where culture, faith, legacy, and consequence meet.
Beginning in 2006, Dr. Gianotti served as one of Muhammad Ali's two religious scholar-advisors to advise and assist in shaping what became a two-inch thick document (called "the Book"), a funeral plan that Ali personally reviewed and certified. For ten years, Dr. Gianotti vigilantly remained on standby, and, when the fateful moment arrived one June Friday, he immediately got on a plane in Toronto and flew to Phoenix, where he helped perform the ritual preparations, assisted with the transfer of the Champ's body to Louisville, and then played an instrumental role in helping the family and the core team navigate the sensitive and complex events of the funeral, procession, burial, and memorial in the presence of a vast array of races, religions, celebrities, dignitaries, and heads of state state from all over the world.
Most engagements are quieter and less public than this one, but the discipline is the same: seeing what the moment requires before it arrives and navigating the spectrum of surprises and roadblocks that always come.
“The message that we’ll be sending out is not our message — this was really designed by The Champ himself.”Dr. Timothy Gianotti — Associated Press, 2016
Every engagement begins with private conversations and questions that need refinement and clarification. Most of this work is never made public, but all of it is consequential. That is the point.
Cultural competence and religious literacy training, protocol counsel, briefings, and advisory retainers for non-profits, businesses, and both public and private sector projects involving international, intercultural, and interreligious communication and collaboration — where missteps may be unrecoverable.
Inquire →educational and non-profit executive coaching, institutional asset management and strategic planning, academic accreditation and compliance, fundraising, crisis management, and cultural due-diligence for the consequential decisions and campaigns that transcend cultures and traverse worlds.
Inquire →Muhammad Ali planned his final farewell for ten years, with a few close advisors and scholars by his side. What we did for the Champ we can do for you: private engagement and legacy curation for leaders who don't leave their legacy to chance.
Inquire →Dr. Timothy J. Gianotti is an institution builder and scholar of Islamic philosophy, theology and spirituality with a BA from the University of Notre Dame, a Master's and Doctorate from the University of Toronto, two books, many periods of travel and residence in the Middle East and Asia, and more than three decades of teaching experience within major research universities in Canada and the US, including the University of Toronto, Penn State University, the University of Oregon, the University of Virginia, York University — where he held the York-Noor Chair of Islamic Studies — and the University of Waterloo.
He led the American Islamic College — America's first Muslim institution of higher education — through the COVID pandemic and a prolonged fiscal crisis to full academic accreditation, organizational renewal, and a campus relocation. In addition to winning full accreditation for the first time in AIC's 40-year history, both student enrolments and philanthropic donations to the College increased by over 1000% during his 6-year term as president.
Dr. Gianotti has served as an academic expert and consultant for both the Canadian and US governments, and for corporate clients such as JP Morgan Chase and American businesses exploring international markets. Throughout his career, he has also helped numerous individuals, families, organizations, and government agencies navigate complex religious and cultural landscapes, including the ultimate landscape of preparing for death and the hereafter.
He has participated in the Archbishop of Canterbury's Building Bridges Seminar, promoted transformative interfaith engagement all over the globe for decades, and established a Toronto-based non-denominational Islamic institute for the promotion of spiritually-integrated psychology, transformative spiritual practice, and religious education. His interfaith work was recognized by the Canadian Senate in 2017, when he was awarded their 150th Anniversary Medal.
He was retained for ten years by Muhammad Ali and his family as a religious advisor, assisting with the planning of the Champ's final farewell to the world in 2016. He reflects that the experience of coming to know Muhammad Ali and serving the Champ in this capacity was one of the greatest privileges of his life.
One moment where culture and consequence met — and what leaders should see in it. No noise, no schedule-filler.
Briefly describe the moment you are navigating in a few sentences. Replies come from Dr. Gianotti’s desk, not a funnel.