SHARILYN D. FRANKLIN, PH.D.
The Leadership Doctor®
Dr. Sharilyn Franklin moves fluidly between the classroom, the boardroom, and the stage — a rare leader who has built her career at the intersection of academic rigor and real-world results. For over fifteen years, she has cultivated talent as a scholar, entrepreneur, executive, coach, and mentor, leaving her mark on Fortune 500 companies, presidential campaigns, global universities, and thousands of individual lives.
THE SCHOLAR
For Dr. Franklin, knowledge is never the destination — it’s the raw material for transformation. She holds a Ph.D. in Management from Walden University, with specialties in Leadership and Organizational Development, an MBA from Fontbonne University, and a B.A. in Political Science, Communications, French, and Afro-American Studies from Indiana University. But the degrees are only the foundation. What drives her is the discipline of staying abreast of emerging research and then converting that knowledge into something usable — wisdom that produces a better outcome, a stronger decision, a changed trajectory.
That commitment to transformation through knowledge shows up in more than a dozen published works spanning decades, from Leadership Origins and Organizational Effectiveness Handbook to The Influence of Spirituality on Servant Leadership. But publishing is only half the equation. Dr. Franklin is equally devoted to the transfer of knowledge — imparting it to students, advisees, mentees, and coaching clients so that what she has learned becomes what they can use.
As Executive-in-Residence at Webster University’s Walker School of Business, she directs three academic programs — Management & Leadership, Organizational Development & Change, and Human Resource Management — overseeing a portfolio of 25+ courses and leading a 35-person global team across nine campuses on four continents. Her academic reach extends internationally as a visiting professor in Shanghai, Chengdu, and Accra, Ghana, where her work earned her the Leif J. Sverdrup Global Teaching Fellowship Award for launching G.P.S. (Global Positioning for Success), an initiative built for Webster’s evolving international campus.
THE PRACTITIONER & CONSULTANT
Theory means little to Dr. Franklin without application. As a practitioner and consultant, she has spent over a decade advising leaders and managers inside corporations — bringing breadth of industry exposure, depth of expertise, and a relentless focus on application to every engagement. Her entrepreneurial track record includes founding and directing three multimillion-dollar corporations, building one of the largest independently owned African American advertising agencies in the country from the ground up. Through FUSE, Inc., she served as agency of record for Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns and partnered with brands like Goldman Sachs, Gillette, AB InBev, CNN, and Adobe — collecting more than 200 industry awards along the way.
Her instinct for what actually works in organizations shapes everything she brings into the classroom and the boardroom: human capital strategy, talent calibration, diversity and inclusion, and performance management built on evidence, not assumption. Every engagement is anchored to the same outcome — transformation. Not insight for its own sake, but insight applied until it changes how a leader, a team, or an organization performs.
THE LEADER
Leadership, for Dr. Franklin, is never abstract. She defines it as the discipline of “knowing and developing oneself; having vision; using good judgment; building trust; getting results; and taking purposeful action to encourage and empower others.” It begins with awareness — the leader’s willingness to challenge themselves, keep learning, keep growing, and keep being shaped — and it is sustained by the same throughline that runs through everything she does: transformation, measured in results.
As a leader who develops leaders, she has built and led organizations across industries — media, real estate, advertising, education — proving that leadership isn’t a single skill set but a transferable discipline grounded in continuous learning. That philosophy has guided her through co-founding and leading half a dozen organizations — from Franklin Enterprises to the Consortium for Leadership Development — and through directing global academic teams whose success she measures in the people who grow under her watch.
THE COACH
Board-certified through the Center for Credentials & Education and credentialed by the International Coach Federation and the Global Team Coaching Institute, Dr. Franklin has personally coached and trained more than 2,000 individuals across industries. Through the Consortium for Leadership Development, she guided 30 high-potential professionals annually through an intensive 10-month executive development program — with more than 55% advancing to new levels of leadership as a direct result.
Whether she’s coaching a C-suite executive or mentoring a first-generation college student, her approach is the same: meet people where they are and build the skills, confidence, and clarity that move them forward. What sets her coaching apart is a singular focus on passion — which indicates purpose and fuels performance. If the goal is to do more, better, she believes the path runs through helping people tap into what they’re genuinely passionate about — and then channeling that energy into results.
THE SERVANT
Beneath the titles and the accolades is a throughline of service. Dr. Franklin’s God-given purpose — one she has discovered and now lives out deliberately — is to encourage and empower excellence in others. That purpose shows up everywhere she sits, including the boardroom: she has served on the boards of The Salvation Army, Grace Hill Settlement House, and currently Girls Inc., alongside her work with the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, The Links Incorporated, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. The organizations differ, but the work is the same — pouring into people, particularly women, girls, and the underrepresented navigating competitive environments.
This calling finds its fullest expression through His Purpose Ministries, the platform she has built to help people discover their God-given purpose — and then walk in it. Licensed in gospel ministry and currently pursuing ordination, Dr. Franklin is an Associate Minister at Washington Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. She also hosts weekly prayer calls for those seeking to understand and operate in the purpose and power they’ve been given. It is the same transformation she pursues everywhere else in her work, applied at its deepest level: helping people move from knowing who they are to living it out fully.
SHARILYN D. FRANKLIN, PH.D.
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How I Can Help You
Hi there! I'm Sharilyn Franklin PhD, and I'm thrilled to share my journey with you. As a dedicated leadership coach, I specialize in helping leaders like you transform adversity into opportunity. Let's explore how I can support your growth.
