Morrie And Arleah Shechtman, ACSW, MA, MSW - Expert

Morrie Shechtman is Chairman of Fifth Wave Leadership, a human capital development firm that works with executives, owner-managers, and other key decision-makers. He has consulted with hundreds of top executives worldwide about managing disruptive change, creating growth-oriented, self-sustaining corporate cultures, and developing leaders who broadly and deeply impact both bottom line results and quality of life.

A highly sought after speaker, he has lectured on the connection between personal and professional transformation, and productivity, to audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Australia, India and New Zealand.
Morrie has authored two books – Working Without A Net: How To Survive And Thrive In Today’s High Risk Business World and Fifth Wave Leadership: The Internal Frontier that examine the close connection between personal growth, bottom line profitability and stakeholder value. He has also co-authored a third book along with his wife and business partner Arleah: Love In The Present Tense: How To Have a High Intimacy, Low Maintenance Marriage.

In terms of his professional background, he has been a university professor; a psychotherapist in hospital and private practice; a consultant to government, education, and law enforcement; and the chairman of a private sector consulting firm. He has, in addition, been a national policy advisor to the United States House of Representatives Leadership Council; a visiting lecturer for The Conference Board; and a guest lecturer for the World Bank’s “World Economic Summit.” His business clients have included Hewlett-Packard, The Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, McGraw-Hill, Time Warner, Allianz Life, United Technologies, and The Young Presidents Organization.

Of course, his achievements are not nearly as important as the results his clients enjoy. Morrie works with companies to help them clarify and act on core values, which ultimately serve to create a tangible and unified culture. After this self-discovery phase, he moves onto the critical elements of relationships, commitment and accountability. His goal is to create a company filled with employees who have the capacity for self-analysis and adaptive learning. Such companies—characterized by increased productivity, open and honest communication, and a willingness to eliminate dysfunctional behaviors—have a remarkable advantage in today’s high-risk business environment.

Morrie has an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and a certificate in cross-cultural studies from Leeds University in England. Additionally, he has a master’s degree in cultural history from the University of Chicago, and he received his psychotherapy training and credentials from the University of Illinois. When he was in clinical practice, he achieved board certification for private practice.

100 Deer Run, Kalispell, MT 59901 ● Tel: 406.756.9270 ● Fax: 406.755.5551
Email: morrie

Arleah is the author of Love In The Present Tense: How To Have A High Intimacy, Low Maintenance Marriage, which she co-wrote with her husband, Morrie. The book reflects their thirty plus years of experience working with individuals in committed relationships, and gives couples useable strategies for achieving great relationships without turning their relationships into another job. Their insights are provocative and, in many ways, counter-intuitive, and they deliver them through the book by debunking eight of the most prevalent and widely subscribed to myths about marriage and intimacy. Arleah has recently authored a book entitled My Beloved Child: My journey since the death of my daughter, which details the long-term recovery process experienced by her clients and herself.

From 1979-1995, Arleah was a psychotherapist in private practice, working with individuals, families, and groups. In her practice she specialized in teaching people how to more effectively use change and uncertainty as a means to enhance, rather than encumber their lives. Specifically, this involved dealing with child rearing issues, relationship issues, work-related issues, and success and loss issues.

Since 1995, Arleah has transitioned her practice to one centered around Executive Coaching. This endeavor is more focused on the connection between personal growth and development and the achievement of professional goals and success.

In addition to her work as a relationship expert, Arleah is a partner, along with Morrie, in Fifth Wave Leadership; a human capital development consulting firm. She works with corporate clients to teach them how to initiate and facilitate their own cultural change, through utilizing the principles underlying the Fifth Wave Leadership Program, and by certifying clients to deliver the program internally. Her business clients have included The Prudential, Binney and Smith (Crayolas), The Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, MJW Investments, The Shelly Automotive Group, and The Young Presidents Organization.

Arleah has been a consultant to Easter Seal Rehabilitation Centers, Hospice programs, and education and law enforcement professionals. In 1989 she founded the Life Skills Institute, which encompassed both her clinical practice and educational programs for professionals and the lay public.

Arleah’s academic background includes an associate’s degree in business mid-management, an undergraduate degree in Organizational Development, and an M.S.W. with a clinical specialization. She also has her ACSW, the professional credential required for private practice. Her continuing education has focused on work with adolescents, small groups, and people experiencing grief and loss.

Prior to her professional practice, Arleah was involved in business, first trading commodities, and then as owner/manager of her own business. She has always been involved in a wide variety of volunteer and civic organizations.

While in business, and before her career as a psychotherapist, Arleah was a housewife and mother for eighteen years. She prepared herself for her professional practice as her first family was growing up. Arleah and Morrie have been together for over thirty years, in a second relationship. They have a unique family of three first-born sons and have recently begun a new journey of discovery with their first grandchild.