Rob Salafia, Principal
Rob combines two decades of experience as a top leadership development executive with a well-established career in the performing arts. He has a passion for coaching leaders to develop their presence, tell compelling stories and establish authentic connections. He assists leaders with building emotional and narrative intelligence and share vision and strategy in a compelling and relevant way. He’s the author of Leading from Your Best Self.
For the first half of his career Rob was a performing artist where he traveled the globe delivering his unique, one-person variety show. He was first captivated with the art of storytelling in 1977 when he attended The National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling Conference in Jonesboro, TN. He studied the art of tap dance with Gregory Hines and many other tap dance legends; and in 1989 was awarded a residency with the renowned dancer, Honi Coles. When cast as the lead in a Boston-based musical, Rob was asked by the director to learn wire walking for the show. Always a quick study, he went to task and within two months made the art form a part of his repertoire. At the heart of Rob’s approach to performance was the relationship he built with his audience. He projected a sense of warmth, confidence and light-heartedness that permeates his work to this day.
In his work as an executive coach, Rob finds great satisfaction in guiding leaders through transitions to more senior roles, as well as coaching senior executives and leadership teams in preparation for strategic presentations. As a keynote speaker, he enjoys stepping onto the main stage at leadership conferences. Some highlights include YPO/YPO Gold, Sony Music Entertainment Amplify, ING Bank’s Annual Leadership Conference, Wharton Business School’s Leadership Conference, USC’s Marshall School of Business Building Leaders Forum, Schulich School of Business and The American Society for Training and Development.
Rob is a lecturer in the MIT Sloan School of Management and a member of the coaching cadres for MIT’s Sloan Fellows, AMP and EMBA Programs. He also cultivated a lasting partnership with Harvard Business School resulting in the integration of experiential programming within the Harvard MBA curriculum and Executive Education Leadership Programs serving thousands of global leaders.
As a learning partner and workshop facilitator, Rob has worked with Fortune 500 companies including, Sapient Consulting, ING Bank, NN Group, News Corp, American Express, Sony Music Entertainment, Thought Ensemble, Metro AG, Philips International, Alliance Bernstein, BASF, Abbott, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity, and Royal Bank of Scotland.
He holds an MS in Organizational Policy from Boston University and a Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching from William James College.