Leadership Development News

JAMES TURK is an executive coach, keynote speaker, facilitator, and founder and CEO of The Turk Group, a boutique learning and development consulting firm. With more than twenty-five years of experience, James has expertly designed and delivered training and coaching programs and solutions in the areas of leadership development, sales, change management, and strategic planning for clients across a wide range of industries—including financial services, digital media, biotech, and more. Clients include Spotify, Squarespace, Bristol Myer Squibb, Goldman Sachs, Equinox, and many more. James’s unique approach is deeply influenced by his creative background as a trained actor, enabling him to establish strong, trusting relationships with his clients. He holds a BS in Liberal Arts from The New School. Early in his career, James gained valuable experience in Human Resources 178 About the Author at Goldman Sachs, Random House, and P&O Nedlloyd, serving in roles such as Technical Recruiter, Benefits Analyst/Manager, and Learning & Development Project Manager. His insights as a consultant are highly valued by clients seeking objective and forward-thinking advice.

Ken just got back from the APA SIOP conference presenting a workshop on the topic of effective feedback. Ken and his co-author Sandra will be providing two presentations at Association for Training and Development (ATD) in May (one on feedback and the other in the Career Center focusing on feedback as a career development tool) and have a new article in the March TD Magazine about the superpower of self-awareness. Their latest book, Performance Feedback Strategies, by ATD Press, was published April 2025 by ATD and available by all of the major booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes Noble and others. Kenneth M. Nowack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and Senior Research Officer of Envisia Learning, Inc., a global consultancy specializing in assessments and technology platforms. He has published academically in the areas of 360-degree feedback, assessment, health psychology, and behavioral medicine. Ken serves on Daniel Goleman’s Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations and served as Editor for the APA Consulting Psychology Journal. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 13: Society of Consulting Psychology).

Catherine Allen is Co-founder and Chief Impact Officer of AO People Partners, a Leadership Development and Culture Transformation firm dedicated to inspiring and supporting the conscious practice of people development in the workplace. Catherine specializes in helping executive leaders and teams Own, Model and Drive business and people development integration in their organizations. Skilled in conflict resolution, communications, business strategy and change management, Catherine has a 30-year track record in organizational leadership and management consulting helping executive leaders and their teams design strategies and work through the messy human realities of organizational life. Catherine is a sought-after executive coach to executive leaders seeking to take their business to the next level of conscious growth and senior leaders transitioning to executive roles. As AO’s Chief Impact Officer, her focus is on guiding her team to build and deliver the full suite of service capabilities to help leaders lead effectively, develop their people and design and build integrated and holistic people development cultures that are sustainable, practical and cost efficient. She also guides AO’s thought leadership and commitment to helping clients achieve their desired results and impact. Catherine holds an M.S. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University and is a board-certified professional coach. Catherine is co-author with Ed Offterdinger of the book: Conscious, Capable and Ready to Contribute: How Employee Development Can Become the Highest Form of Social Contribution. Catherine is also a contributing author to the recently published book from the Association for Talent Development: Organizational Development Handbook. Her chapter is titled: A Holistic Approach to Developing a Leader’s Soft Skills Catherine writes and speaks regularly on leadership and people development integration and why people development in the workplace should become a recognized and incentivized form of social contribution. Catherine lives in Rockville, Maryland with her husband and two children. More Info: https://aopeoplepartners.com/

Robin Daniels is the Chief Business and Product Officer at LMS365. Robin has previously been a 3 x CMO with more than 20 years’ experience in marketing and growth leadership roles at Salesforce, Box, LinkedIn, Matterport, and WeWork. He's done 2.5 IPOs, several acquisitions, and led companies through hyper-growth to become category-leaders. Robin is also a mentor to several fast growing companies, including Uizard, Custimy, Cutover, Rhombus Systems, and Labster. His passion is creating winning teams that do outstanding and meaningful work.

An award-winning leadership expert in human behavior, Lisa Marie Platske has received accolades from the White House, the United States Small Business Administration, and The International Alliance for Women, recognized as one of the top 100 women making a difference in the world. She left her Federal law enforcement career to be the CEO of an international leadership development company, Upside Thinking, Inc. Lisa Marie delivers presentations worldwide sharing research on how vulnerability and forgiveness are critical to exceptional leadership as well as her proven 7-step leadership model centered on connection, positioning, and executive presence. An international best-selling author in 5 countries, Lisa Marie has written or co-authored 7 books. She has trained or coached over 100,000 leaders around the globe since 2005 to be the most optimal version of who they’re designed to be in order to make a bigger positive impact on the planet. www.upsidethinking.com.

