Leaders that Put People First Know that Profits Follow

Organizations that adopt Human Centered Principles:

  • Achieve 23% higher profitability.

  • Have a 7X /ROI for every dollar spent on Human Centered Coaching

  • Have a 3X/Better Retention Rate on top talent

Human Centered Leadership Coaching

Cooper Margolin is located in the tech and startup hub of Los Angeles known as Silicon Beach to conveniently serve Culver City, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Marina del Rey, Playa Vista and El Segundo in person or virtually.

We are a boutique team specialized in helping clients develop understand of the power of prioritizing the well-being, growth, and experience of people over all else. We know profits will follow…

Who We Work With

Leadership coaching in Los Angeles

Clients often reach out to us when they are:

  • Stepping into a larger or more complex role

  • Hoping to have their leadership potential recognized

  • Facing a high-stakes or ambiguous decision

  • Entrepreneurs launching or scaling their business

  • Experiencing success that no longer feels aligned

  • Recognizing that their usual ways of thinking aren’t producing the right outcomes

We work with ambitious professionals who feel stuck despite having all the right answers. Most are deeply motivated and committed to personal growth and have a sense that something needs to change but are often not sure what it is.

How We Help

Human Centered Leadership Coaching in Los Angeles

We form authentic personal relationships with our clients, providing them a safe place to slow down, reflect, and grow without judgement. Our work is not about providing answers but rather guiding our clients find the right answers for them.

We help them:

  • Surface patterns that are difficult to see alone.

  • Challenge assumptions that may no longer be useful.

  • Work through complexity without oversimplifying.

This is deep, human centered work grounded in real leadership experience.

About Cooper Margolin

Where Human Insight Meets Leadership

Melissa W Cooper Human Centered Leadership Coach Los Angeles
Gary Margolin Human Centered Leadership Coach Los Angeles

Melissa W. Cooper

Gary Margolin

For over 25 years, Gary has served as a Human Centered Leadership Coach to individuals and businesses ranging in size from start up to multi-billion dollar private and publicly traded enterprises. After beginning his career as a corporate finance attorney, he served as a senior executive with a Fortune 250 media and entertainment company for a decade. He believes that the adoption of Human Centered principles is the “secret sauce” for both individual and enterprise success.

Melissa is a licensed Psychotherapist in California and seasoned Human Centered Leadership Coach. Before changing careers and becoming a therapist, she gained extensive experience as an entrepreneur and executive and uses her experiences as well as training in relational and behavioral dynamics to help clients make their careers and lives better. Melissa specializes in help women negotiate the unique challenges they encounter in the workplace.

Their partnership was born from a shared belief that the most effective leaders aren’t those with the best strategy but rather those with the highest capacity for human connection.

Working closely with clients across many industries we’ve learned that the most important shifts in leadership come from How Leaders Think. That is the Focus of our Work

What the Research Shows About Human Centered Leadership

Organizations that invest in human centered work (growth, meaning, well-being) are:

  • 1.8x more likely to achieve better financial results.

  • 70% of work force say productivity increases.

  • 70% of workforce say they are more likely to stay with the company.

— Deloitte Research

A data set of approximately 1,000 companies showed “People Focused” companies:

  • Grew revenue 2x faster (6% vs 3%).

  • Had lower employee attrition (5 percentage points lower).

  • Faster growth+lower hiring costs=higher profit

— McKinsey Research

Organizations using people centered leadership practices show:

  • +22% higher profitability

  • +21% higher productivity

  • -37% absenteeism

  • -25% turnover

— Peer-Reviewed Organizational Research

Frequently Asked Questions


  • A Human Centered approach prioritizes people’s needs, growth, well-being, and contributions, not just performance. It emphasizes empathy, emotional intelligence, well-being, and authentic relationships, rather than purely results or metrics. Organizations that apply a Human Centered approach have been shown to out perform those that don’t.

  • Human Centered Coaching shifts the focus from purely functional outcomes (like a sales target or learning a specific skill) to the internal landscape and holistic well-being of individual we are coaching. We facilitate our client’s own discovery while focusing on self-awareness, resilience, values, emotions and identity so you can lead tasks or what to do, we teach you lead and inspire others.

  • No, applying human centered principles is a meaningful advantage at any stage of your career. Research shows that people who consistently practice human centered principles are:

    • Significantly more likely to be rated as high performing and high potential.

    • More likely to be seen as leadership ready.

    • More likely to receive a promotion.

  • Whether the leader or just team member, people who practice human centered principles:

    • Improve team performance and retention.

    • Build trust and collaboration.

    • Reduce conflict and burnout.

    • Align individuals with team and organizational goals.

  • Together we explore your strengths, life experiences that have shaped you, ways you get in your own way, what motivates you in your work and life, what gives you joy, and what are the values in life you are committed to. By doing so, we will surface patterns that are difficult to see alone, challenge assumptions that may no longer be useful, and work through complexity without oversimplifying.

  • Being an effective Human Centered Coach is more than an academic pursuit. Both Melissa and Gary have done the personal work necissary to help others apply Human Centered practices in their work and life. It is why we offer a free consultation without limiting the length so we have sufficient time to know each other and determine if we are a good fit to work together.

  • We offer many different ways for our clients to work with us. Our goal is to help our clients succeed, so we offer flexible pricing based on the goals and individual situation of the client. After our initial consultation we’ll provide a transparent quote with no hidden costs.

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Stop Managing Symptoms and Start Leading People, Beginning with Yourself