David Severance is a much sought-after coach and team facilitator who assists companies in overcoming barriers that occur at the Japan-U.S. interface. He brings 25 years of experience and insight to both large and small companies working across cultures.
Having studied at Kansai Foreign Language University in Osaka during college, he began his career at Japan's largest airline, the All Nippon Airways Group (ANA). At ANA he became one of the highest ranked foreigners in the company, overseeing several departments and leading a variety of intercultural projects over a fourteen year career. In 2001 David began working for both American and Japanese companies as a cross-cultural coach and facilitator.
As part of his professional development he earned full ICF (International Coach Federation) certification as an executive coach, and earned a further certification in Emotional Intelligence assessments and coaching. He is one of a very small number of people worldwide to hold both of these certifications.
He has conducted major team building interventions in Japanese subsidiaries in the U.S. and Europe. He has also used his coaching and team-alignment expertise in serving such companies as IBM, GE, Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic Companies, Pfizer, Chevron, Toyota, Honda, and Sumitomo Chemicals.
David serves as a trainer and coach, for both individuals and teams. His work begins with helping executives understand key differences in cultural values, behavioral styles and assumptions about colleagues. He then assists them in developing and practicing more effective ways of thinking about and interacting with others. Working with executives for sales, finance, engineering, or other backgrounds, he focuses on effective communication and team collaboration to help those facing international and cultural obstacles achieve their goals successfully.