Sebastian Little is a Leadership + Performance Coach who operates his own coaching and consulting practice. He partners with high-performing leaders and teams to optimize culture, close performance gaps, and unlock leadership potential and has worked with clients across collegiate and professional sports (NHL, MLB, NBA, etc), non-profit, and corporate spaces. His coaching approach consists of a mix of ontology, positive psychology, and mental performance. Sebastian worked as a consultant at the McChrystal Group, a management consulting and leadership development firm in Washington, D.C., founded by retired 4-star general Stan McChrystal. He is a graduate of Yale University and former varsity football athlete. During his Yale tenure, he partnered with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence as both a student and an intern, creating a curriculum on emotionally intelligent leadership. He received his PCC credential through the International Coaching Federation and his ACCC professional coach certification through the Accomplishment Coaching training program. A coach’s job is to say the thing you don’t want to hear, see the thing you don’t want to see, and ultimately… help you become the person you want to become.

Eduardo Briceño is a global keynote speaker and facilitator who guides many of the world’s leading companies in developing cultures of learning and high performance. His TED and TEDx talks have been viewed more than nine million times. He was recently shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award, given every two years to thinkers who “have ignited Eureka moments in management, offering radical ideas that have the potential to reshape the future of business as we know it.” He is the author of THE PERFORMANCE PARADOX: Turning the Power of Mindset into Action [Ballantine Books; September 5, 2023]. The book was selected as a Must-Read by the Next Big Idea Club, which is curated by Susan Cain, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink. https://briceno.com/about-eduardo/

Mark J. Silverman heeded the call into the sphere of coaching and speaking from a successful career in technology. During his corporate tenure Mark generated over $90,000,000 in sales for fast-growing startups by bringing together executives, tech leaders and stakeholders to close complex, multimillion dollar deals. Mark has enjoyed a consistently full roster of executive coaching clients for a decade. He is committed to helping CEOs, senior leaders and rising high achievers leverage their resources and teams for greater impact while creating sustainable success in all areas with their lives. Mark is the author of The Rising Leader Handbook - "Turning High Achievers Into Effective Leaders" and "Only 10s 2.0 - Confront Your To-do List Transform Your Life," which in its two iterations has sold over 75,000 copies. Mark helps CEOs, Senior Leadership, and Fast Rising High Achievers leverage their resources and team for greater impact. He is also the host of the “The Rising Leader" podcast and working on his third book of the same name.

Dr Lois Phillips is a former university executive and consultant to colleges and universities for strategic planning but also has written extensively about gender and women’s advancement. Her Opinion essays and articles about communication strategies to advance women in the workplace and politics have been published in local news venues and also MS magazine. She helps executives and political candidates develop their messaging and speeches for stakeholders, voters, and Boards. During this interview, we'll be discussing women’s advancement and the slow progress of systemic changes shown by corporate cultures in particular. While women have moved into middle management positions equal to men, the term “glass ceiling” developed as a shorthand way of discussing the barriers that women face when they seek to advance into the C-suite or the top levels of management.

Joseph O’Connor is an author, International Executive Coach, Coach Trainer, Founder of the Neuroscience Coaching Centre. His Key Focus is Helping coaches, executives, managers, and other professionals to be more successful in work and happier in life. Joseph is also the co-founder of the International Coaching Community (ICC), and one of the best known and respected coaches and coach trainers in the world. Joseph was a professional musician where it is clear that success is much more than just being good at what you do. You had to give your best at the right moment. Author of nineteen books in thirty languages on coaching, training, and neuroscience that have sold half a million copies worldwide. He follows his two great interests, giving coaching training and courses on creative nonfiction writing. Beyond his writing and coaching work, Joseph enjoys enlightening audiences with fascinating insights about how our brains actually work as opposed to how we hope they do. More info at: https://www.coachingthebrain.com

Rebecca is the founder of Tactical Harmony, an online business dedicated to mentoring ambitious professionals and businesses on holistic leadership and mindset strategies. She is also the host of the “Tactical Harmony” podcast, in which she shares game-changing, transformative tactics supporting her community to gracefully navigate their career and homelife, while enjoying freedom, abundance and bliss. Over the last two decades, Rebecca served as an NCIS Special Agent and as a senior leader at a technology company. Throughout her global experience living and working around the world, 9+ years of which were in the leadership ranks, Rebecca saw first-hand how holistic leadership was the answer to every challenge. And now, it is Rebecca’s mission and pledge to share these lessons and blessings with the world.

Nilanjana Dasgupta is Provost Professor of Psychology and founding Director of the Institute of Diversity Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She received her Bachelor’s degree in psychology and neuroscience from Smith College and a Master’s degree and PhD in social psychology from Yale University. She is a leader in research on implicit bias and diversity science, applying it to complex social problems, and moving seamlessly between lab and real-world settings. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health and featured in the New York Times, The Atlantic, London Times, National Public Radio, Wired, Slate, PBS News Hour, ABC News, Boston Globe, Scientific American Mind, and more. She received the Hidden Bias Research Prize from the Kapor Foundation, Application of Personality and Social Psychology Award from the Society for Personality & Social Psychology, and the Chancellor’s medal for Outstanding Accomplishments in Research and Creative Activity.

