Leadership Development News

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.

Steven Gaffney is a leading expert on increasing business profit through change management, honest communication, and high performing teams. An author, speaker, and trusted advisor, Steven works directly with top leaders from Fortune 500 companies like Amazon, Marriott, Allstate Insurance, and even the U.S. government and military. Steven has authored four ground-breaking books: Just Be Honest: Authentic Communication Strategies that Get Results and Last a Lifetime, Honesty Works! Real-World Solutions to Common Problems at Work and Home, Be A Change Champion, and co-author of Honesty Sells: How to Make More Money and Increase Business Profits. He is currently working on two books: Reboot: How to Create and Sustain High Performing Teams, and The 9 Pillars of Sustainable Profitable Business Growth. His latest release, Unconditional Power, is available everywhere. Steven helps leaders across many industries. Some of his clients include: Amazon, Marriott, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, SAIC, Allstate Insurance, BP, W

Carlos Siqueira is an unstoppable force, dedicated to catalyzing positive change as a dynamic author, premier speaker, growth catalyst, podcast host, wealth strategist, and business strategist. He's on a relentless quest to transform lives, aiming to reach 1 Billion lives with his message. Carlos has guided CEOs from burgeoning startups to Fortune 100 giants, including Xfinity, playing a pivotal role in generating billions in revenue through his visionary strategies. Carlos's passion fuels his mission to empower individuals and businesses to scale revenues rapidly, get paid to speak on stages, and master mindset, sales, and high-performance habits. His insights help people overcome life and business obstacles, unlocking their boundless potential. Beyond his transformative work, Carlos cherishes adventure in nature with his daughter, Isabella, and wife, Angie, which enriches his life's journey. He is also committed to philanthropy, and actively involved in initiatives to feed the hungry in his free time.

Aslak de Silva has nearly 20 years of experience as a practitioner and instructor of Han Moo Do martial arts, competing in about 100 full-contact fights and winning the World Championship gold medal in Michigan, USA, in 2000. Martial arts has taught him the importance of leaders being life-long learners and coaching others. Aslak is the CEO of Selfly Store, where they use the latest developments in loT, machine learning, and AI to offer smart vending machines that make grab-and-go food shopping as easy as using your home fridge. Selfly Stores are used by 100+ companies in 22 countries across Europe, and in 2023, Selfly Store was named among the 50 Most Innovative Companies To Watch by CEO Views. Aslak, who was recognized by Chief's Digest as one of the 10 Best CEOs to Watch in 2023 has been leading teams and companies for 15+ years. Before becoming CEO at Selfly Store, he was the CEO of Nordic Business Forum, one of the world's biggest business and leadership conferences, with 7K+ attendees annually from 50+

Find out why over 1M people view his TED Talks. Join us, especially if you're in Public Safety for a rare look at how extraordinary experiences shape us, our happiness, wellbeing and performance. Paul J. Zak is a professor at Claremont Graduate University and is ranked in the top 0.3% of most cited scientists with over 180 published papers and more than 19,000 citations to his research. Zak’s two decades of research have taken him from the Pentagon to Fortune 50 boardrooms to the rainforest of Papua New Guinea. Along the way he helped start a number of interdisciplinary fields including neuroeconomics, neuromanagement, and neuromarketing. He has written three general audience books and is a regular TED speaker. His latest book, Immersion: The Science of the Extraordinary and Source of Happiness (2022), identifies the neurologic basis for extraordinary experiences and uses 50,000 brain measurements to show readers how to create high-impact training among other benefits.

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 coach

Hi Nguyen is a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer with 14 years of experience in patrol, close protection, counter-terrorism and undercover operations. He is currently the Director of Protection Services for a large Canadian university. In his 20 years of experience in this industry he’s witnessed the impact of poor leadership at all rank levels: Burnouts, depressions, suicides. This is why he now spend all of my energy coaching the next generation of leaders. Showing them how to successfully lead teams, be recognized for their work and get promoted fast.

Brad Deutser is known for coaching and leading leaders through his company, Deutser, an innovative consultancy that designs a human approach to change. Brad works where most people feel uncomfortable and try to avoid. He is known for actively seeking out challenging and charged environments, as well as societal and politically sensitive ones. Creating spaces for belonging and initiating constructs to expand leadership in a more human, connective way has been the focus of his work for decades. Brad’s clients and coaching take him to amazing places—in athletics, aviation, education, entertainment, energy, finance, health care, and nonprofit—with incredibly thoughtful leaders around the world. He takes on the most high-level challenges, forging through them with creativity and grace to design and bring to life the most original solutions. Brad has been called on to define and transition the culture for NFL teams as well as supporting the transformation of a Division 1 football program, while serving as a leaders

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 Glo

Lori Michele Leavitt, also known as “The Pivot Catalyst,” will guide you in each book to your best next steps toward extraordinary momentum, in business and life. Just as she coaches leaders around the world, with this book she will coach you. Lori Michele Leavitt, “The Pivot Catalyst”, has coached, consulted, and trained hundreds of leaders around the world to achieve their objectives and generate extraordinary momentum. She speaks globally on catalyzing momentum, leading, pivoting, and workplace culture change. When she’s not writing in one of her favorite locations conducive to deep thought and creativity, she’s supporting orchestration of Pivots, decision-making, and judgment calls for business leaders and their teams around the world. Her favorite role is as Emily’s Mom. What she hopes leaders who are listening get most from our talk is helping managers lead better, which is necessary for strengthening alignment, gaining momentum, and always being ready to change (even Pivot).

