Jake Thompson
- Chief Encouragement Officer at Compete Every Day
- Podcast Host with 2M Downloads
- Leadership Performance Coach
- 3X Published Author
Jake Thompson is a leadership performance coach and the Chief Encouragement Officer at Compete Every Day, a brand he started in 2011 by first selling t-shirts out of the trunk of his car and is now worn by leaders in over 62 countries. Jake has spent more than a decade working with leaders and organizations...
read the restJake Thompson is a leadership performance coach and the Chief Encouragement Officer at Compete Every Day, a brand he started in 2011 by first selling t-shirts out of the trunk of his car and is now worn by leaders in over 62 countries.
Jake has spent more than a decade working with leaders and organizations worldwide on how to get better results for themselves and their teams. Through his entrepreneurial sales experience, client work, and research, Jake has built a proven C.O.M.P.E.T.E. framework that helps leaders improve their grit, productive habits, and leadership skills to create more positive influence within their organizations.
He has been featured in Forbes, Inc. Magazine, hosts a podcast with over two million downloads, and has directly impacted over 85,000 ambitious leaders. Jake holds an MBA, Mental Performance Master (MPM) Certification, and is one of only 17% of speakers globally to have earned his CSP® (Certified Speaking Professional) through the National Speakers Association.
read less"Jake's a wakeup call for sales, leadership, and peak performance."
Jake Thompson in Media
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Most teams don’t lose because the competition beats them. They lose because winning quietly changes what they compete for. Early in growth, teams compete to improve. After success, they compete to protect. Protect reputation. Protect ...more
Most teams don’t lose because the competition beats them. They lose because winning quietly changes what they compete for.
Early in growth, teams compete to improve. After success, they compete to protect.
Protect reputation. Protect numbers. Protect how it looks. And the moment competition shifts from improvement to image, progress slows - even while results still appear strong. Leaders feel it before they see it: energy fades, standards soften, and momentum becomes harder to sustain.
The real enemy isn’t laziness or lack of motivation. It’s undefined competition.
The teams that sustain excellence don’t compete harder. They compete against a clear, shared standard, every day.
In COMPETE EVERY DAY®, Jake Thompson challenges how leaders define competition and replaces motivation-driven effort with standards that don’t disappear when pressure fades.
Through real stories of failure and breakthrough, Jake introduces a competitive operating system that redirects energy away from ego and toward disciplined execution. ...less
You hit President's Club. Made the number. Got the promotion. And 48 hours later? The feeling's gone. The quota resets. The criteria changes. Someone else hits a bigger number. Comparison isn't destroying performance. Competing ...more
You hit President's Club. Made the number. Got the promotion.
And 48 hours later? The feeling's gone. The quota resets. The criteria changes. Someone else hits a bigger number.
Comparison isn't destroying performance. Competing in the wrong game is.
Leaders are told comparison kills confidence, so they try to eliminate it. But comparison isn't going away. And avoiding it is why so many high performers feel anxious, behind, and stuck… even while succeeding.
The real problem isn't comparison. It's confusion about the standard.
When the standard is unclear, comparison paralyzes. When the standard is clear, comparison becomes fuel. Elite performers don't obsess over being the best. They commit to being better than yesterday on purpose.
In BEAT YESTERDAY®, Jake Thompson shows teams how to replace comparison-driven pressure with process-driven progress. Drawing from research [ADD: on Olympic medalists, elite athletes, and high performers] and personal experience, Jake introduces a practical framework that turns competitive energy into daily execution—without burnout.
Jake breaks down the three comparison traps that sabotage performance (Why Bother, Always Behind, Inferiority) and gives teams a system to escape them. ...less
The most dangerous moment in performance isn’t the setback. It’s the season after the win. Failure is obvious. Decline is not. Most teams don’t collapse, they drift. Success brings praise, comfort, and subtle distractions. The ...more
The most dangerous moment in performance isn’t the setback. It’s the season after the win. Failure is obvious. Decline is not.
Most teams don’t collapse, they drift. Success brings praise, comfort, and subtle distractions. The habits that created growth slowly fade, replaced by performance for appearance instead of progress.
Excellence isn’t lost through laziness. It’s lost through comfort.
In The Excellence Trap, Jake Thompson exposes how success quietly erodes standards - and what elite performers do to prevent it. Through vulnerable stories and proven principles, Jake teaches teams how to recognize complacency early and rebuild momentum before decline becomes visible. ...less
Most organizations don’t have a leadership problem, they have a promotion problem. Every day, high-performing individual contributors are promoted into leadership roles and expected to “figure it out.” When they struggle, we blame confidence, personality, ...more
Most organizations don’t have a leadership problem, they have a promotion problem.
Every day, high-performing individual contributors are promoted into leadership roles and expected to “figure it out.” When they struggle, we blame confidence, personality, or communication.
But leadership doesn’t fail because of mindset. It fails because it’s never been treated as a trainable standard.
People don’t follow titles. They follow what’s modeled consistently under pressure.
In The Influence Playbook, Jake Thompson reframes leadership as a set of behaviors that can be practiced, reinforced, and multiplied. Through real-world examples and practical frameworks, Jake equips leaders to move beyond managing tasks and start shaping culture. ...less
Burnout isn’t caused by working too hard. It’s caused by competing everywhere except where it matters. In volatile environments, most teams react instead of execute. Energy is spent chasing noise, managing urgency, and trying to ...more
Burnout isn’t caused by working too hard. It’s caused by competing everywhere except where it matters.
In volatile environments, most teams react instead of execute. Energy is spent chasing noise, managing urgency, and trying to control what can’t be controlled.
Elite performers play a different game. They narrow the battlefield and raise the standard.
In Control the Controllables, Jake Thompson shows teams how to eliminate wasted motion and redirect effort toward what actually drives results. ...less
Artificial intelligence is transforming how work gets done. It can analyze faster, automate deeper, and generate content at scale. But as technology takes over more tasks, many leaders are discovering an uncomfortable truth: performance doesn’t ...more
Artificial intelligence is transforming how work gets done. It can analyze faster, automate deeper, and generate content at scale. But as technology takes over more tasks, many leaders are discovering an uncomfortable truth: performance doesn’t improve just because productivity does.
Teams don’t disengage because they lack tools. They disengage when they stop feeling seen, challenged, and believed in.
In Chief Encouragement Officers™, Jake Thompson makes a bold case: in an AI-driven world, encouragement isn’t a “soft skill” - it’s a leadership standard. The leaders who win aren’t the ones competing with technology; they’re the ones doubling down on what technology can never replicate: trust, connection, clear communication, and belief.
Building on his proven Influence Playbook framework, Jake shows leaders how to use encouragement strategically - not as praise or positivity, but as a tool to elevate standards, reinforce accountability, and drive behavior change. This keynote reframes encouragement as a force multiplier that unlocks discretionary effort, strengthens culture, and sustains performance when motivation fades. ...less
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