Michael is an author, thought leader, speaker and a widely recognized expert on how effective leaders boost human connection in cultures to improve the health and performance of individuals and organizations. He is the author of Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy and Understanding at Work and Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team’s Passion, Creativity and Productivity, and a contributor to other books.

Articles by or about Michael’s work have been in the media worldwide including The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Leader to Leader, Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, FastCompany.com, HR Magazine, Human Resource Executive, Talent Management, SmartBrief, Rotman (Canada), Shukan Diayamondo (Japan), Developing HR Strategy (UK), The Economic Times (India), LiveMint (India), Outlook Business for Decision Makers (India), Smart Manager (India), and Capital (Dubai).

Michael has spoken at many organizations and conferences including the Association for Talent Development, Center for Creative Leadership, Costco, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, General Dynamics, General Electric, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NASA, Northwestern Medicine, Qualcomm, Turner Construction, University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Department of Treasury. He is a faculty member at the Institute for Management Studies. Texas Christian University created the TCU Center for Connection Culture to advance Connection Culture at TCU and in higher education generally.

Prior to founding the Connection Culture Group, Michael was a managing director on Wall Street. Earlier in his career he worked in the technology sector. Michael is married to Katharine Stallard. They have two grown daughters.