Organization
Development, Corporate Trainer & Executive Coach
David is focused on transforming managers into high performing leaders. His leadership journey began when David received an appointment to The United States Military Academy at West Point. There, he developed an intense passion for leadership and an even greater curiosity for leadership development. It proved to be a life changing decision. After years of studying leadership theory under some brilliant thought leaders, David was able to immediately apply his learning as a Cavalry Officer in the U.S. Army where he led combat soldiers for nearly a decade. Leading soldiers has been David’s’s greatest honor and the experience taught him countless lessons. It taught him the importance of demonstrating strong character and high credibility, how to develop trusting and highly accountable teams, and perhaps most importantly, how to be an empathetic leader who servers others before self.
- Leadership Lessons from West Point: 10 practices proven to increase personal, team, and organizational success
- The VUCA Proof Leader: How to lead in a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity
- Leading Leaders: Creating a Culture that Enables High-Performance
- It’s Not My Fault!: Avoiding the Blame Game and Embracing Greater Accountability
- Leading is Believing: How to Think Like the Most Successful Leaders
- The Art of Gravitas: Why Some People Have a Leadership Presence and Others Don’t
- Soft Power – Leading a Team Without Formal Authority
Following military service, David set out to apply his leadership experience to the world of profit and loss. Working as a business development manager for a multi-billion dollar company, he helped grow their business unit to near $400 million, setting a new company sales record. David then joined a mid-sized consulting firm and successfully directed project teams delivering professional services to Federal government agencies. He noticed that leadership was often grossly missing within many of these organizations. David saw so much untapped potential, he yearned to return to his original passion- coaching, training and mentoring leaders.
David set out to answer “What’s the best way to teach leadership to others?” This turned into an exploration of various philosophies, methodologies and tools. From learning through emotions or through the body (somatically), to highly experiential pedagogies like the NTL T-Group or Harvard’s Case-in-Point process, he gained a new appreciation for what really works and what doesn’t. Along the way, he earned his M.S. in Organizational Development from American University, became an International Coaching Federation (ICF) certified executive coach, and got certified in the MBTI, DISC, PMAI and EQ-I 2/0 personality/behavior assessment tools. All of this helped confirm what Dvid now believes as a fundamental truth – the single greatest way to increase leader effectiveness is by growing an individual’s self-awareness and self-management ability.
After multiple years of developing leaders primarily in Fortune 500 companies, David feels it’s a real gift to hep another person reach their full potential, and is grateful to have the opportunity to do so. His approach is one where he continuously strives to push his client beyond their comfort zone while also providing a supportive and trusting environment for risk-taking and growth to occur. Stylistically, he seeks to strike a balance between gravity and playfulness that makes adult learning both fun and productive. David tends to work best with those who are analytical, value directness and who demand practicality from their professional development experiences. Yet, he also possesses a unique ability to adapt to various personalities and cultures and meet them where they are.
To invite David to present at your next meeting or training, please call (303) 478-6652 or email us today!