Jay Guilford believes emotional intelligence is the key to handling profit-critical scenarios and therefore worked with leaders to help them increase their emotional intelligence and exhibit behaviours that are beneficial to people and profits. He now does this through his role as Managing Partner and Founder of CoWorks Leadership Training Strategists – a consultancy that works with independent consultants to curate training and leadership development sessions that are unique. Jay is now available to speak about diversity and inclusion, the future of the workplace, equality, innovation, and leadership.
Jay received his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Emory University and his Master’s degree in Learning and Intelligence from Columbia University. He then served as the Director of Teaching Interns at Upward Bound where he instituted development sessions on having a growth mindset, cooperative learning, and differentiated instruction from 1999. Simultaneously he also served as the Dean of Students at Northfield Mount Herman. In 2012, Jay joined the Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group where he was responsible for the Community Engagement Programming of the Resident Shows Division, later progressing to overseeing the Corporate Training Sessions as a Creator & Program Manager. Jay was in charge of the entire planning and execution of the SPARK leadership programme for Cirque Du Soleil.
Jay founded CoWorks Leadership Training Strategists in 2014 and has had the experience of training people at Microsoft, Google and Mastercard. Having conducted fireside chats, workshops, and keynote speeches on the subjects, he has fortified his reputation as an expert in leadership, resilience, DEI, and emotional intelligence. He has worked closely with the Empire State Building, Proctor & Gamble, Disney, and Microsoft in the past.
As a speaker, Jay’s areas of focus are usually how to extract maximum creativity and innovation by re-evaluating what work and leadership behaviours should look like, thus achieving maximum power and potential. He is known to lead people to their highest potential by providing them with data-driven tools for success. If you are looking for a friendly, savvy, and eager-to-help speaker, look no further than Jay Guilford!
