Michelle Tillis Lederman

Michelle Tillis Lederman is the founder and CEO of Executive Essentials, a training company that provides customized communications and leadership coaching and training programs. She is a recognized expert on workplace communications and relationships, focusing on how connection to your team, your message, yourself, and your network can advance careers. Her energetic and interactive keynotes and training sessions are designed to create relationship-driven leaders and employees. Lederman has authored several books including "The 11 Laws of Likability," "The Connector’s Advantage," "Heroes Get Hired," and "Nail the Interview – Land The Job." She emphasizes the critical role of likability in business, explaining how authenticity, a giving approach, and finding common ground can elevate professional opportunities.

Lederman’s approach is prescriptive and practical, offering continuous connection techniques because real relationships lead to real results. She discusses the impact of personal branding on professional presence and success, and her talks include actionable advice on enhancing professional presence through body language, verbal communication, and the use of technology and social media. She teaches methods for building and retaining trust to enhance productivity, morale, loyalty, and retention, and she provides strategies for effective networking and follow-up that yield professional results. Her speaking engagements cover topics such as increasing likability, leveraging relationships for business success, and how to move from first conversations to lasting connections.

Lederman has delivered seminars internationally for organizations including JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, J&J, Deutsche Bank, GE, Columbia Business School, and The Museum of Modern Art. She was an Adjunct Professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business and serves on the faculty of the American Management Association and Rutgers Executive Education. She spent a decade in finance, including roles as a CPA in Arthur Andersen’s audit practice and a mergers & acquisitions analyst at Primedia. Lederman holds a BS, Summa Cum Laude, in Accounting and Communications from Lehigh University, and an MBA, with honors, from Columbia Business School. She is accredited by the International Coaching Federation, and her company, Executive Essentials, is a certified Women Business Enterprise. Lederman has been named one of Forbes Top 25 Networking Experts.