leading lightly: lower your stress, think with clarity, and lead with ease

Jody Michael is a Master Certified Coach (a distinction held by less than 1% of certified coaches), Board Certified Coach, University of Chicago-trained psychotherapist, and Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She’s the founder and CEO of Jody Michael Associates, a premier coaching company specializing in executive coaching, career coaching, wellness coaching, trader coaching, and organizational consulting,

Jody has over 20 years of experience with executive, career, and trader coaching and 15 years of experience in corporate leadership in the finance industry with Goldman Sachs, Chicago Research and Trading (CRT)/NationsBank, and Kidder Peabody. She has a unique combination of theoretical knowledge, extensive coaching, and corporate experience.

Jody was one of the first female traders on the Chicago trading floors and one of the first coaches in the country. In the mid 80s, she convinced Goldman Sachs to sponsor her participation in one of the earliest coaching foundation programs in the country, Ontological Business Design. She spent three years studying with thought leaders in the field of coaching and learned how to bring coaching to her leadership positions.

She’s consulted and coached in a wide range of organizations, from Fortune 10 to small businesses, and she’s worked with market leaders, including BP, Abbott, Accenture, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Sara Lee, Motorola, Deloitte & Touche, PricewaterhouseCoopers, General Mills, The Dial Corporation, Forsythe, Hitachi, Northwestern University, and Kraft Chemical Company.

She’s also been featured on MSNBC Primetime, Discovery Channel, CNN, NBC’s Today Show, National Public Radio (WBEZ), and in the Chicago Tribune.