Dr. Cassella is a management psychologist and executive advisor with over 25 years experience in career and talent management. With a distinguished international career as an executive coach and management and leadership development consultant, Michael focuses on helping successful and aspiring leaders achieve positive, measurable change in behavior for themselves, their people and their teams. As part of his advisory work to organizations, he has successfully coached hundreds of business leaders in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Combining varied roles in the corporate world with his training in psychology, Dr. Cassella has been sought out to coach executives and managers at all organizations levels from C-suite to first line managers and to implement leadership development initiatives in some of the world's leading organizations. As part of his Boston-based practice, Michael offers his executive coaching expertise directly to people at work who seek the advantages of what is typically an organizational benefit to a select few.
Clients value Michael’s well developed abilities in fostering both action and insight as the means to creating enduring behavioral change. He believes that while identifying, practicing, and refining new skills are a critical part of helping leaders develop, enduring change comes through building a leader’s reflective capacities and seeing clearly and intuitively into the nature behind one’s actions. Consequently, Michael’s advisory approach blends a supportive, inquisitive, and patient style with direction, advice, and accountability.
Michael has taught graduate-level classes in business psychology and assessment methodologies and as an adjunct professor, was part of an alliance with two universities in developing curriculum and providing instruction in leadership development. He has conducted research on creativity in organizations, theories of adult learning, and psychological test validation in measuring behavioral outcomes. He is a frequent speaker to organizations on the interpersonal aspects of leadership and professional development and has presented his research to professional associations. Michael earned a dual Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Clinical Psychology from the Marshall Goldsmith School of Business and the California School of Professional Psychology, an M.B.A. from the School of Business at the University of New Haven, and a B.A. in Biological Sciences from Saint Michael's College. He resides in the Boston area.