At The Human Element





We help
multinational firms doing business in Asia and globalizing domestic firm to build highly-effective global leaders. Our clients are FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 firms, ambitious start-ups, and domestic brands building their global footprints.
We know
how to enhance the client’s ability to discover, create, and deploy tacit knowledge to solve problems and achieve goals and sustain positive changes based on self-directed learning.
We work
with leaders at all levels of the organization.
We have significant experience in helping:
– senior leaders, business unit leaders, country managers, and line managers transition to demanding international roles
– emerging international leaders in Asia prepare for and perform in globally-facing roles
– women leaders who are developing their leadership signatures and personal brands
– leaders tasked with organization development in Asia-based firms to integrate global best practice methods with local frameworks
We access
the best resources globally to ensure that our coaching and organization development practices are based on validated, best-practice methods. We augment this knowledge with on-going, locally-based research.
We believe
our clients, individual and organizational, are possessed of deep wisdom and ample resources to achieve their goals; that it is our role and honor to facilitate their discovery and use of these gifts.
Our Experience
20+ years of consulting experience in Japan and Asia.
Human Resource Management
– Global Assignment Management
– Global Talent Management Executive
– Coaching/Organization Development
Pioneering Projects
— Participant-driven Leadership Programs in Support of Leadership Readiness (Japanese Women Executives)
— Group-coaching/Training Programs Targeting Globally-Facing Leaders in Asia
— Organization Development in Support of Cultural Integration — M&A, Globalizing Japanese Companies
International Networking & Resource Development
– Localization of Non-Directive Coaching Resources
– INDCS Japan Learning Community

CEO & Principal Consultant
Leslie Taylor, M.A. is a native Californian who has lived and worked in Japan, and across Asia for over twenty years. Her professional background includes research and practice management roles in Legal Services, Senior HR consulting roles (Global Assignment Management) and as a Senior Consultant, Lead Assessor, and a Coaching Practice Champion with Personnel Decisions International (now, Korn Ferry, PDI).
She founded The Human Element as a vehicle for the development and delivery of coaching and organizational development solutions appropriate to the needs of leaders positioned in Japan and Asia Pacific, and their evolving organizations.
Leslie has held leadership roles in the ACCJ, ANZCCJ, and she presents on the topics of Executive Coaching & Organization Development at conferences in Japan and China. She holds a B.A. degree (Humanities/Asian Studies) from the University of the Pacific, USA, Junior Year, Sophia University, Tokyo, an M.A. degree (Organisation Management & Development) from Fielding Graduate University, USA, where her applied research projects focused on leadership development in Asia.
The Human Element, LLC is committed to the principles and practices of non-directivity in the delivery of our coaching services. We are the Japan adhered coach member organization of the International Non-Directive Coaching Society.
A message to our clients and community
This executive coach has been hibernating for the last many months, carefully researching the history of the coaching field in Japan (and globally), and the evolution of this practice in our local environment. This activity was inspired by:
Based on my — really a talented global research team’s findings — and the concerns and goals stated above, The Human Element, LCC is:
We do hope our clients, friends, and fellow coaching enthusiasts will actively participate in future discussions.
– Leslie Taylor, Founder and Principal Consultant of The Human Element, LLC
Associations and Inspirations
The Human Element, LLC is committed to the principles and practices of non-directivity in the delivery of our coaching services. We are the Japan adhered coach member organization of the International Non-Directive Coaching Society.

The INDC and Our Guiding Principles
Our Mission
The International Non-Directive Coaching Society exists to investigate and promote the essence and activity of coaching as a non-directive aid process. This process is guided by the coach, while being driven by the client and is characterized by:
We practice in a self-managed, international network of practitioners and scholars committed to the principles of non-directivity in the activity of coaching.
These principles are embodied in a codified methodology, which is based on a coherent historical review, and theoretical and ethical frameworks.
We understand that investigating, discussing, reviewing and criticizing freely and respectfully any matter related to the practice of coaching, andcollaborating for the common cause of creating, developing and encouraging or promoting training, iproducts or services aligned with the principles of non-directive coaching is the best way to ensure the continued evolution in and systematization of this practice.
Our Current Goals
Our Values
Fundamental principles that govern our behavior
Our Practice Model
This model represents the non-directive coaching position, around which our members align in their coaching work, and the theoretical development and systematization of our practice.
This model contrasts the most common directive approaches, where an expert transfers their own knowledge or experience: the «what» of things through pure training; the «how» of things through pure consultancy or advice; and specific «experience» in relation to things through pure mentoring, with, a methodologically opposite process by which the coach (without passing judgment on the content of the conversation and or transferring knowledge or experience), enables their client to act creatively in the discovery or creation of the «what» of things; the «how» of things (innovation), and the necessary «experience» (development).
While the first method (directive) concerns itself with explicit and articulable knowledge, the second (non-directive) focuses on the empowerment of tacit or implicit knowledge.

Research and Community Outreach
Our approach focuses on research, outreach and promotion in our communities.
Our Research Commitment
Projects include:
Our Commitment to Community Outreach
Projects include:
