About Max

My calling is to work at the intersection of service and leadership development.

I’m an alum of four long-term service programs, and have led service trips to Israel, Honduras, Ghana, and Ukraine. Service to others is my spiritual home; I feel at peace when I am focused on helping others achieve growth, insight, freedom and empowerment.

I received my Doctorate of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2005. My studies integrated a dual focus on developmental psychology and the adaptive leadership model developed by Ron Heifetz.

My career has been in the non-profit sector. I spent ten years at City Year, the education-focused AmeriCorps program. While there, I developed an approach to scalable, transformational reflection that ensured that AmeriCorps members had a chance to turn inwards and focus on their own transformation while engaged in an intense year of service. I went on the become the Chief Program Officer at the New Politics Leadership Academy, where I developed a pipeline of leadership programs designed to bring more servant leaders—military vets and alumni of national service programs—into elected office.

I’ve spent years learning how to develop servant leaders at scale by desiging leadership development experience that integrate a dual focus on inner and outer change. I know what it takes to do this work as a senior leader at a large national non-profit, and also what it means to move it forward as employee number one at a scrappy start-up.

Along the way, I published a book about race and social change, got certified as an Integral Master Coach, hosted a couple podcasts, and started my own folk rock band. My writing about leadership has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and elsewhere. I speak frequently here in the U.S. and abroad about leadership, large-scale leadership development, inner development, holding light and shadow, and how we can and must integrate a dual focus on outer and inner change.

I’m also a husband, father, musician, and lifelong spiritual seeker on a quest to stay curious, balance my head, heart, and gut, and always stay present to the mystery.

To learn more about my work history, check out my LinkedIn.