James A. Autry (b. March 8, 1933), the son and grandson of Mississippi Baptist ministers, is an author, poet, and former Fortune 500 executive whose work has had significant influence on leadership thinking. His book Love and Profit, The Art of Caring Leadership won the prestigious Johnson, Smith and Knisely Award as the book that contributed the most to executive thinking in 1992.Looking Around for God: The Strangely Reverent Observations of an Unconventional Christian is his tenth book. The ninth, The Book of Hard Choices, was published in December 2006. His previous works include Nights Under a Tin Roof...Recollections of a Southern Boyhood, published in 1983, now in its fifth printing;… Life After Mississippi, published in 1989; Love and Profit, published in January 1991 and now in paperback (also published in Japanese, Swedish, Chinese, Spanish and Russian); and Life and Work, A Manager's Search for Meaning, published in February 1994. His memoirs of his years in business, Confessions of An Accidental Businessman, published in the fall of 1996, was a finalist in the Global Business Book Awards. Real Power, Business Lessons from the Tao Te Ching, a collaboration with Stephen Mitchell (also published in Korean, German, and Chinese), came out in the spring of 1998; The Servant Leader, was published in the fall of 2001 and is now out in paperback. The Spirit of Retirement was published in the fall of 2002. He is in demand as a speaker nationally and continues as an active author and executive coach.Autry�s video Love and Profit, produced by the Excellence in Training Corporation in 1993, won the 1994 Telly Award for non-broadcast video in the training category. His video Life and Work was released by ETC in January of 1996, and his latest video, Spirit At Work, was released in the summer of 2001.Before taking early retirement in 1991 to pursue his present career, Autry was senior vice president of The Meredith Corporation and president of its magazine group. At the time of his retirement, Autry was regarded as one of the most successful and respected magazine publishing executives in America.Before becoming president of the Magazine Group, he had been senior vice president and general manager of magazine publishing. He joined Meredith in 1960 as copy editor of Better Homes and Gardens and was appointed managing editor in 1962. In early 1967 he left Meredith to become editor and publisher of New Orleans magazine.Autry returned to Meredith in March 1968 as editorial head of Special Interest Publications, which involved him directly in developing new titles for the company. He returned to Better Homes and Gardens as its editor-in-chief in July, 1970, and was appointed to the additional position of editorial director and vice president of Meredith's magazine division in May 1973.The company's magazine and book operations were combined in January of 1976, at which time Autry became vice president and editor-in-chief of all magazines and books. He continued as editor of Better Homes and Gardens until May 1979 when he was named to head the magazine business operations.Autry has been active in many civic and charitable organizations and most notably has worked with disability rights groups for 30 years. He has served as president, chairman of the board, and chairman of the board emeritus of the Epilepsy Foundation of America. He was chairman of the Iowa Department of Education's Advisory Council on Educational Services to Persons with Disabilities, and also served on the Supported Employment Management Council.He was the founding chair of the Claremont Graduate University�s Humanities Center Board of Visitors. He also has served on the professional advisory committee to the department of journalism at the University of Mississippi as well as the corporate advisory board of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Drake University. He was chairman of the professional advisory committee of the College of Home Economics at Io