Michael Cooper

High Performance Orgs

Coaching executives and leadership teams to drive growth and innovation. Leading team workshops and training courses to develop the proper mindset, specialized skillset and robust toolset required for sustainable growth. 

Coaching executives and growth-stage leaders in our 1:1 High Performance Executive Coaching program to develop the mindset, skillset and toolset to drive growth and innovation. 

Coaching startup teams in our Smoother Scaling Team Coaching to have the hard conversations that most teams avoid to build high-performing teams. 

Developing and leading Quarterly Growth Alignment Sessions to ensure client teams stay laser-focused and rowing in the same direction to drive growth.

Developing and leading Culture Design workshops to help teams work in a cohesive and productive manner, driven by their mission, shaped by their values, with the required rituals, norms, meetings and decisions to exceed their goals.

Hosting and leading The High Performance Leadership Accelerator which equips leaders with the 12 skills required to drive growth in constantly changing environments: psychological safety, emotional acumen, burnout monitoring and prevention, trust building and repair, alignment, problem definition, communicating with different brain types, feedforward, performance conversations, development plans, humility and shared leadership.

Coaching executives and leaders on their Speech, Presentation and Pitch Skills to ensure they craft the proper messages and engage, educate and inspire their most important audiences, including their employees, investors, industry peers and the media. 

Developing and delivering thought leadership in keynote speeches around the globe. 

Developing and sharing thought leadership on podcasts, blogs and publications.

Founder & Head Executive Coach

Alchemist Accelerator

Startup Mentor

Innovators + Influencers

I help Innovators and Influencers run their businesses, manage their teams, harness their untapped potential and identify their self-limiting beliefs to break bad leadership habits. I help smart, successful people surpass their plateaus and transform their organizations through regenerative business strategies that keep their teams focused, energized, productive and profitable.

Executive Business Coach, Facilitator & Trainer

LovingLeaders, LLC and BrillianceQuest

Right-brain entrepreneurs and executives hire me to help them stand out in the left-brain world of business by actualizing their hidden potential, monetizing their gifts, finishing what they start, hiring competent staff (vs. hiring for potential) and giving themselves permission to get the help and support they need. 

I also help people discover their unique brilliance in a 12-week intensive coaching program called BrillianceQuest, which includes Life Purpose, Neuro-Compatibility, LifeTrajectory Action Plan and Internal Alignment.

Executive Coach

LEVER/edge

Train and equip aspiring leaders / high potential employees (your leadership pipeline) with the skills, tools and resources to make a difference in organizations, using the 10 Proficiencies of Modern Leadership.

Co-Founder, Trainer, Leadership Mentor

Messy Monkey Arts

Combined humor, play and interpersonal dynamics during team building exercises to discover the underlying traits, characteristics and leadership skills people employ when working together. Facilitated creativity and team building to impact business results.

Group Facilitator

Paragon Strategies

Managing partner of training and meeting facilitation company. Responsible for developing and delivering sales and management training services within companies.

Principal

CoachVille

Taught coach training curriculum in several different classes.

Coaching Instructor

International Association of Coaches

Founded the organization with Thomas Leonard. Set up the Board of Governors and infrastructure, coordinated the development of the certification process and continue to serve on the board as advisor and Past President.

Founding President

BetterMe.org

Helped business owners discover and overcome their personal blocks and issues that interfered with business results. Aligned business expectations with personal expectations. Developed business strategy to increase revenue, attract clients, improve products and services and manage people more effectively.

Executive Business Coach

Equipping growth-stage leaders to achieve their revenue goals.

After a Series A or B fundraising round, you must #scale fast.

But that’s exactly when most startup founders and executives struggle. 

Here’s the problem: most founders and executives don’t have the skills to scale their organizations. 

These skills are not just “nice-to-haves" -- they are non-negotiable.

You make excuses or claim you don’t have time for it and you end up pushing everyone harder, stressing every person on the team and creating a toxic environment. 

Morale tanks and you start to lose good people. 

You’re in trouble with only a few months of runway left and you start to freak out, losing confidence that you’ll be able to get off the ground. 

Your investors get nervous and question if you can pull it off. 

Your confidence spirals, which bleeds into your leadership style. 

It happens more often than you think. You shouldn’t let it happen to you. Trust me, I’ve been there. And I learned how to get out.

With these factors in mind, it’s no wonder that 55% of Series A companies don’t raise a Series B round and 90% of startups fail. 

Here’s a hard truth: you had a great idea that secured your funding, but you don’t have the leadership skills to deliver quickly and consistently. Don’t worry - most founders don’t have those skills because technological innovation is an entirely different skillset from human-centric leadership.

It doesn’t have to be so difficult – with the right coaching and training, you can: 

1. Stay focused on what matters most: commercial traction by creating value for your customers. 
2. Clarify your values and hire, fire, incentivize, recognize and reward based on those. 
3. Create value for your customers and stay laser-focused on market changes to consistently generate more revenue. 
4. Improve teaming fundamentals daily, improving morale and productivity. 
5. Streamline your meetings and gain back the time you need to execute on your goals. 
6. Develop consistent standards and a common language  across your team. 
7. Use science-backed tools to identify important metrics and solve problems fast. 
8. Train your leaders and managers to build psychological safety, trust and alignment. 
9. Give frequent feedforward through performance conversations and co-create inspiring development plans. 
10. Send the right signals to potential investors to secure your next round of funding. 

