Dr. Mefford
Lifestyle Leadership Coach
Dr. David Mefford is a native of Morristown, Tennessee with 35 years experience in formal axiology and its applications to business and to individuals. David's career began as a student and assistant to Professor Robert S. Hartman, the creator of scientific value theory, axiology. Professor Hartman created the foundations for a logic-based science of value and a system to determine personality differences based on their values. Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" was an early application of Hartman's new science of value. Hartman's personality instrument is known as the Hartman Value Profile (HVP), and as Hartman's commercial representative in Europe (1970-73), David conducted his first business development seminar at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Southern Germany in 1971.
David attended his first class in European axiology the University of Paris at Nanterre, France and earned his Magister Artium (M.A.) degree in psychology, philosophy and law at the University of Heidelberg, Germany in 1976. David's Heidelberg studies included graduate seminars with Professor Hans Tellenbach, M.D., the head of Psychiatry at the Heidelberg Medical College. While completing his Ph.D. degree at the University of Tennessee, David evaluated and counseled psychiatric patients under the supervision of Dr. John Wolaver, M.D., for a three year period. David's dissertation, Phenomenology of Man as a Valuing Subject, achieved a comprehensive typology of personality based on value judgment patterns. This axiological personality model of 26 cognitive types and 40 emotional temperaments is currently in use by professional psychologists, counselors and business leaders for individual and group assessments and counseling. David has successfully developed and marketed various applications of this unique human values assessment model, serving numerous clients in North America and Europe.
David also has extensive experience on Wall Street, beginning with Charles Schwab in 1981. David has been featured many times in the Commodity Trader's Consumer Report (CTCR) and on Marketdigestonline.com. David holds a series 3 Commodity Trading Advisor's license and recently held a highly acclaimed seminar on the value dynamics of the US financial markets for European Banks and private investors at Bad Homberg, Germany.
David co-developed a "core values" model for excellence in officership for the USAF (see: www.usafa.af.mil/jscope '97). In collaboration with Dr. Clayton Lafferty, former president and owner of Human Synergistics in Detroit, Michigan, David created a new series of values-based personality instruments known as VUE's (Values Usage Exercises). David is co-founder and Board member of the Hartman Institute and chairman of Proethics, both non-profit organizations. A prolific writer, David has authored several publications on the applications of axiological value science, and several articles have been published about his work.
