Gray Henley was founded on a straightforward premise: that leadership development works best when it is grounded in evidence, designed with precision, and delivered by someone who can credibly occupy the room.

Practice Description

The practice focuses on a deliberately narrow set of problems — the leadership and capability challenges that have the most direct impact on how organizations perform. That focus is intentional. It reflects a belief that a small number of things, done exceptionally well, produce better outcomes than a broad menu of services delivered at arm’s length.

Gray Henley works with a small number of clients at a time, which makes it possible to bring genuine senior attention to every engagement — not a team of associates working from a methodology, but a primary experienced practitioner who designs the solutions, facilitates the sessions, and stays accountable for the outcomes.

Founding Principal

Mike Kennedy has spent more than two decades helping organizations build stronger leaders and leadership systems. His work sits at the intersection of leadership development, organizational effectiveness, and capability architecture — translating research on human motivation and organizational behavior into practical systems that improve how people lead.

Before founding Gray Henley, Mike served as SVP, Global Head of Leadership and Management Development at IPG Mediabrands, where he built a global L&D center of excellence and launched the Leader Academy — a digital learning platform serving 4,500 people managers across 120+ markets. Prior to that, he spent nearly a decade at the NBA, where he built the league’s first integrated enterprise learning and leadership function and founded the NBA Business Academy. Earlier in his career he held learning and leadership development roles at KPMG and Tiffany & Co.

Mike is certified in the Hogan Leadership Assessments, EQ-i 2.0 and EQ 360, Deeper Signals Core Drivers, and the Rocket Model for Team Effectiveness, and holds a Certified Professional Coach credential. He has been featured in Chief Learning Officer and Forbes, contributed to Reworked, and speaks regularly at industry conferences including the CLO Symposium, iVentiv, and the Corporate Learning and Development Institute. He holds a BA in Psychology from Brown University and an MA in Counseling Psychology from Assumption University.

He is available for consulting engagements, facilitation, and fractional or interim leadership roles.

Values

Gray Henley’s work is guided by three principles:

  • Empiricism

    Solutions are designed in accordance with research-based practice and the best available evidence on human motivation, learning, and organizational behavior — not trends.

  • Efficiency

    Leadership development should respect the time of everyone it touches. Every session, every tool, every interaction should earn its place.

  • Responsibility

    Clients deserve an honest account of what a development initiative will and will not accomplish. Gray Henley does not oversell outcomes.