Jay Chaffin

Consultant, Capabilities Lead

As the capabilities lead for Executive Bench, Jay Chaffin is his team’s eyes and ears and leads the charge in learning and development for his colleagues and clients. He brings his team to the cutting edge of industry trends and updates, which enables them to make informed, relevant decisions in the fast-moving world of leadership development.

Leveraging his unique psychology and performing arts background, Jay also coaches his colleagues and serves as a consultant for clients in various sectors. Jay possesses an innate desire to understand people on a granular level: their motivations, their aspirations, and how they’re working to accomplish their goals. He strives to recognize the uniqueness and individuality of each client—and having worked as a professional actor in New York before joining the corporate world, Jay is a master at discovering people’s intrinsic motivations. He prides himself on helping leaders make even the slightest change that ripples outward and ultimately improves the lives of not just one, but the many.

Jay is somewhat of a contrarian, as he approaches every problem with a skeptical eye and shares overlooked perspectives. (In other words, he helps people come to that aha moment.) Hearing his clients and colleagues say, “I’ve never thought about it that way,” is music to his ears. Jay is also a musician; he composes songs and teaches himself to play piano when he’s not working. Outside of the office, he also enjoys spending time with his wife and two children, playing poker, and reading every book ever written on decision-making, economics, and psychology.

CONTACT

Education

• Widener University

PhD, Clinical Psychology

• Widener University

MBA

• Harvard University

BA, Psychology

Blogs

Investing in Leadership

Investing in Leadership in a Changing Gaming Industry (RHR International, July 2018)

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Foolish Things Leaders Do

Foolish Things Leaders Do (RHR International, April 2018)

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Gaming Industry

Gaming Industry: Maintaining a House Edge on Talent Development (RHR International, February 2018)

Read

Two-Speed Decision Makers

Two-Speed Decision Makers: Frustrating but Effective (RHR International, July 2016)

Read

Clients

As we evolve our leadership and succession practices to align with our growth agenda, RHR has been a trusted partner in bringing objective data and insights on our talent to better shape our future.

Tapaswee Chandele, Global Head, Talent and Development

Succession planning done right builds internal bench strength for smooth leadership transitions. RHR provides a second set of eyes on our top talent, and helps us focus their development to maximize their potential.

Anonymous, Chief Human Resources Officer

Working with the team from RHR was a pleasure. They were able to enhance and complement our programming and accelerate the growth and development of our employees.

Joseph Hirt, Director, Leadership Development

I have worked with the RHR International team for over four years across two different companies, and I have seen the impact of our partnership manifested through improved leadership, heightened levels of candor and awareness, and more thoughtful and informed succession decisions. Since the early days of our partnership, they have consistently modeled an intent to help leaders be “the best versions of themselves” by leveraging rigorous assessment data that in turn has led to powerful conversations and, more importantly, behavior change.

Stacey Panayiotou, Executive Vice President, Human Resources

The rigor with which our talent has been assessed by the RHR team offers us an objective foundation on which we can support our leaders in strengthening and building their leadership competence. As a result of our partnership with RHR, our leaders will be better prepared, personally and professionally, to tackle the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Jeff Lindeman, Group Director, Operations