Reclaim the Heart of Leadership
The Competitive Edge for Executives in the Age of AI
AI can process petabytes of data in seconds, write code, and predict market trends with uncanny accuracy. That’s why Cooper Margolin focuses on coaching Executives, Leaders, and Entrepreneurs to master the human elements that machines can’t replicate such as empathy, ethical discernment, and cultural stewardship.
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.
Summary Table: Human vs AI Strengths
Effective Executives, Leaders, and Entrepreneurs must understand the boundary between machine efficiency and human wisdom.
What AI Does Best
Data Processing: Sifting through massive datasets to find patterns.
Optimization: Finding the most efficient path to technical goals.
Consistency: Performing repetitive tasks without fatigue or error.
Information Retrieval: Answering what and how questions based on existing knowledge.
What Only YOU Can Do
Contextual Judgement: Understanding the “why” behind the data and the nuance of human emotion
Vision and Purpose: Inspiring a team with a sense of meaning that a spread sheet can’t provide.
Empathy and Intuition: Sensing when a team member is burning out or when a perfect plan feels wrong.
Ethical Courage: Making the difficult decisions where there is no correct data-driven answer.
The Human Premium
Successful Executives, Leaders, and Entrepreneurs today will have to be the architects of cultures that support:
Psychological Safety: That means an environment that fosters an idea meritocracy where people feel safe to innovate, bring new ideas forward, make mistakes, and grow. Things that machines don’t need but humans do.
Real Empathy: Learning to not just hear what is being said but hearing what isn’t being said.
Authentic Vulnerability: Building trust through honesty, not just perfect performance.
Adaptive Intelligence: Using AI as a tool to free up time for deep and creative thinking and learning, not as a substitute for developing people.
About Cooper Margolin
Where Human Insight Meets Leadership
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
Melissa W. Cooper
Gary Margolin
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 ResearchA 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 ResearchOrganizations using people centered leadership practices show:
+22% higher profitability
+21% higher productivity
-37% absenteeism
-25% turnover
— Peer-Reviewed Organizational ResearchFrequently Asked Questions
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Are You Ready to Lead the Future ?
The Future of Leadership isn’t Human vs AI, It’s Human Centered Leadership supported by AI. The more the world becomes automated, the more the human touch becomes a premium. Don’t just manage systems, lead people.
Let’s discuss how to elevate your human impact in a digital world.