David L. Dotlich

Dr. David Dotlich is the chairman and CEO of Pivot, a strategic leadership boutique that develops corporate strategy and executive development programs for Fortune 500 companies such as Walmart, Johnson & Johnson, GSK, Nike, Microsoft, KKR, Aetna, Best Buy, DPDHL, AbbVie, Ericsson, and many others. A successful entrepreneur who has founded and run two large independent companies, he advises CEOs and boards on issues of talent, leadership, and strategy. Named one of the Top 50 Coaches in the United States, Dr. Dotlich is former executive vice president of Honeywell International, founder and former president of CDR International and Delta Executive Learning Center, and former president of Mercer Delta Consulting. Dr. Dotlich is the co-author of 11 best-selling books, including his latest, The Unfinished Leader: Balancing Contradictory Answers to Unsolvable Problems, to be published in March of 2014; Head, Heart, and Guts: How the World’s Best Companies Develop Complete Leaders; Why CEOs Fail; Action Coaching; Unnatural Leadership; Action Learning: How the World’s Top Companies Are Re-Creating Their Leaders and Themselves; Leadership Passages: The Personal and Professional Transitions That Make or Break a Leader; and Leading in Times of Crisis: How to Navigate Complexity, Diversity, and Uncertainty to Save Your Company, which has been translated into ten languages. He is the co-editor of the Pfeiffer Leadership Development Annual, a yearly compilation of the research findings and practices of the foremost thinkers and practitioners in the field of leadership development throughout the world. A certified psychologist in career development, life planning, and numerous psychological inventories, Dr. Dotlich was a founding partner of CDR International which was acquired by Marsh McLennan. Previously, he was executive vice president of Groupe Bull S.A., a global computer manufacturer headquartered in Paris with 45,000 employees worldwide. In this role, he was responsible for human resources, quality improvement, and all internal and external communication activities throughout the world. Earlier in his career, Dr. Dotlich was a professor at the University of Minnesota, teaching at the business school and in the Speech Communication Department. His teaching and research focused on the impact of organizational culture on producing effective leaders, with particular emphasis on women and minorities. Additionally, he was the executive director of the Michigan Business School Human Resource Partnership. David’s interest in people development began early, with a position as a social worker in the Cincinnati inner city through an Edmund James Fellowship from the University of Illinois. He pursued this interest while working on his MA degree in race relations at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. There, he conducted survey research on racial attitudes in the African townships and began an overland tour company, driving throughout Africa between Johannesburg and London and back. He completed his MA and PhD at the University of Minnesota, where he was selected Outstanding Graduate Student of the University. He has also completed the INSEAD Executive Program.