UCLA Health Director · 15+ Years Healthcare Leadership · Bilingual EN/ES

LEAD WITH
EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE.

1-on-1 coaching rooted in behavioral psychology & lived experience.
Strength-based. Culturally intelligent. Results-driven.
The Foundation

LEADERSHIP
IS AN INSIDE
JOB.

The best leaders I know feel first, then decide.

Marlon's approach to leadership development is grounded in emotional intelligence (EQ) — the capacity to recognize, understand, and manage your own emotions while reading and influencing the emotions of others. It's not soft. It's the most strategic leadership skill you can develop.

With a B.A. in Psychology, a decade as a behavioral specialist, and 15+ years leading complex healthcare teams, Marlon doesn't just teach EQ — he lives it.

Schedule a Discovery Call →
🧠
Self-Awareness
Know your triggers, your strengths, and your blind spots before they know you.
🌟
Self-Regulation
Respond, don't react. The space between stimulus and response is where leadership lives.
🤝
Empathy
The ability to walk in someone else's world — especially across cultural and linguistic difference.
🌟
Social Intelligence
Read the room. Build trust. Influence without manipulation. Lead across hierarchy and difference.
🎯
Intrinsic Motivation
Why do you lead? The clearer your answer, the more sustainable your performance.
🛡
Psychological Safety
Teams perform when people feel safe to speak up, take risks, and fail without fear. Psychological safety is the single highest predictor of team effectiveness — and it starts with the leader.
🎮
Play — Dr. Stuart Brown
Dr. Stuart Brown’s research shows that play is not a luxury — it is a biological necessity that drives creativity, resilience, and innovation. Leaders who incorporate play unlock teams that think bigger and recover faster.
Leadership Philosophy

BEYOND EQ — SAFETY & PLAY

🛡
Psychological Safety

Google’s Project Aristotle identified psychological safety as the #1 driver of high-performing teams — more than talent, experience, or compensation. When people feel safe to voice half-formed ideas, admit mistakes, and challenge the status quo without fear of humiliation, teams innovate faster and recover stronger.

Marlon builds psychological safety into every coaching engagement — from the ocean (where fear is real) to the boardroom (where vulnerability is rare). The skills are the same. The results speak.

🎮
Play — Dr. Stuart Brown

Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, spent decades studying play across species, cultures, and industries. His conclusion: play is not the opposite of work — it is the foundation of it. Leaders who play think more flexibly, build more trust, and sustain performance longer.

From Tai Chi on a hospital rooftop to triathlon finish lines, Marlon has spent 30 years engineering play into serious performance. Joy is not a distraction from excellence — it is the engine of it.

STRENGTH-BASED.
NOT DEFICIT-DRIVEN.

For nine years, Marlon worked as a bilingual Therapeutic Behavioral Services (TBS) specialist with at-risk youth — applying strength-based behavior modification in some of the most challenging environments imaginable. The core principle: you build people from what they already have, not from what they lack.

He brings that same framework to leadership development. Rather than diagnosing what's broken in a leader or a team, Marlon starts from what's working — and amplifies it. This isn't feel-good coaching. It's evidence-based, clinically-informed, and remarkably effective.

Identify Existing Strengths
Every leader, every team, every organization already has assets. We find them first.
Build From the Baseline
Growth happens when you extend what already works — not when you fixate on deficits.
Reinforce Positive Behavior
Behavior that gets recognized gets repeated. Culture is built one acknowledged action at a time.
Sustainable Change
Strength-based change sticks. Deficit-based change burns out. This is the long game.
What I Offer

1-ON-1.
ORGANIZATIONAL.
TRANSFORMATIONAL.

01
💼
Individual Track

1-ON-1 LEADERSHIP COACHING

Personalized coaching for entry to mid-career leaders and healthcare professionals who want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and cultural intelligence. Rooted in EQ, behavioral psychology, and the embodied wisdom of Tai Chi and endurance sport.

  • Monthly 1-on-1 coaching sessions (virtual or in-person)
  • EQ assessment & personalized development plan
  • Strength-based leadership inventory
  • Bilingual coaching available (EN/ES)
  • 3, 6, and 12-month engagement options
02
🏠
Organizational Track

ORGANIZATIONAL CONSULTING

Healthcare operations consulting leveraging 15+ years of director-level experience at UCLA Health and CHLA. Marlon helps organizations build cultures of precision, care, and cultural intelligence — from the front desk to the C-suite.

  • Language services & health equity consulting
  • Cultural Humility & bilingual workforce strategy
  • Team culture assessment & redesign
  • Operational efficiency & workflow improvement
  • Healthcare patient experience programs
03
Marlon smiling mid-technique in Kung Fu class Tai Chi group at sunrise rooftop
☯
Wellness & Performance

MOVEMENT WORKSHOPS

Unique group experiences blending Tai Chi, salsa rhythm, and Zone 1 endurance principles for corporate teams and healthcare organizations. Marlon has delivered Tai Chi sessions on hospital rooftops, in conference rooms, and at executive retreats.

  • Tai Chi for executive presence & stress regulation
  • Zone 1 mindfulness & SAR breath training
  • Salsa rhythm for team synchrony
  • Strength-based behavior modification workshops
  • Keynote speaking & facilitation
04
🌐
Cultural Intelligence

CROSS-CULTURAL LEADERSHIP

As a bilingual leader (EN/ES) who has visited 24+ countries and spent a career building bridges across cultural and linguistic difference in healthcare, Marlon brings a rare lens to cross-cultural leadership development.

  • Cultural intelligence (CQ) development
  • Bilingual team facilitation & training
  • Healthcare language access strategy
  • Cultural Humility & program facilitation
  • International leadership & global team dynamics
Marlon doing Tai Chi White Crane pose on the beach with ocean waves
Tai Chi at CHLA Walk LA · Los Angeles
Marlon leading sunrise Tai Chi on rooftop with LA downtown skyline in background
Carlsbad 5000 · World's Fastest 5K · CHLA Jersey
Who This Is For

IS THIS
YOU?

🏥
Rising Healthcare Leader
You're in your first or second leadership role in healthcare and want to lead with confidence, emotional intelligence, and cultural fluency — without burning out.
🎯
Mid-Career Professional
You've built the technical skills. Now you want the leadership edge — the EQ, the presence, the communication skills that get you to the next level.
🏠
Healthcare Organization
Your team serves a diverse, multilingual population and you want a consultant who has actually built and led language services, patient experience, and cultural competence programs at scale.
The Process

HOW WE WORK

01
Discovery Call
30 minutes. No pitch. Just a real conversation about where you are and where you want to go.
02
Strengths Assessment
We identify what's already working — your EQ profile, your leadership style, your cultural assets.
03
Custom Plan
A tailored coaching roadmap built around your goals, your timeline, and your life.
04
Do The Work
Monthly sessions, real accountability, and the kind of coach who has done the thing he's asking you to do.

Marlon's Tai Chi sessions during lunch break leave me so energized — I take that energy and channel it towards writing progress notes. I feel so much more productive after doing Tai Chi with Marlon.

SG
Dr. Sylvia G.
Clinical Psychologist
Ready to Lead?

FIND YOUR 1.

I work with a small number of clients at a time to ensure deep, personalized attention. Let's find out if we're a fit.

Schedule a Discovery Call →