Coach · Researcher · Speaker
I'm Michael Keeler. I've built companies, managed teams, and spent the last five years in graduate research figuring out what actually makes work good for people and good for the business. I help leaders tell the difference.
Every owner I meet has read the books. You know culture matters. You know trust matters. You know that great managers build great teams. Knowing it has not made Tuesday easier.
The hard part was never more knowledge. It's the conversation you've been avoiding for six weeks. It's the person who is great at the job and rough on everyone around them. It's the system that worked at twelve people and quietly stopped working at thirty, without anyone announcing it.
If that list feels like a personal failing, it isn't. Researchers have been studying these exact problems for decades, and they know a great deal about what actually helps. Most of that work stays where it was written, in journals read by other researchers. The version that reaches you has usually been through three rounds of simplification and lost whatever made it true. So you improvise, and then you blame yourself for improvising.
That's where I work. Not the philosophy, the specific move you make next.
I bring the research because it offers tested solutions, and I bring the operating experience because I've been the person avoiding the conversation.
Speaking
Keynotes and workshops on leadership, management, culture, communication, productivity, and service. I've spoken on a TEDx stage and in a lot of rooms with folding chairs. Both get the same preparation.
Coaching & Consulting
I coach founders, CEOs, and leadership teams through the messy middle: the next hire that feels risky, the person you should have talked to months ago, the systems that worked at twelve people and don't at thirty.
I've spent over a decade coaching entrepreneurs, and the work translates to any company.
Start a conversation →Research & Teaching
My doctoral research at Antioch University looks at entrepreneur mental health and how human connection changes wellbeing at work.
I teach and guest lecture on management, organizational psychology, and entrepreneurship, and I'm interested in adjunct work with programs that want a practitioner in the room.
Read the research →
So much authenticity and heart and expertise in this guy and an incredible ability to call us in on how to be better for our clients in a science and psychology based way. One of my favorite presenters I’ve ever seen.
Business owners have to make hard decisions daily and have the ability to make real change. Michael can help you understand the problem, assess options, and make a plan that you will stick to.
Without these clear benchmarks, I’m confident I would not have launched my company in the timeline that I was able to with Michael’s guidance. His concise, inspiring creeds have stayed with me as I near six months with the company, and his advice remains my compass as I grow and scale.
Free self-assessment
Relational leadership means leading through the strength of your relationships rather than the strength of your authority. Ten questions, about three minutes, and you’ll see which of your muscles are strongest, and the one habit worth building next.
The Independent Operator · The Deliberate Connector · The Relational Leader · The Trusted Leader. Ten questions, no email required to see your results.
Discover your leadership styleDiscover your styleYou can send me your results at the end if you want my read on them. Entirely optional.
I got into this work sideways. Five years with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts taught me that exceptional service is a system rather than a personality trait. Then I co-founded Mark Fisher Fitness, which grew out of a rented rehearsal space into an Inc. 500 company on the strength of its culture.
Then I went back to school, because I wanted to know which parts of what we built were real and which parts were luck. I have an MA in organizational psychology from Columbia and I'm a PhD candidate at Antioch, researching entrepreneur mental health and human connection at work.
Today I lead coaching, client engagement, and retreats at Business for Unicorns, host the Business for Unicorns Podcast, and am writing a book about management called Strong Enough to Lead. I'm based in New York City with my husband Andrew and a Cavapoo named Pippin.
Podcast
Every week I talk with leaders and entrepreneurs who are actually doing the work. No gurus.
Listen →Book · In progress
The part of management nobody trains you for: staying steady enough to hold the thing together while you're also the one who has to change.
Get a note when it's out →The fastest way to reach me is email. Tell me what you're working on and what's in the way. I read everything.
michael@michaelrkeeler.com