Anna Papalia is the author of Interviewology: The New Science of Interviewing and a career influencer with over 1.5 million followers across social media platforms. She has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, taught at Temple University’s Fox School of Business and coached over 10,000 clients to interview better. Her groundbreaking discovery of Interview Styles revolutionized the way we teach and understand interviewing. She is also a public speaker at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and DisruptHR. She lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. You will learn: What the four different interview styles are and what they can teach us about our unique priorities in an interview. What your interview style is and how have you used that knowledge to unlock your own personal interview strengths.

Self Worth Advantage® for Leaders Looking to Leave Their Imposter Feelings Behind For Good Tiffany Houser is passionate about people and transformation. As an executive & leadership coach, and entrepreneur, Tiffany knows firsthand about the roller coaster ride of self-worth. As the founder of EVOLVE, Tiffany coaches senior leaders who are ready to experience powerful breakthroughs around their self-worth, authentic leadership style, vision, and purpose. Collaborating closely with key people leaders in companies, Tiffany also designs and delivers transformative team experiences and captivating speaking engagements. Her vision is to create leaders at all levels in companies. Leaders who are compassionate, responsible, inclusive and empowered. She believes this happens team-by-team, starting with the leader of the team. With her 1:1 coaching clients, Tiffany uncovers the hidden struggles compromising their self-worth, often lurking in their blind spots, which lead to almost every leader feeling like an impos

Robin is the Chief Business and Product Officer at LMS365. Robin has previously been a 3 x CMO with more than 20 years of 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. We will get his take on Accountability and tips for better performance reviews.

Steve Shenbaum is the founder of Game On Nation, a nationally recognized communication firm that employs game dynamics and improvisation to teach high-performance teamwork as well as communication, story-telling, public-speaking and presentation skills. Game On Nation provides authentic and down-to-earth courses, keynotes, and custom training programs that are widely accessible and extremely successful. For over 27 years, Steve and his company have helped people at the highest level of every sphere in the country, including leaders at Fortune 100 companies, college and professional sports teams, all branches of the military, NASA, and the U.S. House of Representatives. Steve gained notoriety for his early acting career, with featured roles in popular comedy films and shows such as Space Jam, Will & Grace, and American Pie 2. He understands the immense power of positive humor, and his professional success allows access to high-level audiences and clients. Notable clients Steve has worked with include Yao M

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

Be the Unicorn: 12 Data-Driven Habits that Separate the Best Leaders from the Rest. William Vanderbloemen has been leading the Vanderbloemen Search Group for 15 years, where they are regularly retained to identify the best talent for teams, manage succession planning, and consult on all issues regarding teams. This year, Vanderbloemen will complete their 3,000th executive search. Prior to founding Vanderbloemen Search Group, William studied executive search under a mentor with 25+ years of executive search at the highest level. His learning taught him the very best corporate practices, including the search strategies used by the internationally known firm Russell Reynolds. Prior to that, William served as a Senior Pastor at one of the largest Presbyterian Churches in the United States.

Talia Fox is the CEO of KUSI Global, Inc. She holds an M.Ed. in psychology and is a Harvard University Fellow. A leadership strategist and a legacy builder, she has transformed thousands of executives over the last two decades in every sector, assisting leaders in developing innovative strategies for some of the most critical and complex missions globally, including defense, wealth inequalities, racial and social justice, aviation, and healthcare. Talia helps organizations like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Harvard University, Transunion, the National Institutes of Health, Howard University, and the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs maximize human potential by leveraging strategic intelligence and help individuals and organizations foster connected cultures and promote conscious equity.

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 thr

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/

HORTENSE LE GENTIL is a world-renowned executive leadership coach, speaker, and author. She guides CEOs and senior executives on their journey from hero leaders to human leaders. Guided by 30 years in business, working across industries—including media consulting and advertising—and as an entrepreneur. Hortense was a 2021 and 2023 nominee for the Thinkers 50 Coaching and Mentoring Awards and has been ranked #5 on the Global Gurus list by World Management Global Gurus. She is a certified Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder CenteredTM?coach and a member of MG100 Coaches. Author of THE UNLOCKED LEADER: Dare to Free Your Own Voice, Lead with Empathy, and Shine Your Light in the World (Wiley, September 26, 2023), and ALIGNED: Connecting Your True Self with the Leader?You’re Meant to Be (2019), Hortense is a contributor to Harvard Business Review and ThriveGlobal.com, and has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., and Business Insider. She is based in New York.