Leif Meneke is a leadership strategist, executive coach, and trusted advisor to high-performing founders, CEOs, and change-makers navigating critical inflection points.

With over two decades of experience across Wall Street, Fortune 500 companies, and entrepreneurial ventures, Leif has served as both an internal and external consultant and expert advisor in the areas of leadership development and human capital management for companies like American Express, Pfizer and Deutsche Bank. Internally, he led talent and leadership development initiatives for thousands of people, and guided leaders—and organizations—through critical transformations.

Before entering corporate life, Leif spent a decade in direct client care in the social services and nonprofit sector, working in a psychiatric hospital, correctional facility, community mental health organization, and finally for an AIDS service organization at the height of that crisis.

These early experiences honed his ability to hold space for what is raw, real, and unresolved in leadership and in life. But it was near fatal health crisis that transformed Leif's entire approach.

While working in banking, Leif was told by his team of doctors that he had reached the limits of Western medicine and to "go pray." That catalyst sent him on the adventure of a lifetime where he found the roots of deep healing through Nature and indigenous wisdom.

Read his full story on Medium.

Recognizing that the roots of health and alignment are fundamentally the same for grounded, effective leadership, Leif began building a new leadership model that blends the modern art and science of leadership with ancient and indigenous wisdom tradition. That wisdom, which has been passed down for likely more than 10,000 years, is a much older science than we can comprehend.

“I don’t hand you someone else’s playbook. I guide you to create your own and lead from there.”

Education & Training

• Master of Science in Management, The New School

• Post-Master's Certificate in Organizational Development, The New School

• Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, New College of Florida

• Certified Integrative Health Coach, Duke University School of Integrative Medicine

• Former National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC), the highest level certification in the country

• Trained Emergency Medicine Technician (EMT-B), John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Recognized as a Top Leadership Coach for 2023 by Mirror Review

Board and Community Leadership

Leif has held leadership and board positions for various professional organizations and nonprofits, including Theater with a View (a regional theater company in Pottstown, PA), The First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Brooklyn, the Association of Talent Development (ATD) New York chapter, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF).

He was also an early fundraiser and donor for the Howard Dean presidential campaign, Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, and the Friends of the High Line.

Values-Aligned Giving

Leif supports organizations that reflect his personal values of healing, dignity, interdependence, and right relationship, including: Assistance Dogs of the West.

Lakota Tradition

Leif is honored and humbled to walk the Red Road in the Lakota tradition, a path that continues to inform how he lives, leads, and serves.

Personal

An avid outdoorsman and backcountry explorer, Leif has visited all 50 U.S. states and many of the country’s National Parks and Forests. When he’s not coaching or consulting, you’ll likely find him off-grid, drumming in the desert, or tending to his garden.

Join Leif on LinkedIn.