Mel Auston is a certified executive coach who works with executives, management and staff to impact critical issues in today’s rapidly changing business environment. His coaching focuses on increasing productivity and customer service and uses an integration of disciplines ranging from linguistic analysis and the study of workflow management to exercises in the theatrical and presentational aspects of moods and emotions, to the martial arts.

He builds teams and partnerships to promote a more collaborative and communicative working environment. His work in organizations results in improved cooperation and coordination and reduced or eliminated costs, cycle time, waste, confusion and ineffectiveness.

Prior to joining Innovative Leadership International LLC, Mel served as VP of Operations and Principal for Roundstone International where he was a Senior Consultant in large scale culture change initiatives in large, unionized manufacturing environments. In that role he designed and co-delivered performance enhancement programs to all organizational levels and supported personal and cultural transformations by coaching executives, superintendents and supervisors. These co-created collaborations resulted in breakthroughs that dramatically increased productivity and profit while reducing costs and safety incidents.

Mel has been a senior member and team leader for numerous consulting engagements. As part of a Sportsmind team, he was a co-designer, trainer and Executive Coach that delivered Leadership and Management programs to a Business Unit of AT&T and the fertilizer division of Cargill that promoted teamwork, innovation and extraordinary financial results. He co-facilitated "Accelerated Coaching" programs for managers and line supervisors at Chrysler Motors plants in the US and Canada to create a more involved, accountable and responsible workforce. Mel also facilitated team-building and executive leadership programs coupled with personal coaching for the airplane engine manufacturing division of Rolls Royce.

Mel is a graduate of Brooklyn College in New York with a BA in communications, speech and theater. He completed a 3-year Masters equivalency program in Ontological Design, the philosophical and phenomenological inquiry into what it "is" to be a human being.

Clients are saying:

"I genuinely appreciate the depth of your expertise and the common sense approach which you brought to our organization."

-Mike Innes, Director of Environmental Services, Abitibi-Consolidated

"Mel Auston has amazing depth and breadth of experience coupled with a huge capacity to see and respond to complex systems and work with intelligent powerful people in those environments. He is a world class coach and someone who is a joy to work with. My highest recommendation."

-James Flaherty, author of Coaching: Evoking Excellence in Others, President, New Ventures West

"I just wanted to thank you for the excellent job you did on our first round of our Leadership Program. It was dynamic and thought-provoking. Our leaders know each other better and are increasingly speaking the same language. I have been able to incorporate a lot of what we discussed into my everday speech and actions. I have never spoken about the vision more often, nor have I heard it discussed so much."

-Mike Medline, VP, Abitibi-Consolidated

"Mr. Auston's programme was unprecedented in the "training of trainers" in Singapore. His approach to the topic was unexpected yet well grounded, and presented in a manner that all participants could understand. I found him particularly skilled at working with culturally "restrained" participants, helping them to participate at a level they had not previously imagined."

-Ron Kaufman, Senior Design Consultant, Service Quality Centre, Singapore

"Without a doubt, this was the best training program I have experienced in my 28 years at AT&T. And Mel, I attribute my teams ability to use our new skills to you! Your ability to put people at ease as they fumble and trip and false-start is terrific. Your obvious belief in what you teach makes it easy for skeptical program participants to accept new concepts. Your group coaching session made an incredible impact on my team. Somehow you struck a chord with each of them and they wanted to learn the new "moves in action." My team and I are using the learnings every day!"

-Al Halperin, Director, IMS division of AT&T

"I have worked with Mel for over 1 ½ years in various capacities including the management of some rather large projects, and have found him unfailingly organized, innovative, precise, and reliable."

-Fred Bonner, VP, Interactive Multimedia Division, The Discovery Channel

"Mel worked with our staff, allaying their fears about public presentations and turning them in to dynamic, convincing and sincere presenters. I was extremely impressed, not only by the transformation that he seemed to be able to effect in people who I had thought might be reticent, but also by the individual attention that he was able to give all 15 people in our very limited time frame. His coaching allowed our team a measure of self-confidence in public presentations that is admirable."

-Kyle B. O'Connor, Education Marketing Manager, The Discovery Channel

"Mel was able to get untrained talent to deliver our educational message with confidence and to have each individual realize their strengths and weaknesses, and to utilize them to their advantage. The Special Presentation Corps team has been an unqualified success, and Mel has been an integral part of the success of this team’s efforts."

-Earl E. Stoner, Director of Operations, Educational Services Department, The Discovery Channel

Partial Client List:

• Abitibi-Price (USA and Canada)
• Civil Aviation Authority (UK)
• Cargill/Fertilizer Division ( USA and Canada)
• AT&T (USA)
• Service Quality Centre (Singapore)
• Chrysler Corporation (USA and Canada)
• State of Delaware: Department of Health and Social Services (USA)
• North Carolina Automobile Dealers’ Association (USA)
• Harvard Community Health Plan (USA)
• Georgetown University: Dept. of Student Financial Services (USA)
• The Austin-Weston Center for Cosmetic Surgery (USA)
• National Spa and Pool Institute (USA)
• Abitibi-Consolidated (USA and Canada)