Michael K. Takagawa is an executive advisor
and the CEO of Corporate Edge, Inc., a premier leadership coaching firm
in San Francisco, California. A former company president and Fortune
500 senior executive with more than twenty years of leadership experience,
Mr. Takagawa is a highly regarded executive advisor to prominent CEOs
and corporate leaders. Corporate Edge clients include Adobe Systems,
Cisco Systems, National Semiconductor, Cadence Design Systems, Kaiser
Permanente, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, Gump’s, Maxtor Corporation,
UTStarcom and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Mr. Takagawa founded Corporate Edge, Inc., in 1998, long before the
mass emergence of coaching as a business trend, to help high-achieving
senior executives and CEOs excel. Distinct from a traditional coach
or consultant, Mr. Takagawa combines first-hand executive experience
with expert communication skills to partner with corporate leaders in
long-term, trusted advisor relationships. He terms his innovative client
collaboration an executive partnership.
Mr. Takagawa is co-author of The Executive Partnership, with
Dian Harrison, CEO, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate. Written for CEOs
and senior executives of both corporations and nonprofits, their book
focuses on leadership practices, and introduces the executive partnership
as the next evolution in leadership success. Mr. Takagawa is a contributing
author of the book Leadership: Helping Others to Succeed, with
co-contributors Dr. Warren Bennis and Senator George Mitchell. He is
also a distinguished speaker on leadership issues including The
WOW Factor: Developing Executive Leadership, Presence and Impact
and Leading Organizational Change.
Prior to founding Corporate Edge, Inc., Mr. Takagawa was a senior officer
in several prominent organizations. As president and COO of Discovery
Toys, he orchestrated a critical business turnaround resulting in a
successful merger with Avon Products, Inc.; as executive vice president
and COO of HQ Business Centers, he engineered a successful global expansion
strategy; and as vice president of sales and marketing for Colgate Palmolive
and Kikkoman International, he achieved record revenue results through
new product and acquisition strategies.
A native of San Francisco, Mr. Takagawa earned his MBA from Stanford
University and his BS from the University of California, Berkeley.