Dana C. Ackley, Ph.D.

Dr. Dana C. Ackley

Dana is the founder and CEO of EQ Leader, Inc. He received his doctorate in Psychology from the Florida State University in 1973. For twenty-five years, he worked with families to help them overcome deep divides and significant challenges. For the past two decades he has served as an executive coach and organizational consultant to business and the community. He has twice been named a Fellow of the American Psychological Association for innovative thinking in using psychological knowledge to solve vexing problems.

Dana is an internationally recognized expert in Emotional Intelligence (EQ), having lectured in London, Sydney, Toronto, and across the US. His book, The EQ Leader Program (MHS, 2006),  was the first comprehensive, science-based program designed to develop EQ skills in leaders. Dana uses the program in much of his work, because it is a science-based and respectful way to help people develop new insights and grow skills to achieve their next level of success. The EQ Leader Program manual has been used by coaches and consultants who work with leaders around the world. The manual was completely revised in 2020 to align the program with MHS’s EQ-i 2.0, and to include fourteen years of insights and experiences gained by Dr. Ackley in the use of the program.

Coming up with creative solutions to challenging problems has been a hallmark of Dana’s work, which often requires him to bring conflicting views into a coherent, integrated, and actionable approach. He is a sought-after program developer, presenter, facilitator, and coach, skilled in: listening for what matters, organizing, troubleshooting, problem solving, and conflict resolution.

Dana has more than 50,000 client contact hours helping individuals, families, community groups, corporations, and corporate clients build the skills needed for success, including constructive influence, political savvy, negotiating, breaking down silos, and re-framing issues to reveal unexpected solutions. Client organizations come from the fields of financial services, insurance, manufacturing, healthcare, family business, law, non-profits, government, law enforcement, publishing, and higher education.

Because of his training and experience as a psychologist, Dana’s clients learn to use valuable tools that they can leverage to make their leadership ideas more actionable and effective. The questions he asks help people articulate their ideas more effectively, examine and question their long held assumptions, understand their own positions versus interests and those of the people they need to interact with, and think about themselves and their situations in ways that allow them to break through old barriers that may have limited them for years.