Kenny Leahman is a specialist in leadership, team alignment and strategy. As an International Coach Federation (ICF) Master Certified Coach (MCC), Master Facilitator, Educator and Strategist, he offers 40 years’ leadership experience—24 as a CIA undercover officer, and 18 as business executive. Kenny’s unique dynamism is derived from 19 years abroad and repeatedly re-inventing himself to adapt to new work environments (including combat zones), leadership paradigms and cultures.
Kenny’s mantra is Discover, Decide and Do What Matters. He motivates and guides leaders, individuals and teams to achieve a “Mindset Reset” and adopt consequential change through tangible Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs). He has 6,500+ hours coaching and training leaders and teams in over 25 countries, including Ethiopia, Indonesia, Morocco, Myanmar, The Palestinian Authorities, Qatar and Yemen. Clients have included Fortune-50 company C-Suite executives, founders of Start-Ups, attorneys, emerging leaders, scientists, engineers, professors, physicians, health-care executives, and dentists.
In leadership positions in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the US, Kenny directed complex programs in partnership with multiple US government agencies and more than 30 Foreign Security and Intelligence Services. He was the first senior CIA officer to volunteer and serve for two years at the height of the war in Afghanistan as Chief of a Forward Operating Base where he led a diverse multi-national team of 350+ individuals. Post-Afghanistan, Kenny was selected to be the lead HUMINT instructor at “The Farm” for the largest cadre of officer trainees in CIA history. He helped design, launch and teach the FBI’s first-ever HUMINT training program, and has been a side-by-side coach and trainer for FBI Agents and police officers in Chicago, Las Vegas, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
Throughout his CIA career, Kenny represented the CIA to Cabinet Officials and Members of Congress, and the US Government to Foreign Heads and Ministers of State. During his 19 years abroad in Afghanistan, Austria, Germany, Israel, North Africa, Pakistan and Panama, Kenny gleaned personal and professional expertise in living and leading through chaos, crisis and change; team alignment; identity and values; and conflict management. He concluded his government career as CIA Chief in the most respected Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in the United States.
Kenny holds a master’s degree in National Strategic Studies from the US Marine Corps University War College, a bachelor’s degree in German and French studies from Brigham Young University and is a former faculty member of Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership. He is an Advisory Board member of The Grounded Idealist (aka The Coaching Collaborative), and past Director of Pro Bono Initiatives and Strategic Partnerships on the Board of Directors for the ICF Metro DC Chapter. Kenny provides multiple assessments including DiSC®; Five Behaviors of Cohesive Teams™; Clifton Strengths; EQi 2.0; EQ360; LPP (LINC Personality Profiler); Key Polarity Indicator (KPI); and GMI (the Global Mindset Inventory). Kenny maintains near-native fluency in German, intermediate French, is a professional photographer, avid traveler, and is passionate about people, the environment and global affairs.