Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology · Executive Coach & Consultant · Public Speaker

Yochi Cohen‑Charash, Ph.D.

I am a Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology at Baruch College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, an active researcher, an executive coach and consultant, and a public speaker. My work across these roles is grounded in over twenty-five years of research on how people think, feel, and behave in organizations.

Yochi Cohen-Charash, Ph.D.
Dr. Yochi Cohen-Charash

About

My Background

I am a Professor of Psychology at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of CUNY, with a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in industrial/organizational, social, and personality psychology. I supervise PhD students, teach executive programs, and run an active research lab. I am also an executive coach, consultant, and public speaker.

Before academia, I worked in the airline industry, was a member of a diplomatic corps, and lived as an expatriate across cultures. Those experiences are part of how I understand organizations and the people in them.

My academic training and research inform my work in practice. For over twenty-five years I have studied how emotions shape behavior at work: envy, jealousy, fear of leading, and what happens when people feel they have been treated unfairly. I also study unconscious influences on decision-making, organizational fairness, and how people experience and respond to change. I apply that work directly in coaching sessions, consulting engagements, and executive education. The research does not stay in the lab.

Emotions in Organizations Organizational Fairness Leadership Psychology Decision-Making Unconscious Processes Career Transitions Psychology of Organizational Change
Clients have included

CEOs · COOs · CFOs · Managing Directors · Vice Presidents · Senior Surgeons · Political Advisors · Engineers · Consultants · University Professors

Investment Banking · Financial Services · Management Consulting · Technology · Startups & Entrepreneurs · Engineering · Oil & Gas · Real Estate & Construction · Healthcare · Diplomatic Corps · Academia

Services

Services

01

Executive Coaching

I work with senior executives on leadership effectiveness, career development, navigating organizational complexity, and career transitions.

My coaching draws on my research: how emotions, power dynamics, interpersonal processes, and unconscious patterns shape how leaders think, decide, and relate to others. I work with clients on the specific situations they face, whether that is leading through change, managing difficult relationships, or preparing for a new level of responsibility.

I work with executives privately and as a contracted executive coach at the McNulty Leadership Program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and at the Leadership Lab at Columbia Business School.

Hogan Assessments certified.

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02

Consulting

I work with leaders and organizations on the human side of organizational challenges: understanding what is driving behavior, and supporting leaders through periods of change and complexity.

My approach to change draws on my research on emotions, fairness, and how people actually experience organizational transitions. Most organizations plan for the logistical side of change. My work focuses on the human side, including reactions that are often overlooked or misunderstood.

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03

Public Speaking & Executive Education

I speak at conferences, corporations, and executive education programs on topics drawn from my research and teaching. Topics include the psychology of organizational change, emotional intelligence at work, organizational fairness and justice, envy and other emotions in the workplace, and leadership psychology.

I design and deliver workshops and multi-day programs for leadership teams and organizations, built around the specific challenge or question the organization is facing.

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Research

My Research

My research has been cited over 11,000 times and has been covered in outlets including the BBC, Vox, Business Insider, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. I have served as Associate Editor of Emotion Review and am a member of the Academy of Management, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and the International Society for Research on Emotion.

View Google Scholar Profile →

Research Areas

Emotions in organizations: envy, jealousy, fear of leading, contempt, and happiness for others' success (firgun)
Organizational fairness and justice
Power, status, and interpersonal competition in organizations
Unconscious processes in decision-making and employee behavior
The psychology of organizational change

Selected Publications

2026
Gonzalez, M. F., and Cohen-Charash, Y. Loaded language: Terminology influences everyday beliefs about emotions and people expressing them. Affective Science.
2020
Crusius, J., Gonzalez, M. F., Lange, J., and Cohen-Charash, Y. Envy: An adversarial review and comparison of two competing views. Emotion Review, 12(1), 3-21.
2017
Cohen-Charash, Y., and Larson, E. C. An emotion divided: Studying envy is better than studying "benign" and "malicious" envy. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26, 174-183.
2013
Cohen-Charash, Y., Scherbaum, C. A., Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D., and Staw, B. M. Mood and the market: Can press reports of investors' mood predict stock prices? PLoS ONE, 8(8).
2009
Cohen-Charash, Y. Episodic envy. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39, 2128-2173.
2007
Cohen-Charash, Y., and Mueller, J. S. Does perceived unfairness exacerbate or mitigate interpersonal counterproductive work behaviors related to envy? Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 666-680.
2001
Cohen-Charash, Y., and Spector, P. E. The role of justice in organizations: A meta-analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 86, 278-321.
As seen in
BBC Vox Business Insider Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Testimonials

What Clients Say

"

Warm but not overwhelming, sharp but not dominating -- direct, to the point, and very sincere. She truly understands without judgment and gives honest feedback. She can relate your situation to psychology in a way that makes you feel you are never alone experiencing it.

Partner, Venture Capital

"

We analyzed real-life situations -- specific stimuli and responses -- and she discussed concrete alternate approaches I could take immediately. Yochi continues to be a sounding board well beyond our designated sessions.

Product Leader, Global Technology Company

"

Working with Yochi has been the most rewarding and impactful executive coaching experience I have had. Her ability to empathize, ask thoughtful questions, and provide personalized, actionable solutions has been remarkable. She helped me understand connections among my personal and professional life that I had not seen before.

Head of Go-to-Market Strategy, Global Technology Company

"

Yochi gave me techniques to manage stress and more effectively delegate and engage with my team. My relationships in professional teams and personal life have markedly improved. I highly recommend her to anyone considering a professional coach.

Senior Product Manager, Healthcare

Contact

Please contact me by email.

yochicc@yccexec.com

New York, NY

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Baruch College Faculty Profile →