Shoot me a message if you need to learn how to scale quickly and finally escape the pressure cooker. Human-focused growth coaching can deliver tangible results for your customers and investors without burning out your team.

Merit HR (Merit Resource Group)

Merit HR helps organizations achieve their goals. We elevate the practice of HR by placing exceptional HR and People Ops talent in Direct Hire, Contract/Interim/Temp, or Consulting roles. Our fees are contingent. We are only paid for success. And retention based. We have helped thousands of organizations solve the "people puzzle."

We believe in HR. It's all we do. Founded and led by HR practitioners, Merit focuses exclusively on filling one of the most nuanced roles in any organization -- HR. Since 1989, this singularity of focus on providing exceptional HR professionals to organizations of all sizes and in all industries on a short/long-term or regular hire basis has created success for hundreds of clients, helping them achieve their business goals. 

The foundations of service and building long-term relationships, combined with the most comprehensive, proprietary registry of HR talent in the region, make Merit the ideal partner for any initiative, project, analysis or intervention involving human resources. www.merithr.com

Principal and HR Evangelist

Northern California Human Resources Association (NCHRA) (purchased by HR.com)

The NCHRA has been advancing the practice of human resources and the careers of HR professionals since 1960 with the mission to lead, educate, and connect this dynamic profession.

The dot.com bust was devastating to the NCHRA. In my first year as CEO, I refocused the organization around high-value, high-service, and high-touch strategies. As a result, we reconnected with the membership and the industry. Subsequently, we returned to profitability and growth during my first year as CEO. The NCHRA has also doubled the gross profit margin in each of the last three years. 

NCHRA is now the second-largest regional HR association in the United States, with over 3,500 members in 34 states and 9,000 program participants annually. More importantly, NCHRA is nationally recognized for its more than 200 annual educational offerings, including the annual HR West conference. I am proud that many other associations consider NCHRA a benchmark.

As CEO, I played many roles: 

I planned, directed, and coordinated NCHRA programs and activities to assure that the organization attained its objectives and met members' needs at all times. All operational responsibility for the organization was under my direct control.

As the Board of Directors Liaison/Strategist, I was responsible for a $2.5 million budget and worked to develop short-term strategies and long-term organizational design options for the success of NCHRA. 

As policy maker, I formulated new policies that achieved short and long term objectives.

As the voice of NCHRA, I served as spokesperson and maintained effective internal and external relationships with diverse constituencies, including national affiliates and local chapters.

Through the support of my exceptional and dedicated NCHRA core team, I continually strived to achieve economical, productive performance and constructive growth of NCHRA.

Delta Health Systems

Senior Director, Human Resources	December, 1998 to June, 2000
Director, Human Resources	October, 1996 to November, 1998

Hired by the founder/owner and reporting to President, one of four employees to ever be granted an equity position. As one of a five member senior leadership team, we developed and executed on strategies that produced significant growth and established the organization as an innovative market leader. I was responsible for all aspects of human resource management and leadership development as well as corporate communications for this dynamic third party benefits administration company.

Founder of the company's human resources department, led a team of eleven, including two managers and nine auditor/trainers. Successfully developed and executed organizational strategy. Participated in new product/business partner evaluation and affiliations. Focused on aligning employee initiates to organizational strategy. Steward of cultural initiatives. With IT and operations, implemented conversion of more than 100k paper claims per month to paperless workflows. 

Lead labor negotiator. By building relationships with both the employees and their union, achieved an unprecedented concept of performance based pay in a collective bargaining agreement. Served as a resource on employment law and company policy as well as effective management techniques. Planned and implemented employee recognition, retention, training, and performance protocols and programs. 

Developed compensation strategy in line with organizational goals. Designed and administered all company benefits. 

Developed and implemented recruiting, orientation, and retention programs and policies to foster corporate values. Slashed turnover rates while improving quality through innovative models.

Produced company print communications. Developed the first company handbook and all related policies. Served as company media spokesperson, and was responsible for community relations and planned giving.

Vice President, Human Resources and Communication

Pacific Coast Producers

My role covered labor relations (including serving on the negotiating committee which resulted in four successful agreements with Teamsters and Steelworkers), training, internal and external communications, benefit and payroll administration, and recruiting for a 5,000 employee food manufacturing company (for four locations). The role reported to the Director, Corporate Human Resources, who instilled a great many concepts: never forget its the people you work for as well as the company; always do the right thing; and, that a leaders role is to develop potential. This experience literally ignited my career in Human Resources.

Human Resources Generalist

I am an HR evangelist. A true believer in the infinite power of people and the impact of great HR on organizational success. HR is about connection: of people, of strategies, of ideas. I have been fortunate to build and work with organizations that support my personal values: Respect, Community, Integrity, Resourcefulness, Curiosity, Service, and Passion.

MeritHR is such an organization and one to which I have a deep personal connection. Merit placed me in my first HR director role more than 20 years ago. And now I have the honor of being part of the Merit team, where we have been connecting organizations and HR talent since 1989. My own story is a testament to our commitment to relationships -- long-term relationships that span decades and industries. HR is a profession whose foundational success lies in networks and connection. At Merit HR, we focus exclusively on HR for contract staffing, direct hire search, and consulting opportunities. We were founded  by HR professionals and are still owned and led by HR executives. We believe in HR. 

Whether an organization is looking to succeed through a great HR professional or a great HR professional is looking to succeed through a great organization, we are here to help.

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The Battle

Michael Cooper

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