EXPERT: Morrie and Arleah

Morrie Shechtman
As Chairman of Fifth Wave Leadership, a human capital development firm based in Los Angeles, I have consulted with hundreds of top executives worldwide about managing disruptive change, creating growth-oriented, self-sustaining corporate cultures, and developing leaders who broadly and deeply impact both bottom line results and quality of life. I focus my lectures on the connection between personal and professional transformation and productivity.

Working with companies to help them clarify and act on core values, which ultimately serve to create a tangible and unified culture, is the first step. After this self-discovery phase, we move onto the critical elements of relationships, commitment and accountability. My goal is to create a company filled with employees who have the capacity for self-analysis and adaptive learning. Such companies—characterized by increased productivity, open and honest communication, and a willingness to eliminate dysfunctional behaviors—have a remarkable advantage in today’s high-risk business environment.

These experiences enabled me to author two books- Working Without A Net: How To Survive And Thrive In Today’s High Risk Business World and Fifth Wave Leadership: The Internal Frontier that examine the close connection between personal growth, bottom line profitability and stakeholder value. I have also more recently co-authored a third book along with my wife and business partner Arleah: Love In The Present Tense: How To Have a High Intimacy, Low Maintenance Marriage.

Before starting Fifth Wave Leadership, I was a university professor; a psychotherapist in hospital and private practice; a consultant to government, education, and law enforcement; and the chairman of a private sector consulting firm. In addition, I have also been a national policy advisor to the United States House of Representatives Leadership Council; a visiting lecturer for The Conference Board; and a guest lecturer for the World Bank’s “World Economic Summit.”

Throughout my various professional involvements, I have always considered myself a teacher. My vision has been to live in and help create a world where personal growth is the driving force in people’s work and home lives. And my mission has been to change the world, one person at a time, by helping people improve the quality of their personal and work lives.

My undergraduate degree is from the University of Michigan and I have a certificate in cross-cultural studies from Leeds University in England. Additionally, my master’s degree is in cultural history from the University of Chicago, and I received my psychotherapy training and credentials from the University of Illinois.

Arleah K. Shechtman
From 1979-1995, I was a psychotherapist in private practice, working with individuals, families, and groups. I specialized in teaching people how to more effectively use change and uncertainty as a means to enhance, rather than encumber their lives. Specifically, this involved dealing with child rearing issues, relationship issues, work-related issues, and success and loss issues.

Since 1995, I have transitioned my practice to one centered around Executive Coaching. This endeavor is more focused on the connection between personal growth and development and the achievement of professional goals and success.

These experiences led me to co-author-Love In The Present Tense: How To Have A High Intimacy, Low Maintenance Marriage, with my husband, Morrie. The book reflects our twenty-five years of experience working with individuals in committed relationships, and gives couples useable strategies for achieving great relationships without turning their relationships into another job.

I am also a partner in Fifth Wave Leadership; a human capital development consulting firm. It is here that I work with corporate clients to teach them how to initiate and facilitate their own cultural change, through utilizing the principles underlying the Fifth Wave Leadership Program, and by certifying clients to deliver the program internally. I have also been a consultant to Easter Seal Rehabilitation Centers, Hospice programs, and education and law enforcement professionals. In 1989 I founded the Life Skills Institute, which encompassed both my clinical practice and educational programs for professionals and the lay public.

My academic background includes an associate’s degree in business mid-management, an undergraduate degree in Organizational Development, and an M.S.W. with a clinical specialization. I also have earned an ACSW, the professional credential required for private practice. Currently, my continuing education has focused on work with adolescents, small groups, and people experiencing grief and loss.
Prior to my professional practice, I was involved in business, first trading commodities, and then as owner/manager of my own business. I have always enjoyed being involved in a wide variety of volunteer and civic organizations. While in business, and before my career as a psychotherapist, I was a housewife and mother for eighteen years. I feel like I prepared myself for my professional practice as my first family was growing up. My husband Morrie and I have been together for almost thirty years, in a second relationship. We have a unique family of three first-born sons and have recently begun a new journey of discovery with our first grandchild.

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