Jeff Kaplan Ph.D., MBA, MCC

Leading with Heart - CEO & President of Leading with Heart

Profile

Dr. Jeff Kaplan is the CEO & President of Leading with Heart, an executive coaching and organizational consulting firm that helps leaders lead with purpose, empathy, understanding, engagement, and humility. He both supports and challenges his clients in stretching beyond their current comfort level to achieve extraordinary results. Jeff’s style is coactive, creating the most flexible approach to working with each individual’s unique learning and personality style. Jeff is one of only 1,327 coaches worldwide with the designation Master Certified Coach (MCC) by the International Coach Federation (ICF).

Jeff is successful with senior executives due to his 21 years as an executive coach and his background in cofounding and running a behavioral healthcare company as its Chief Operating Officer. Through this experience, Jeff learned firsthand about strategy and execution, forming partnerships, managing stakeholder relationships, building and motivating teams, resource management, and raising capital.

Jeff has coaching experience across many industries, including healthcare, biotech, finance, banking, retail, manufacturing, technology, automotive, education pharmaceuticals, defense, and government. Specific areas of expertise include heart-based leadership, crucial conversations, team development, executive presence, influencing others, psychological safety, and performance improvement.

Previous professional roles include President and COO of Habit Change Company, during which time he created and oversaw an ICF-accredited coach training school; Founder and President of IGW, a coaching and consulting company; and President of ICF Philadelphia, where he led the largest public event in its history, moved the organization to a cloud-based infrastructure, tripled the bottom line, and increased membership by 30 percent.

He also created a coaching program for Penn State’s Smeal College of Business EMBA students, coaches Wharton Executive Education and Executive MBA students, cofounded Breakthrough Coaching, a company focused on teaching advanced coaching skills to experienced coaches, helped spearhead a three-year leadership development program for a healthcare system located in Philadelphia, PA, and has managed and supervised thousands of coaching engagements for several organizations.

Jeff holds the following degrees: PhD and MEd in psychology and education, Temple University; MBA, Penn State University; MA in counseling psychology, Boston College; and a BS in psychology, with a minor in computer science, University of Maryland. He received his Master Certified Coach credential through International Coach Federation. Jeff has an extensive background in assessment design and delivery, including several 360° tools, DISC®, Hogan, and MBTI®.

Jeff has authored two books and several articles, including, Health Management Policy & Innovation’s 2018 article, A Blueprint for Developing Leadership in Physicians and Non-Physicians, written by Dr. Greg Shea, Dr. Jeff Kaplan, and Dr. Steve Klasko. Jeff has been featured in publications such as SmartCEO, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Business Journal, and The Hospitalist. He has also done several podcasts and has been a keynote speaker for international audiences. In his spare time, he enjoys playing chess but admits that his game is a bit rusty.