An Executive Storybuilding System

What is Leadership Legend?

A peerless experience that activates the Legendary Leader in you.

TRANSFORMATIVE

Leadership Legend reveals the fiber of your character through a disciplined process. Your Legend speaks of a tragedy become a blessing, a failure as a victory, a tender spot as incubating iron.

IMMERSIVE

Leadership Legend conjures an immersive experience for leaders and teams. It utilizes time-tested storytelling techniques and one-on-one coaching to produce an unforgettable expedition of the self.

ACTIONABLE

Leadership Legend produces a resonant Legend for individuals and teams to captivate audiences and inspire the hearts and minds of employees, peers, and communities. It is personalized and actionable.

The Leadership Legend Experience

Leadership development, personal journey and storycrafting program

"Leadership Legend was equal parts tipping my chair back too far and that wonderful, freeing sensation of catching myself before the fall, swinging back to safety. The journey of Leadership Legend under Mark and Paul’s storybuilding direction was exciting, empowering and electric. They guided me to craft my story and find my voice."

—Scott S. Williams, Brand Builder, Former President of The Nantucket Project, Former Chief Creative Officer Worldwide at Starwood Resorts, Former Chief Marketing Officer at Morgans Hotel Group

"It wasn't until my immersive Leadership Legend experience that I realized how the low points in my life prepared me to be the authentic, powerful leader I've become.”

—Pamela Harless, Founder at Collective Confidence, former Chief People Officer at ghSMART and Grant Thornton

"Leadership Legend is a leadership development course, a personal journey and a storycrafting intensive all in one. It revealed to me the surprising--and empowering--connections between key decisions I've made in my life and how they influenced my overall professional trajectory.

—Elaine Berndes, Founder at EJB Social Impact Consulting, former Chief Program Officer at Weiming Education Group, former Founding Managing Director at The Ryan Institute

"Thanks to the creative methodology of Leadership Legend I saw for the first time how each of the individual decisions and moments of my career built to a cohesive narrative.”

—Sharon Cohen, Head of Marketing, Common Sense Networks, former EVP, Brand Experience, Nickelodeon

Generate trust within your team and among your communities.

Trust in institutions is at an all time low.
And people are looking for leaders they can trust, believe in, and follow. Working remotely has left teams fragmented and uncertain. So now more than ever, employees seek reassurance and unity and inspiration from leaders that trust. Your Legend inspires hope and stimulates engagement.

“How you remember and explain your path to leadership matters.”

—Harvard Business Review

The Benefits of Your Legend run deep.

FOR THE LEADER

Your Legend establishes an immediate emotional connection between you and your team, inspiring in your followers the trust and passion critical to success

FOR THE TEAM

Within the team, Your Legend serves as a unifying force, awakening a shared identity, nurturing innovation and enhancing recruitment and retention.

Proprietary Methodology + Individual Coaching + You = Your Legend

The alchemy of Your Legend emerges from our proprietary six-step, storybuilding methodology guided by our coaches and combined with your life experiences to deliver a unique story of your leadership. Whether through a customized workshop or an individual engagement or whether conducted in-person or remotely, Leadership Legend distills moments of consequence from your personal and professional journey into a salient and inspiring professional-grade story for others. And through the process, you’ll discover new meaning and purpose for yourself.

About Us

“We knew from the first spark of the Leadership Legend idea that pairing a novelist with a branding executive was breaking boundaries. And we were confident our potent blend of diverse skill-sets would produce unrivaled results. What we couldn’t have predicted was the exhilarating experience that Leadership Legend delivers to participants. The chemistry between the two of us and throughout the group. The magic of personal and professional transformation.”

Paul Cohen | Founder

Paul’s most recent novel was named a top-ten debut by Barnes & Noble Reads for 2017 and his new novel is represented by Trident Media Group, the #1 rated literary agency in the U.S. His work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Tin House, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Village Voice. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop where he won the Prairie Lights Fiction Prize. He is currently a creative writing instructor at the University of Colorado – Boulder, and has taught writing at U.C. Berkeley Extension, University of San Francisco and the University of Iowa, Additionally, Paul has worked in marketing and public relations.

