Gary Cohen

Gary is and has always been a coach and trainer at heart. He is a passionate leader who is committed to learning and understanding people, and helping guide them to be the best that they can be. He is on a mission to help others transform ordinary lives into extraordinary ones filled with meaning, purpose, success, love, and happiness.

He is an accomplished performance, life, mindset and executive coach, consultant, keynote speaker, trainer, and masterclass/challenge leader. Gary’s formal training includes a BA (Economics) and an MBA. He is a licensed non-practicing CPA and has completed courses, diplomas and certificates in Mindset Mastery, Sports Psychology, Performance Training, Management, Sales, Digital Marketing, Operations Management, Leadership and Coding.  He is the co-author of 4 best-selling books and a published photographer and photojournalist. While in high school, Gary started teaching photography and coaching youth soccer and cricket teams. He has trained and coached sports teams, mentored staff and built high-performing teams ever since.

A life-changing skiing accident left him temporarily paralyzed from the waist up on his left side. While recovering from 7 hours of surgery and a disc fusion, Gary had an epiphany: While successful in a great job with regular promotions and increases, great clients, travel and more, he was unfulfilled and unhappy at work. And so began a journey to self-fulfilment.

He is an avid golfer, snowboarder, and plays  soccer in addition to occasionally running, cycling and playing tennis. Prior to the skiing accident, he was a 7 handicap golfer regularly shooting around 80 before the accident. The best he could do post surgery was in the high 90’s. In searching for a solution, he studied sports psychology and reached his second epiphany: A person could change outcomes by harnessing the power of the mind, building mental toughness, and making mindset changes. Soon after, he got back to an 8 handicap. Applying the same principles to life @Work, @Home and @Play, he was quickly not just back on track, but riding new waves. There is infinite power in the mind/body connection.

His journey led to the realization that his real passion, his calling and the key to his successes were one and the same: Helping people understand and overcome their challenges by getting out of their heads to see, hear, understand and think differently. And then make mindset changes to creatively find solutions to MOVE! forward. His powerful combination of work and life experience combined with his qualifications and training have prepared him to help others transform @Work, @Home and @Play and reach the potential they know they have by:

• transforming negative to POSITIVE self-talk
• replacing limitations with an UNLIMITED mindset
• shifting from a dial-it-in to an ALL-IN approach
• moving from frustrated to being FULFILLED
• not targeting good enough when you can achieve “GREAT”
• living in sync with who you are to BE THE BEST THAT YOU CAN BE

Gary is a big proponent of learning from everything we do, especially life lessons through sport. “One learns more from mistakes than you do from easy successes.” In his coaching he encourages trying new things. There is nothing worse than “should have, could have, would have” and the regret from not seizing an opportunity.

“Finding a solution through effort is ALWAYS better than being given the solution. You learn so much more from being in the game than from sitting on the sidelines”.  Carpe Diem!  Get in the game!

By focusing on the WHY, you find the HOW. And the RESULTS take care of themselves.

Gary started a youth soccer program built on learning life lessons through sport. Incorporating a built-in philosophy of finding solutions, accountability and responsibility, the program saw success while rewarded effort not outcome. By building structure and integrity through practicing how you play and playing how you practice, and by encouraging creativity, experimentation, and integrating the mindset/sports psychology lessons learned, the program quickly delivered on its promise.

Not only did our athletes learn life lessons through sport, they took the mindset training with them to other aspects of their lives. The result was over 80 high school players going on to play in college in 7 years – from a club that on average had  only one team in each age group in any given year.

Over the years, Gary has had to overcome challenges that included

• • dubious career choices
  • successful and failed startups
  • getting into and out of debt
  • immigrating with two suitcases and almost no money
  • relationship challenges with life partners, a business partner, and friends
  • health challenges including physical injuries (including 3 spinal surgeries) and depression/anxiety

These are just some of the hurdles that he has moved beyond. The journey has led to life lessons that have transformed his life. Knowing that others are facing similar battles, he offers experience, empathy, compassion, hard truths, and a process that shifts the mindset to transform lives.

Gary has built Speakery’s transformational MOVE! process on the solid foundation of his 4 relationship pillars (Honesty Loyalty, Trust and Respect) and layering on his high performance platform by balancing and aligning Emotional, Mental, Spiritual, Behavioral, and Physical fitness. Mastery of the MOVE! process delivers transformational change and the powerful high-performance results that you know you are capable of attaining.

When Gary is not helping others, you will find him following his other passions which include being a husband and a dad of four, playing golf or snowboarding, taking photos, traveling or enjoying time with friends.

Why Gary?