision-making.
◉ Transforms operational chaos into scalable, repeatable systems through deep diagnostics and practical frameworks that reduce bottlenecks and improve execution.
◉ Empowers leaders to shift from reactive firefighting to strategic foresight—building cultures where truth surfaces quickly, and growth becomes sustainable, fundable, and human-centered.
Curiosity-Driven Leadership for Transformational Growth
Jon Bassford, JD, MBA, CAE, is a best-selling author, TEDx speaker, and operations expert helping organizations scale by transforming curiosity into a competitive advantage. With a background that bridges law, philosophy, and executive operations, Jon brings a distinctive blend of sharp systems thinking and human-centered leadership to every engagement.
As founder of Lateral Solutions, Jon partners with founders and executive teams to install repeatable systems that replace chaos with clarity. His methodology—rooted in curiosity as a leadership tool—begins with deep operational diagnostics (including his 47-point ops maturity review) and evolves into practical frameworks that drive sustainable execution. The result? Fewer bottlenecks, cleaner handoffs, and companies that are easier to fund, run, and sell.
Whether he’s working with a venture-backed startup, a national association, or a growth-stage services firm, Jon’s mission is consistent: Trust the Process. That means helping teams design smarter systems, make better decisions faster, and build cultures where truth rises quickly. His work empowers leaders to shift from firefighting to foresight—freeing them to lead with clarity, confidence, and calm.
Curiosity isn’t just Jon’s superpower; it’s the core of his process. It enables innovation, unlocks hidden capacity, and challenges the assumption that leaders must always have the answer. Instead, Jon shows that the right question can change everything.