Mark Heisten | Founder

Mark has more than 25 years of experience in brand strategy and enterprise storytelling for some of the world’s largest brands including Apple, Adobe, Chicago Bulls, Microsoft, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and Visa among others. Currently, he is an instructor & teaching assistant at the University of Colorado – Boulder, and has served as Chief Revenue Officer and other executive positions over the past 15 years. Mark’s advertising and PR programs have earned several national awards. He earned his BA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri and his MBA from Santa Clara University. Mark is currently a Ph.D. student in Media Research & Practice, Strategic Communication at the University of Colorado – Boulder.

Testimonials

As business leaders, we often define ourselves by our titles, our companies, our accomplishments. While those labels describe what we do, they fall short of communicating who we are. It wasn't until my immersive Leadership Legend experience that I realized how the low points in my life prepared me to be the authentic, powerful leader I've become. In Paul and Mark's careful hands, the truths were unearthed and the whole beautiful, messy, completely unique story unfolded. I've shared my Legend from the stage with hundreds of leaders and know there's no going back to the old version of describing who I am."

—Pamela Harless, Founder at Collective Confidence, former Chief People Officer at ghSMART and Grant Thornton

"Leadership Legend is a leadership development course, a personal journey and a storycrafting intensive all in one. It revealed to me the surprising--and empowering--connections between key decisions I've made in my life and how they influenced my overall professional trajectory. Mark and Paul's seamless, step by step methodology and personalized coaching produced a powerful finished product: my own leadership story. And then they took it the next step and showed me how to tailor that story to the needs of any audience.The experience of working with the executive-author team of Mark and Paul was exhilarating, and the legend I created has given my leadership a new, compelling narrative to share with others."

—Elaine Berndes, Founder at EJB Social Impact Consulting, former Chief Program Officer at Weiming Education Group, former Founding Managing Director at The Ryan Institute

“Leadership Legend was equal parts tipping my chair back too far and that wonderful, freeing sensation of catching myself before the fall, swinging back to safety. The journey of Leadership Legend under Mark and Paul’s storybuilding direction was exciting, empowering and electric. They guided me in every dimension to craft my story and find my voice.”

—Scott S. Williams, Brand Builder, Former President of The Nantucket Project, Former Chief Creative Officer Worldwide at Starwood Resorts, Former Chief Marketing Officer at Morgans Hotel Group

"Thanks to the creative methodology of Leadership Legend, I saw for the first time how each of the individual decisions and moments of my career built to a cohesive narrative. Under Mark and Paul's inspired guidance, I discovered how thoughtful career choices and calculated risks combined to create greater personal and professional growth. To have your own story revealed in this profoundly new way feels like a kind of superpower - one I can't wait to unleash on the challenges ahead."

—Sharon Cohen, Head of Marketing, Common Sense Networks, former EVP, Brand Experience, Nickelodeon

Leadership Legend Offerings

Leadership Legend provides three types of storybuilding, each of which is tailored to the unique needs of your leadership teams, departments, and senior executives. In addition to building Your Legend, we provide editing, scripting, presentation building, and graphical storytelling production.

LEADERSHIP LEGEND WORKSHOP

Creation of individual Legends in a group or team setting. The standard Leadership Legend package hosts from 5-10 individuals with each workshop. All participants develop their own unique Legend.

EXECUTIVE LEGEND ENGAGEMENT

Individualized, one-on-one development of a Legend. The Executive Legend engagement consists of a full-service story development on behalf of a senior executive.

TEAM LEGEND WORKSHOP

Creation of a Team Legend for a department or group. The standard Team Legend package hosts from 5-10 individuals who work to together to produce a Team Legend that defines what that team, department, or group stands for.

Contact Us

Excavating Your Legend

“Leadership Legend is a team of writers and editors, coaches and sherpas. We ask tons of questions and challenge assumptions in pursuit of bold new ways to connect the experiences of your life. We know that for most participants this is a new kind of experience. One of vulnerability and intensity and pushing outside of comfort zones. Which is why each step in the process is incremental, building seamlessly through memories or vignettes toward a cohesive personal legend. And why, at every step, we’re right there with you.”