Professional Expertise
Seth is an experienced coach, consultant, and entrepreneur with a track record in strategy consulting, executive education, software development, and change management. Because he believes that no leadership challenge can effectively be handled in the absence of the business context, Seth ensures that his clients are improving in ways that support their companies’ strategies, operating models, and cultures. His goal is to help clients focus their leadership development in ways that will drive significant business results.
Seth’s easy style and keen sense of humor allow him to be direct and, as one client noted, “to say things in a way that people can hear them.” He prides himself on what another client called “being firm and gentle at the same time.” Seth is able to analyze situations and offer up suggestions that are both insightful and practical, and yet he also “gets out of the way” to let his clients be responsible for their own successes.
Previously, Seth was a Vice President and Founder of the People Solutions Practice at Digitas, a publicly-traded marketing agency focused on helping its clients connect with their customers through multiple channels. Seth was also a co-founder and chairman of Executive Perspectives, a computer simulation company, where he was responsible for both firm management and client delivery until he sold the firm to a publicly-held company. Early in his career, Seth was a consultant at Bain & Company, working in consumer marketing and acquisition analysis.
Seth’s clients include Abbott Laboratories, Allergan, American Express, Boston Scientific, Blockbuster, Compaq, Gap Inc., Fidelity, Gillette, Hasbro, IBM, Kodak, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, National City Bank, New York Life, Progressive Insurance, Raytheon, Rockwell, Takeda, Unilever, United Technologies, and Xerox.
Seth has taught in executive education programs at Cornell, Dartmouth, University of Toronto, and the International Management Institute. He has recently coached executives as part of custom executive education programs at Dartmouth’s Tuck School.
Recent Coaching Assignments
- President and leadership team of a $1 billion division of a financial services company to clarify their strategic priorities, sequence their initiatives, and identify cross-functional interdependencies
- New CIO of a regional telecom company to lead IT more strategically and to contribute more effectively with other members of the senior management team
- VP of New Technology Development and his leadership team in a Fortune 100 financial services company to establish trust, embrace difficult discussions, and improve performance
- New VP of marketing at a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company to establish credibility across the organization, build relationships with key stakeholders, increase pace of decision-making, and demonstrate business value
- CFO and other finance executives at two Fortune 500 manufacturing companies to eliminate micromanagement which increased as a reaction to the Sarbanes-Oxley act
- Several VPs at a strategy consulting firm to improve their talent development capabilities
- VP of R&D at a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company to reduce arrogant and emotional behavior directed at his peers
- New CMO (North America) of a global technology manufacturer to work more effectively with the president and drive change within the marketing organization
- VP of a division of a $1 billion professional services firm to prepare himself to assume the president role
Education and Professional Affiliations
- M.B.A., Harvard Business School
- B.A., Economics, Yale University (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa)
- Certified in MBTI and Hogan assessments