About the Author
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James Rhee

James Rhee is a globally acclaimed multi-hyphenate leader, investor, and polymathic humanist whose human-centered operating system has fueled transformative success in a multitude of industries and peoples. He is a former high school teacher and Harvard Law School graduate who became a storied private equity investor and acclaimed CEO. He is an expert in human and organizational behavior, bridging math with emotions by marrying capital with purpose, while designing systems and stories that bridge peoples, disciplines, and ideas. His transformational and visionary leadership have been recognized by the leading civic, education, and business organizations.


In addition to his private sector pursuits, James is a Trustee of the storied National Humanities Center, the only independent institute dedicated exclusively to advanced study in all areas of the humanities. He also currently serves as Yale University's Cultural Innovation Lab's inaugural artist and entrepreneur in residence, where his rock opera, which he produced, wrote, and performed in, recently made its debut.

A man in a blue suit and tie is smiling in a circle.

James Rhee is a high school teacher and Harvard Law graduate who became a storied private equity investor, acclaimed CEO, and global voice of transformative leadership. He designs consonant brands, stories, and systems of change by leveraging his fluency in private equity, law, music, and the principles undergirding human behavior. His transformational leadership has been recognized by the leading global business and civic organizations. His story and philosophies are captured in his national and now global bestselling book, entitled red helicopter―a parable for our times: lead change with kindness (plus a little math), which was published in April 2024 in partnership with Harper One, an imprint of HarperCollins that seeks multi-platform ideas that “transform, inspire, change lives, and influence cultural discussions.” In its debut week, the book was the number one non-fiction book across all channels and media, per USA Today. He is working on related film, music, investment, and educational projects, including the rock opera adaptation of his book (entitled Red Helicopter: An American Rock Opera), which made its debut at Yale in January 2026. His TED Talk and Dare to Lead interview with Brené Brown and myriad interviews with the leading podcasters have captured the imagination of millions. Harvard Business School is publishing a case on his transformative leadership in February 2026.


Red Helicopter, his media-investment-education platform of the same name, is both a branded operating system—a way—and a community, that creates, measures, and amplifies a sustainable balance of life, money, and joy in the life of business and the business of life. Its systematic impact has been informed by, successfully applied to, and further refined by decades of investing, leading, and teaching at the highest levels in a myriad of environments. Red Helicopter’s methodologies are grounded in the realities of history and policy, as well as the truths of finance, behavioral psychology, and cognitive science. Above all, it gives us permission to be human while also insisting on accountability and agency.


By centering agency, red helicopter creates agility and change.


James’ leadership story grabbed global attention during his celebrated and unlikely seven-year tenure as owner and Chairman and CEO of Ashley Stewart, a fashion retailer with deep historical roots in the Black American community. After the entire financial community turned its back on this twice-bankrupt company, James left the world of institutional private equity and lead the creation of a reimagined ecosystem that blurred boundaries and centered “Kindness and Math,” a combination that fueled an unprecedented transformation and transcendent success story. Core to the reinvention was the deep friendship and shared values between the son of Korean immigrants and a predominantly Black female employee group, who placed their mutual trust in each other, learned from one another, and then quietly proceeded to shock the world. The implications of their collective success are only beginning to be understood by the world, especially against the backdrop of artificial intelligence and division.


Following the conclusion of his tenure with Ashley Stewart, Howard University bestowed an historic invitation for James to serve as the Johnson Chair of Entrepreneurship and a Professor Entrepreneurship. In addition to his unprecedented appointment at Howard, James also currently teaches the red helicopter operating system as a Senior Lecturer at Duke Law School and MIT Sloan School of Management. His most recent invitation was from Yale University, who named him Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Yale Ventures and Artist-in-Residence at the Yale Cultural Innovation Center. James has been invited to teach in the classrooms of the world’s leading universities.


James continues to have an outsized impact in the private sector. His family-office investment platform, named FirePine Group, has stewarded the capital of some of the world’s most sophisticated investors and continues to provide capital, defined in its broadest sense, to entrepreneurs creating true systemic value. Prior to founding this platform, James helped manage billions of dollars of growth and distressed oriented private equity capital, with a focus on consumer-retail brands, at two of the leading Boston-based institutions. At JW Childs Associates, which was one of the premier growth consumer-retail firms in its day, managing $3.5 billion of capital, he had broad portfolio management duties and played a leadership role in the carve out of Meow Mix from Ralston Purina and the growth investment in Mattress Firm, which were two of the firm's most successful investments across three funds. At Gordon Brothers, one of the world's premier distressed asset institutions, James led the transformation of its institutional private equity fund and its portfolio companies, ultimately leading to his being named a senior officer of the broader firm. As a member of the general partnership of both firms, James has vast experience as owner and board member of many companies.


Presently, he serves as consigliere to some of the world's leading executives and their organizations, and serves on the Board of Directors of Xponance, a $22+ billion asset management and investment firm focused on transforming access to alpha. He is a former honoree of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year program, as well as a former director of Conscious Capitalism and the National Retail Federation, which also awarded him its highest honor (Power Player Award), given to those CEOs most impacting the future of retail. In recognition of his cultural and technological reinvention track record, Temple University Fox School of Business awarded James its information technology innovator of the year award and Salesforce extended him multiple keynote invitations for its innovation conferences. He has given private and public lectures and counsel to the leadership of companies spanning McKinsey & Company, Hyundai Motors, McDonalds, Principal Financial Group, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Macy's.


James is a bridge and an inspiration for many seemingly disparate and orthogonal communities. Prominent civic and non-profit organizations have recognized the broader societal impact of James’ private sector endeavors. He is a Frederick Douglass honoree of the New York Urban League, the recipient of the Council of Korean Americans and the Korean American Story Trailblazer Awards, an honoree of Girls Write Now, and an honoree of One To World’s Fulbright Award. Ashoka, the pioneer in social entrepreneurship, elected him as a charter member of its Entrepreneur-to-Entrepreneur Network. He was a charter member of  JP Morgan Chase’s Advancing Black Pathways and a former director of Harvard University’s American Repertory Theater.


James received his A.B. with honors from Harvard College and J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of Harvard Law Review. He lives outside Boston with his wife and three children. He is a frustrated musician.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rhee


"Give yourself permission to look at the business of life, and the life of business, in a different way."

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