Topaz Adizes is an Emmy Award-winning writer, director, and experience design architect. He is an Edmund Hillary fellow and Sundance/Skoll stories of change fellow. His works have been selected to Cannes, Sundance, IDFA, and SXSW; featured in New Yorker magazine, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times; and have garnered an Emmy for new approaches to documentary and Two World Press photo awards for immersive storytelling and interactive documentary. He is currently the founder and executive director of the experience design studio The Skin Deep. Topaz studied philosophy at UC Berkeley and Oxford University. He speaks four languages and currently lives in Mexico with his wife and two children.

Adrian Koehler, the no-nonsense leadership engagement expert and Senior Partner at Take New Ground, is the go-to guide for fast-moving leaders. Dedicated to breaking through barriers, he spends his time helping entrepreneurs and enterprise leaders cut through the noise and create transformative outcomes. Adrian coaches executives globally encouraging authentic leadership and fostering courage for meaningful change. His passion for human performance has led him to diverse contexts, from Fortune 500 organizations to startups and healthcare, making Adrian a catalyst for real talk and impactful results. Adrian Koehler extends his influence beyond the boardroom as the co-host of "Raising The Bar" and "The Naked Leadership Podcast." Drawing on his background in philanthropy, ministry, activism, and medicine, he thrives in difficult conversations and engaging complexity, challenging listeners to live authentically. Currently residing in the heart of Hollywood, with his children Scout and Charli, Adrian is on a mission to inspire authentic leadership, urging individuals to raise the bar in both personal and professional realms.

Leaders are increasingly challenged to understand how to respond to a polarized world. They are grappling with addressing division while embracing otherness. But to create welcoming environments in which each member feels recognized and comfortable being their whole selves at work, we must face our own need for belonging -- one that is often unmet. In REUNION: Leadership and the Longing to Belong (HarperBusiness; Nov. 14, 2023), executive coach Jerry Colonna urges leaders to consider the ways they have been complicit in, and benefitted from, conditions they say they’d like to change, and shows them how to create new systems of inclusion for everyone. In today’s complex and divisive world, it is only through radical self-inquiry, a concept explored in Colonna’s first book Reboot, that leaders can forge systemic belonging for everyone. Jerry Colonna is a leading executive coach who uses the skills he learned as a venture capitalist to help entrepreneurs. He is a co-founder and CEO of Reboot, the executive coaching and leadership development company, host of the Reboot Podcast, and author of REUNION: Leadership and the Longing to Belong (HarperBusiness; Nov. 14, 2023) and Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up (HarperBusiness, 2019). He draws on his wide variety of experiences to help clients design a more conscious life and make needed changes to their careers to improve their performance and satisfaction. Previously he was a partner with JPMorgan Partners (JPMP), the private equity arm of JP Morgan Chase. He joined JPMP from Flatiron Partners, which he launched in 1996 with partner, Fred Wilson. Flatiron became one of the most successful, early-stage investment programs in the New York City area. He lives on a farm in Longmont,

In Habits of a Peacemaker: 10 Habits to Change Our Potentially Toxic Conversations into Healthy Dialogues (Shadow Mountain Publishing; 9/3/24) Steven T. Collis offers a practical, humbling path to better, more genuinely productive, and empathetic conversations. As a law professor specializing in the First Amendment and a leading expert on civil discourse, Collis has built his career navigating some of the most divisive issues facing our world today. He’s bridged gaps between people across the ideological spectrum: academics, diplomats, foreign and domestic judges, high schoolers, religious leaders, college and graduate students, devout churchgoers, devoted atheists and agnostics, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and those who believe in traditional notions of sexuality—essentially, people who are perhaps the most poised to disagree with each other. Habits of a Peacemaker shows us many of the keys to creating civil discourse between theoretically opposing parties. These include reframing disagreement as an opportunity to learn rather than an argument to win, recognizing our intellectual limitations, acknowledging our basic biases, and so much more. By following these habits, we can engage in dialogue about difficult topics while simultaneously building and strengthening relationships. Steven T. Collis is an author and law professor at the University of Texas- Austin. A former research fellow at Stanford Law School, he is the founding faculty director of the Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center and is one of the nation’s leading thought leaders on the First Amendment and civil discourse. He regularly speaks to major media outlets and lay audiences all over the globe on those issues. He is the author of four books, most recently Habits of a Peacemaker

