Michael Langer, MA, PCC

I grew up with a professional ventriloquist for a father and a painter for a mother, so after Columbia I spent more than a decade in creative work: writing plays, working in a television writers' room, and doing sound production and engineering for film. I then went back to school for a master's in adult learning, taught American business culture to Japanese executives at NYU, and advised Samsung's corporate strategy team as a cross-cultural consultant. In 2005 I walked away from the expected path and moved to China with no job lined up and no Mandarin. I planned a short stay and stayed eight years.

From 2005 to 2013 I worked with leadership teams in China at P&G, Carrefour, Airbus, Motorola and Microsoft, and as Master Coach for Deloitte Greater China. Much of that work sat between Western and Chinese leaders who depended on each other and read the same situations differently.

I returned to the United States in 2013 to care for my father. From 2013 to 2016 I coached executives and teams at Facebook (now Meta) while headcount nearly tripled to more than 17,000. Over 25 years I have coached hundreds of leaders from VP to C-level across finance, technology, biotech, aerospace, consulting and non-profits, and at startups from seed stage to Series E.

Alongside coaching, I trained in neuroscience-informed methods, negotiation and conflict work, and parts-based and body-centered approaches (Internal Family Systems and somatic coaching). I am now extending my team work through Peter Hawkins' Systemic Team Coaching program. I am researching the organizational friction that arises when Chinese companies operate in the United States and Europe, for a book in development.