Chris McCusker, Ph.D.

Senior Consultant

Dr. Chris McCusker is a highly respected educator, management and leadership consultant, executive coach, seminar facilitator, and speaker. He is dedicated to helping clients achieve the highest level of leadership character and best in class results. Chris has an exceptional ability to challenge and inspire students, business executives, and leaders at all levels and across all sectors to learn and to grow as individuals and as team members. In today’s global business environment, Dr. McCusker brings a wealth of international and multicultural understanding and experience to his clients. He is an expert in helping his clients navigate in times of crisis, disruption, and chaos.

 

Career Highlights

  • For Major Universities in the U.S. and Around the World: Taught courses in Executive Leadership, Managing Cultural Differences, Leadership and  Ethics and Negotiation
  • For One of the Country’s Largest Grocery Chains: Executive coaching for key leaders, high potential development, 360 feedback, team building for managers, and seminars on TLG’s Leadership Character
  • For a Regional Utility Company: Talent management consulting, cultural assessment, high potential leadership development, and conflict management training
  • For a Regional Banking Institution: Senior executive coaching with multiple assessment tools, prehire assessments, and leadership development consulting for various departments
  • For Large Federal Government Agency: Crisis management consulting, negotiation training, and cultural differences consulting and training

Areas of Specialization

  • Executive coaching for mid to senior leaders including derailment intervention
  • Leadership Development
  • Leadership in Crisis
  • Negotiation
  • Ethics
  • Teambuilding
  • Interventions for the constructive use of conflict
  • Managing cultural differences, diversity, and inclusion
  • Talent management and high potential development

 

Unique Attributes

  • B.S., A.M., and Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Past clients include the FBI National Academy Association, Underwriters Laboratories, United Way, Kroger, Entergy, Federal Home Loan Bank, AGL Resources, and more
  • He has held full-time faculty positions at Columbia Business School, Yale School of Management (10 years), and most recently, A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University (16 years) where he served as Colleen and George McCullock Professor of Leadership and Ethics
  • Extensive international experiences, consulting and teaching in Mexico, Columbia, Chile, Venezuela, Panama, Switzerland, Israel, United Arab Emirates, China and Singapore
  • Consulted with and co-taught multiple courses with CEOs and senior executives from Proctor and Gamble, PepsiCo, and Motorola
  • Nine awards for excellence in teaching

  • Hobbies

    Fishing, Golfing, Music DJ

  • Favorite Food

    I love hotdogs (U.S. Rankings: 1. Chicago style, 2. New Orleans, 3. Seattle, 4. Los Angeles, 5. New York), Indonesian, and Italian

  • Band

    Dennis Brown (reggae), Rancid, Rebirth Brass Band, John Prine, and LOVES Elvis!

  • Movie

    True Romance

  • Super Power:

    Empathy, Humility

  • TV Show

    Homeland

  • Book

    The True Believer, Eric Hoffer

  • Quote

    "Leadership is the potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. " -Norman Schwarzkopf.

Consultant Insights

  • My ideal client is someone [an organization] that:

    Wants to join me on a leadership expedition, an adventure, like Ernest Shackleton or Roald Amundsen trying to reach the South Pole in the heroic age of discovery.

  • The highlight of my career so far has been:

    Teaching the first class, on Leadership and Ethics, when Tulane University opened in January 2006 after Hurricane Katrina.

  • My philosophy on life is:

    All we need is love.

  • I hope my legacy is one of:

    Growth and service.

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