Diversity Coaching for Inclusive, High-Performing Leaders
DEIA is the new global strategic advantage 📈
I’m Michael Rolph, a diversity coach, consultant and advisor with deep experience in cross-cultural communication, leadership development and DEIA strategy.
I leverage my decades of leadership and startup experience in tech in Silicon Valley to help my clients engage, manage, recruit, listen and build trust with internal and external teams and audiences.
At the end of the day, connected and trusting teams drive growth and performance 🚀
What sets me apart is my unique combination of expertise: a track record working in diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA), and challenging leadership roles in tech and corporate companies. As a coach and strategic advisor I bring cross-cultural awareness, practical business experience in complex situations, and genuine empathy to my clients.
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How can I bring this knowledge and impact to you and your work? Start the conversation:
inclusive leadership mindset
Diversity Coaching to build trusting relationships and amplify your impact
experience & credentials
Engaging and listening to leaders and employees from across the organization, I build trusting company cultures where collaboration drives growth.
Great leaders live for the moments when the team is engaged and collaborative. The work of diversity coaching is challenging and the goal is clear: every person leaves more capable than when they arrived.
That’s the expression of leadership I cultivate within my clients. 💜
Managing, supporting and collaborating with our colleagues at work can be both deeply fulfilling and remarkably challenging. We’re humans after all, and we bring a lifetime of different experiences into our working relationships - skills and struggles, gifts and trauma.
Culture, gender and other expressions of identity affect how we move through the world. I cultivate awareness and compassion within my clients, skills that we develop alongside active listening and a growth mindset that build trust. That trust - often called psychological safety - is common with today’s high-performing leaders and companies.
My work advising work as a Certified Diversity Trainer while at the University of California, Davis, in leadership at startups like CampusEngine where the pace was frantic, and in strategy at nonprofits like Grace Cathedral during the crisis of COVID have brought me a special blend of vision, empathy and ambition for the experience of work.
Experience matters. And in this work, it shows.
The Bottom Line
The most helpful leadership coaches possess extensive firsthand experience in leading diverse, global teams, navigating power dynamics, fostering trusting connections with cultural awareness, and advocating for necessary resources. My approach to diversity and inclusion coaching leverages my experience to become your advocate, network connector, trusted advisor and champion.
I’m driven by a sincere passion to assist you in discovering your purpose, expressing it with clarity, and propelling you to unprecedented achievements.
I love lifting people up
Video Storytelling in Leadership Development
Inclusive Leadership in Conversation
A Conversation on Inclusive Leadership and Culture
Michael Rolph in conversation with Sandrine Vohra, CEO of MIKADO — a multicultural marketing agency operating at the intersection of global brand and cultural intelligence.
They discuss what it actually takes to build inclusive, high-performing cultures: the hard decisions, the blind spots, and the moments when values get tested.
Michael Rolph is an executive and diversity coach at michaelrolph.com. Sandrine Vohra is the CEO of MIKADO, a multicultural marketing agency managing communications for brands worldwide.
I support first-time managers, senior executives, and anyone open to new pathways to leadership growth and success at work.
“Michael has helped me make the difficult choices a leader has to make.”
radically inclusive leadership coaching
Navigating today’s career environment and workplace requires new skills that see and value the humanity of the employee, build trusting relationships, and maintain high expectations for performance.
I bring these values and training to my clients and work. I’ve held positions including Director, Vice President, and Chief Marketing Officer. I’m currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area, but notably, I have also served as the Director of Career Development at University of California, Davis, guiding the career exploration of students and alumni, while additionally bringing companies like SAP, Deloitte, Stryker, Allstate and others on campus to engage job-seekers.
I want to hear your story. Schedule a complimentary 30-minute conversation with me.
Ask me anything, I’ll listen.
Ready to build a more inclusive, high-performing culture?