Leslie is a principal with the RBL Group. She designs integrated leadership systems that align role complexity, decision rights, and capability development to accelerate business performance and organizational agility in complex, evolving environments.
Leslie Kawai is a Principal Consultant and Executive Coach with The RBL Group, specializing in leadership transformation and strategy. She advises global organizations on developing integrated leadership systems that align role complexity, decision rights, and capability requirements to drive business performance, innovation, and organizational agility.
As a strategic advisor to executive teams, Leslie designs leadership architectures that ensure organizations have the right leaders in the right roles, equipped to meet evolving business challenges. Her expertise in leadership assessment and development leverages organizational theory and psychometric testing to align individual capability with role complexity. Her work spans succession planning, leadership pipeline development, and executive capability building, strengthening leadership effectiveness and preparing organizations to meet future demands with confidence.
In addition to her consulting work, Leslie is a certified MENTOR® Master Trainer and executive coach. She provides tailored coaching for senior leaders and teams, focusing on the development of critical leadership skills required to navigate complexity, lead transformation, and deliver sustained business results.
Her client portfolio includes industry leaders such as Walgreens-Boots-Alliance, Hyatt, Sandia National Laboratories, Stryker, Global Partners, American Express, Alcon, Silicon Valley Bank, and Charter Manufacturing.
Prior to joining The RBL Group, Leslie served as Associate Director of Management Communications and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Business. In this capacity, she led faculty development initiatives and advanced learning outcome assessment models to support program capability development.
Leslie is a senior researcher with the Leadership Code Research Initiative, contributing to evidence-based insights on post-pandemic leadership trends, leadership agility, and team performance in complex environments. Her published works include:
- Leadership Code 4.0: An Evidence-based View of Effective Leadership
- The Top 4 Skills Mid-level Leaders Grew During the Pandemic and How to Ensure Your Organization Sustains Them
- What High-Performing First-Line Leaders Are Doing Differently Post-COVID and Why It Matters
- Building Teams in a COVID-19 World: What can we learn from Highly Agile Organizations?
Leslie holds a Master of Organizational Behavior from Brigham Young University. She has also delivered cross-cultural leadership programs across major U.S. cities, including Chicago, Washington D.C., Boston, and New York.