Biography

“Contemporary leadership is about creating a conducive environment of shared experiences from which an alternate future becomes possible.” — Mark Federman

What about that type of leadership in your team or organization? What about that type of leadership in your own career and life? An alternate future is certainly possible for your organization, your team, your career, and your life—I help you get there.

I had what might have seemed to be a very successful business career in the information technology industry, culminating in a senior leadership role. And then, a month before my 40th birthday, I had a heart attack and nearly lost everything. Literally. Over the ensuing years, I came to understand what one might call the secret to life—we all get to choose the life we want for ourselves. Often, that choice of life requires some very hard, and not all that obvious, choices to be made. In my case, I discovered the work of Marshall McLuhan who tells us that it’s the effects of what we create and think about on the nature of our relationships in society that matters. McLuhan’s ability to “predict the future by anticipating the present” inspired me to author McLuhan for Managers: New tools for new thinking with Derrick de Kerckhove, published by Viking Press in 2003.

I went back to school and earned both a master’s degree and a doctorate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at University of Toronto. I studied the roles we play and intrinsic motivation for the M.A. I created a new, fundamental theory of organization – Valence Theory – to account for organizational dynamics, behaviour, and contemporary leadership in a complex, ever-changing world for the Ph.D. I designed a Master of Contemporary Leadership degree, created an experiential intensive that enabled non-coaches to employ sophisticated coaching skills and techniques to become better managers, sales people, consultants, marketing professionals, HR specialists, and yes, even leaders.
And, I embraced the principles, methods, and underlying ideas of Appreciative Inquiry, Complexity Theory, Positive Psychology, as well as McLuhan’s Laws of Media, and my own Valence Theory to create my practice of Reengagement Realized.

What do I do in that practice? I am an Executive Coach and Organization Development consultant who focuses on leadership and the power of great leaders to transform work environments.

I have helped many organizations and individuals to (re)discover their own best and aspirational self, to create the circumstances through which an alternate future for their organization, their leadership, their career, and their life truly becomes possible. I can do the same for you and your organization. Contact me for a free, initial consultation with no obligation. And if you might be wondering what an organization at its best might look like, click here to receive an actual description of an organization’s aspirational self, created at one of my Human Side of Contemporary Leadership facilitations. You’ll be inspired, I guarantee it!