Sara Daw is an entrepreneur, researcher, writer, speaker and future of work expert. Listed in the 2024 E2E Female 100, Sara is passionate about designing the future of work for C-level talent and organizations. As well as publishing the first research on the Access Economy for C-suite talent in her second book, Strategy and Leadership as Service, she is Co-Founder and Group CEO of The CFO Centre and The Liberti Group, the global number one provider of part-time and fractional C-suite professionals. Sara is a graduate in Chemistry from Oxford University, a Chartered Accountant, holds an MBA from The London Business School, and a Mastère Spécialisé® in Consulting and Coaching for Change, run jointly by Oxford University (Saïd Business School) and HEC Business School in Paris. Strategy and Leadership as Service isn’t just a nice idea; it is a practical alternative vision of the future of work for senior executives that is starting to gain significant interest and is being adopted by businesses globally. Sara’s research focuses on what holds relationships together in the C-suite access economy for the long- term in the absence of traditional employment contracts.

Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal (pronounced Stay-skull) is recognized by USA Today as the #1 international expert on resilience, mental health, and wellbeing, and she is the Founder of the Resilience Leadership Institute (RLI). Her mission is to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people, by enhancing hope, along with overall health and wellness through the practices of resilience. Her book entitled The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People: Why some flourish when others fold is a #1 Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Bestseller and was endorsed by Arianna Huffington, Daniel Pink, and Kathy Ireland. Global Gurus has recognized Dr. Taryn Marie as a Top 30 Thinker in Leadership, she is a Marshall Goldsmith Top 100 Global Executive Coach, and a finalist for the Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay) Award, the founder of Zappos, focused on people who are leading progressive and innovative change in human capital. Her work has been featured by Fox, NBC News, The Tamron Hall Show, Bloomberg Business, Ny Weekly Magazine, Thrive Global, and Forbes. Her TEDx talk entitled “How Resilience Breaks Us Out of Our Vulnerability Cage” has been viewed over 1.3 million times! LA Progressive magazine calls her “the go-to person” and “a secret weapon” for CEOs and leadership teams who want to find their edge as well as rise above the competition. Learn more about Lori at lorimicheleleavitt.com. USA Today named Dr. Taryn Marie as one of the Ten Top Entrepreneurs to watch in 2023, and she believes that The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People is the key to personal leadership, thriving through change, along with organizational growth and acceleration. Prior to founding RLI, she served as the Head of Executive Leadership Development & Talent Strategy at Nike, as well as Head of Global Leadership Development at Cigna. Dr. Taryn Marie earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, along with master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park, and completed pre- and postdoctoral fellowships in neuropsychology at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. She is the host of the chart-topping, top 1% acclaimed podcast entitled “Flourish or Fold: Stories of Resilience”, where well-known people tell their lesser well-known story of facing challenge to remind us that adversity is a necessary ingredient in life. She is honored to serve as a sought-after trusted advisor, executive coach, and board member to amplify resilience, engagement, and talent strategy. Her two sons, Samson and Sawyer, are always teaching her about resilience!

Irena O’Brien is a cognitive neuroscientist with over 30 years of experience in psychology and neuroscience. Initially a chartered accountant, she found the work unfulfilling and returned to university. Her passion for neuroscience was ignited during her first neurobiology course at Concordia University. Irena earned her PhD at Université du Quebec à Montréal (UQAM), where she carried out brain imaging and electrophysiological studies, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University's Centre for Language, Mind, and Brain. In 2017, she founded The Neuroscience School, offering a Certificate Programme in Applied Neuroscience. This program equips coaches and helping professionals with practical, evidence-based neuroscience tools. Her latest program, Next Level Coaching with Neuroscience, helps students embody their neuroscience knowledge to achieve coaching flow. Students who have completed both programs receive a Certificate of Completion in Brain-Based Coaching.

Dr. Carla Fowler is an MD PhD and elite executive coach. For more than a decade, she has been a secret weapon for scores of CEOs, entrepreneurs, and other senior leaders. Carla’s unique approach combines the latest research from performance science with timeless best practices to help top performers level up and achieve their goals. Carla graduated from Brown University magna cum laude, earned her MD and PhD at the University of Washington, and completed her internship in general surgery at Stanford University. Dr. Carla Fowler, an MD PhD and executive coach, shares her background and journey into executive coaching. She discusses her interest in performance and achievement from a young age and how it led her to start her own coaching practice. Dr. Fowler defines performance science as the collection of ideas and research that help individuals achieve their goals. She highlights two key principles of performance science: brutal focus and cultivating power. Brutal focus involves translating dreams into actionable goals and identifying the most important tasks to drive progress. Cultivating power involves developing the ability to start and sustain efforts towards a goal, as well as continuously improving and iterating on one's approach.