About the Author

Wendy Axelrod, PhD, is a coach, author, speaker, and volunteer. For three decades, both as a corporate HR executive of a Fortune 100 company and external consultant, Wendy has helped organizations substantially increase their development efforts, working with thousands of managers and mentors in workshops and coaching engagements in the United States and internationally. Her expertise is in helping people become exceptional at growing the talent of others.

Wendy’s first book, Make Talent Your Business: How Exceptional Managers Develop People While Getting Results (co-authored with Jeannie Coyle), identified the five research-based practices that distinguish exceptional developmental managers, helping leaders learn what it truly takes to seamlessly weave development with performance. Experts have already identified her second book, 10 Steps to Successful Mentoring, as the most complete and practical guide for succeeding with mentoring relationships.

Wendy’s works have appeared in SmartBriefs on Leadership; AMA’s Moving Ahead, Leader to Leader, and Leadership Excellence; the Conference Board’s Human Capital Exchange; SHRM’s HR People+Strategy; and European journals. She has also authored numerous chapters and entries in books such as The ASTD Management Development Handbook. She speaks at conferences for organizations including the Association for Talent Development, the Conference Board, Human Resource Planning Society, and HR Summit Asia, as well as corporate events.

Wendy’s clients include Fortune 100 companies and medium-sized firms in the United States and globally. Wendy has been a consultant with Korn Ferry and AchieveForum, a faculty member for the Institute for Management Studies (IMS), and a coach for AthenaOnline. As a human resources executive during her 16-year tenure at Sunoco, she led the functions of leadership development, organization change, and talent management and guided a company through a significant multiyear organizational change process.

Passionate about development and professional growth, Wendy is the volunteer creator and moving force behind the Philadelphia region’s renowned Mentoring Program for HR Professionals. The program has helped scores of professionals to develop, take on bigger roles, and thrive in more satisfying careers, and in 2017 Wendy was identified as the region’s “Mentoring Guru.” Over a 20-year period, she has formally served as a mentor to dozens of professionals. Wendy consults with companies to build and strengthen their mentoring programs as a key component of their talent development strategies.

Wendy holds a PhD in organizational and industrial psychology from Colorado State University. She also completed an advanced program in HR management at Columbia University, and she is certified in dozens of executive coaching and organization development tools, including Conversational Intelligence Enhanced Skill Practitioner.

Wendy and her husband live outside Philadelphia and have five children. They love the outdoors (kayaking, hiking, camping) and are avid community and global volunteers. They’ve even participated in two-week medical missions in developing countries through Rotary International. Find out more about Wendy at www.WendyAxelrodPhD.com