Profile

Professional summary

Since 1972, Michael Crystal has been actively engaged in helping leaders and their organizations perform better. He has spent time in corporate roles ranging from administrative assistant to vice president. He has managed businesses and led people. He has been an employee and an employer. He has been an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur, as well as an advisor, consultant, coach and facilitator.

Michael has facilitated hundreds of seminars and workshops and coached leaders, in more than twenty-five industries, including 3 “FORTUNE 500” CEOs, 4 “Inc. 500” CEOs and 4 who were amongst “FORTUNE’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.”

Michael has authored more than 25 training programs offering skill development in communicating,

Engagement overview

Duration and cost of an engagement depends on the scope of work, identified during the initial consultation.

Clients

• Adroit Digital
• AON
• Avon Products
• Barclays Capital
• Bayer
• Borders
• Cantor Fitzgerald
• Carver Bank
• Cengage Learning
• Chase Capital
• Chemical Bank
• Christie’s
• Church Pension
• Citibank
• Commonfund
• ConEdison Solutions
• Corbett Accel
• CSFB
• Cytyc Corp.
• Don Sebastiani & Sons
• Endurance
• Epiq Systems
• Equale & Cirone
• Fairfield Cty Bank
• Flashpoint Medica
• Fleet Bank
• Fortis Bank
• GE
• Gloria Ferrer
• Guardian Insurance
• Guy Carpenter
• Harrison & Star
• HBO
• Heller Ehrman
• Horizon Media
• HSBC
• Innovative Med Ed
• Janssen Pharma
• JPMorganChase
• Ketchum PR
• KPMG
• Kramer Levin
• Lucci Electric
• Malibu Kahlua
• Marsh McLennan
• MBIA
• McKinsey & Co.
• MediaMath
• Merrill Lynch
• MS&L Worldwide
• NASDAQ
• New Canaan Nature
• OdysseyRe
• Ogilvy PR
• Omnicom
• Opus One
• Overseas Shipholding
• Pernod Ricard USA
• Pfizer
• Phillips Van Heusen
• PwC
• RBS
• Reckitt Benckiser
• Regeneron
• Reynolds & Rowella
• Rockefeller Bros.
• Rogers Casey
• Sanofi-Synthelabo
• Schick
• Societe Generale
• Standard & Poor’s
• Sumitomo Bank
• Thomson-Reuters
• Tokio Millennium Re
• Transcon Builders
• US Tobacco
• Westchester County
• Wilton Chamber
• Wilton Library
• Zenith Optimedia

Insights

Internal motivators will drive their performance more than external incentives -- get them to want to cooperate for their own reasons, rather than for what they might 'earn' if they do, and you'll likely see a much faster and easier acceptance... Read more

Sorry to report that I cannot create more time for you; however, I've always found that when the person being coached needs/wants to talk "long-term development goals," the better prepared they are to do so the more efficient and effective the conversations can be. All I ask is that they populate 3 columns -- (1) What do you do best?; (2) What do you like most?; (3) What's most important to you? ... Read more

(1) Play to their respective strengths, utilizing those as the rationale for any decision you have to make.

(2) If possible, toss the situation into their laps and allow them to develop a solution to present to you.

(3) Ask each of them what they would do if they had to make this decision.

(4) Promote both, with clear-cut roles & responsibilities; before the promos take effect, have them... Read more

Traditionalists are all about leaving a legacy as they depart; so, ask him to be your mentor -- he'll no doubt provide you with the insights you'll need to connect the dots and turn your knowledge into wisdom (organizational savvy and agility)... Read more

With only hearsay to go on, and the strong desire to retain her abilities, the first step would be to collect the kind of behavioral examples that would enable her to see what she apparently cannot see for herself -- what she does is terrific; however, the ways in which she does what she does are problematic for others. I don't want to oversimplify what is no doubt a tough situation, but this sou... Read more

I've always lived by, and coached others to live by, this simple outline:

“WHAT DO THESE PEOPLE WANT/NEED TO HEAR?”
 facts & data and/or stories & opinions?
 where we’ve been? where are we today? where are we going?
 what’s in it for me/them?

“WHAT CONNECTION DO I HAVE WITH THESE PEOPLE?”
 “have I walked in their shoes in some way at some time?”
 �... Read more

Glad to assist as best I can: I produced and delivered a "Workshop For Mentors" program for a multi-cultural, global consumer products company that provided participants with:

(1) a detailed overview of the organization's mentoring process, one that was based on 4 cultural values that every organizational unit, including a number who had been acquired, subscribed to;
(2) a rationale for the progr... Read more