Ep. 84 From Theatre-in-the-Round to the Boardroom: How Dr. Mark Rittenberg Humanized the C-Suite

This week on Shrinks Rap: what happens when a theater guy walks into the boardroom and accidentally teaches Fortune 100 executives how to have feelings?

Dr. James H. Bramson sits down with Dr. Mark Rittenberg — executive coach, leadership whisperer, former actor, Fulbright Scholar, South African bridge-builder, and possibly the only man alive who can quote Shakespeare while fixing your corporate culture.

From Harvard to Soweto to Silicon Valley, Mark has spent decades teaching leaders how to communicate like actual humans instead of PowerPoint templates with pulse rates. We talk about his journey from the theater to the boardroom, the profound influence of Angeles Arrien, and why empathy may be the most radical leadership skill left in modern civilization.

Somewhere between authentic leadership, multicultural transformation, executive coaching, and stories that sound too cinematic to be real, we also explore: 

• Why the best leaders know how to listen — and actually know their employees

• How acting and presentation skills can rescue broken organizations

• The origin story behind his Executive Coaching program at University of California, Berkeley