Elevate your impact with Kim Barnes. Learn to exercise influence, negotiate constructively, and lead with authentic presence—transforming everyday interactions into collaborative successes.
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Unlock Your Potential with The Influence Guru. Proven expertise empowering enterprise teams, small businesses, and individuals. Kim Barnes provides the tools you need to communicate clearly, innovate boldly, and lead with confidence.
B. Kim Barnes
Founder, The Influence Guru
B. Kim Barnes was one of the founders and, for many years, the CEO of Barnes & Conti Associates, a global learning and development firm. She has had over 40 years of experience in the fields of management, leadership, and organization development. Kim developed or co-developed many of Barnes & Conti's popular programs, including Exercising Influence, Inspirational Leadership, Intelligent Risk-Taking, Consulting on the Inside, and Managing Innovation. She has taught, coached, and consulted within large and small, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
Kim is a frequent speaker at national and international professional conferences and meetings and has published many articles in professional journals in the U.S. and abroad. She is the author of several books, including Exercising Influence: A Guide for Making Things Happen at Work, at Home, and in Your Community, Third Edition (John Wiley & Sons, 2015), and has co-authored, with Beverly Scott, Consulting on the Inside: A Practical Guide for Internal Consultants (ATD Press, 2011). In 2012, Kim co-authored Self-Navigation: A Compass for Guiding Your Life and Career with Aviad Goz and in 2019, her book, Building Better Ideas: How Constructive Debate Inspires Courage, Collaboration, and Breakthrough Solutions, was published by Berrett-Koehler. She has also published two “corporate mysteries,” Murder on the 33rd Floor and Murder on Retreat (Johari Press).
Today, Kim is stepping into an exciting new chapter as a personal brand, bringing her wealth of knowledge directly to enterprise companies, government agencies, small businesses, and individuals. By integrating her extensive consulting experience with her passion for writing and photography, she offers a truly holistic approach to coaching and facilitation. Whether you need strategic corporate guidance or personal empowerment, Kim provides the insight and tools you need to maximize your impact and inspire everyone around you.
B. Kim Barnes is also the author or co-author of several popular mystery novels, including Deadly Quiet, Side Effects, and Murder on the Page, as well as non-fiction works on influence, consulting, and risk-taking.
Exercising Influence→
A Guide for Making Things Happen at Work, at Home, and in Your Community
3rd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2015
Consulting on the Inside→
A Practical Guide for Internal Consultants (with Beverly Scott)
ATD Press, 2011
Building Better Ideas→
How Constructive Debate Inspires Courage, Collaboration, and Breakthrough Solutions
Berrett-Koehler, 2019
Self-Navigation→
A Compass for Guiding Your Life and Career (with Aviad Goz)
2012
Every engagement is tailored — but the practice is the same. Pick the format that matches the moment, and we'll design the rest around your team, your timeline, and the outcome that actually matters.
Master the critical human connection skills that decide careers and performance. Kim works with you one-on-one to sharpen your communication, leadership presence, and professional impact—helping you navigate organizational dynamics and achieve your professional goals.
Inspire your audience to move their ideas into action. As "The Influence Guru," Kim delivers keynotes, fireside chats, and conference sessions that decode the mechanics of human connection — influence, strategic thinking, and the courage to act. Every talk is built around your event and leaves the room with takeaways they can use Monday morning.
Bring four decades of experience to your most pressing challenge. Kim partners with your leadership to build practical, customized strategies — whether you're cultivating an internal consulting culture, managing enterprise innovation, or strengthening how influence and change actually move through your organization. Outcome-based scope, no off-the-shelf playbooks.
A focused development partnership for leaders ready to grow into their next level. Drawing on the frameworks behind Inspirational Leadership and C.O.A.C.H. for Peak Performance, Kim helps you build executive presence, lead teams through change, and develop the people who report to you. This is a longer-arc engagement designed around where you are now and where you intend to go.
Influence and leadership coaching can help formal or informal leaders to be well-prepared, flexible, self-aware, and confident as they take actions that will make a positive difference in their teams, organizations, and careers.
Kim takes a performance coaching approach when working with individuals interested in building their influence capability. The learner identifies an important upcoming influence opportunity. Kim works with him or her to prepare for a successful outcome. The skills learned or developed during the sessions will be applicable to other influence opportunities in their professional or personal lives.
Leadership coaching may be a follow-up to the Exercising Influence program provided by Barnes & Conti, LLC, or may stand alone. Materials are provided to use before, between, and during the coaching sessions. Kim will provide support, suggestions, and be a practice partner as the participant learns, reviews, and develops greater skill in using these powerful influence behaviors. She will help the participant develop focused objectives and a plan for achieving them.
Not sure which fits? Book a 30-minute consultation and we'll figure it out together.
Access executive summaries, key takeaways, full PDF downloads, and video interviews covering four decades of leadership innovation.
By B. Kim Barnes
The seminal 3rd Edition guide to developing personal influence capability without relying on positional authority. Used across Fortune 500 leadership programs worldwide.
By Beverly Scott & B. Kim Barnes
Essential framework for internal consultants, HR partners, and change agents navigating company politics, contract negotiation, and internal client relationship management.
By B. Kim Barnes
How constructive workplace debate fosters psychological safety, empowers teams to challenge the status quo, and moves raw concepts into breakthrough solutions.
Kim works with individuals, teams, and fellow practitioners. Pick the door that matches where you are right now.
Kim’s overarching philosophy seamlessly connects her corporate expertise with her creative pursuits. Her published books — including acclaimed titles like Exercising Influence and Consulting on the Inside — serve as foundational guides for professional mastery. Together with her articles and original photography, these resources create a complete ecosystem designed to sharpen your vision and amplify your voice.
Kim’s original photography captures the raw power of acute observation — a critical skill for anyone looking to read a room, understand diverse perspectives, and communicate effectively. Limited-edition prints coming soon.
Shop coming soonWelcome to my networking hub. While I am thrilled to embark on this new journey as an independent consultant and creator, the roots of my work will always be intertwined with the incredible legacy of Barnes & Conti. Over the past 40 years, we built a thriving global network of exceptional facilitators, thought leaders, and clients. Here, you will find links to the continuing work of Barnes & Conti and my esteemed industry colleagues — celebrating the lifelong partnerships that continue to shape the future of influence, communication, and innovation.
Pick a time that works. We'll spend the first half on what brought you here, and the second half on what to do about it — whether or not we end up working together.
Highlighted dates have openings. Click to book.
Prefer email? Reach out at hello@bkimbarnesconsulting.com.
Join Kim’s professional network for regular articles, updates, and insights on the “difficult skills” of human connection: exercising influence, constructive debate, and leadership development.
Influence, leadership, and the occasional photograph from the road — sent when there's something worth saying, never on a schedule. Leave your details and learn more at your own pace. No pitch, no pressure.
