Jazz Leadership Project

The Jazz Leadership Project founders, Greg Thomas and Jewel Kinch-Thomas, were inspired to form the Jazz Leadership Project (JLP) as avid advocates of the power of music to inspire and empower people and organizations. Using America's fine art of jazz gives individuals and companies an innovative model grounded in musical principles and practices to develop leadership capacity, bolster team synergy, and enhance inclusion. JLP uses a creative methodology and an exclusive workstyle assessment in half- and full-day workshops, with live band, to frame leadership and team development through the lens of jazz. Clients such as JPMorgan Chase, NYPD and Con Edison have utilized the JLP Experience to enhance personal creativity and communications skills; strengthen leadership capacity; and elevate group collaboration and inclusion via experiential learning. As jazz also models ways to manage change in internal and external environments, these and other clients have found that the JLP Experience allows participants to embody practical lessons in a low-stakes, playful environment. Jewel Kinch-Thomas, the COO of JLP, is former Artistic and Executive Director of the Theatre of The Riverside Church. Subsequently, she served as the ED of the Hudson Valley Writer's Center. Jewel has participated in NY Foundation for the Arts Leadership Circles, Columbia’s Arts Leadership Institute, and the Women & Power: Leadership for the 21st Century program at Harvard. Greg Thomas, CEO of JLP, has decades of experience as a professional writer, editor, public speaker and events consultant. In addition to consulting with Jazz at Lincoln Center and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, Greg has lectured on jazz, American cultural history and politics at Columbia, JALC, Hamilton College, and Harvard.