David S. Cohen

Dr. Cohen’s background spans both the fields of corporate consulting and education. He has consulted with a diverse group of industries in Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia. Dr. Cohen is considered a thought leader in the design of integrated human resources processes consistent with the corporate vision, values, behaviors, and business plan of each client. In addition, he has focused on assisting corporations through the development and delivery of leadership and management development programs specific to their culture and strategic business plan.
 

Professional Background

Dr. Cohen founded Strategic Action Group, Ltd. in 1991. Prior to creating Strategic Action Group, Ltd., he was a consultant with a number of other Toronto-based consulting firms in the area of organizational and leadership development.

Dr. Cohen holds a doctorate in Education from Boston University, focused on adolescent behavior and humanistic development. As part of this post-graduate study, he completed independent doctoral studies at the Harvard School of Education.

Business Focus

Since making the transition from the world of education to the corporate world over 20 years ago, he has worked with corporations in five primary areas:

• Customization of the management and leadership behavioral statements specific to the corporate values and business strategy.
• Recruitment and selection, performance management, individual performance improvement through multi-source 360-degree feedback, succession planning, career planning and coaching, and leadership development
• Assisting organizations in the strategic-thinking process, enabling them to clearly articulate their vision and state their values in behavioral terms
• Designing curricula for development of leadership behaviors within the workplace coupled with a program to ensure “line of sight” between the individual and the company success, focusing on leading through values
• Behavior-based team building, focused on achieving business results

In Addition

Dr. Cohen is a frequent keynote speaker and facilitator on human resources issues for numerous professional associations, conferences, and corporations. Recently he has spoken and facilitated on such topics as: Leadership Development, Performance Improvement, Values and Vision, Succession Planning, and on the topic of HR Metrics that focuses on the “Return on Intangibles”. He also teaches at The Executive Leadership Division of The Schulich School of Business, York University.

Books

Dr. Cohen’s first book entitled The Talent Edge: A Behavioral Approach to Hiring, Developing and Keeping Top Performers was published by John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd., August 2001. His second book, Inside the Box: Leading with Corporate Values to Drive Sustained Business Success, was published by Jossey-Bass, September 2006.

He is a columnist for WorkPlace News, an employment law journal.