Meet Todd Scott Miller!
I’ve never been comfortable with single-dimensional definitions…
I’m an actor—but I’m also a doctoral researcher studying crisis leadership, a Director-level executive who’s spent 25 years navigating high-stakes environments, a university professor teaching the next generation of leaders, and the founder of a leadership coaching practice.
Most people see these as separate careers. I see them as one integrated exploration of the same fundamental question:
What does it take to perform under pressure?
Whether the pressure comes from standing on stage, leading a team through crisis, making million-dollar decisions, or teaching students who will shape the future—the challenge is always the same: Can you think clearly, act decisively, and communicate authentically when everything is on the line?
That’s the question that drives everything I do.
THE ACTOR
As an actor, I’m drawn to roles that explore the complexity of modern life—characters navigating moral dilemmas, professionals facing impossible choices, individuals finding strength in unexpected places.
My approach is grounded in behavioral truth. I don’t just imagine what a corporate executive, military officer, or person in crisis might do—I understand these experiences from the inside. Whether I’m portraying authority figures or everyday people facing extraordinary circumstances, I bring authenticity that comes from lived experience combined with trained craft.
Acting has also taught me something essential: presence. The ability to be fully in the moment, even when vulnerability is highest and everyone is watching. That skill translates to every high-pressure situation I face.
THE SCHOLAR
I’m completing my Doctorate in Executive Leadership at George Fox University, with dissertation research focused on crisis leadership and organizational resilience. My central question: What separates leaders who thrive under extreme pressure from those who crumble?
Through this research, I’m exploring decision-making under uncertainty, authentic communication in chaos, and the capabilities that can be developed before crisis hits. This isn’t just academic—it directly informs my coaching work and my understanding of performance across all domains.
At Houston Christian University, I teach courses in management and organizational theory. In the classroom, I bring 25+ years of executive experience to help students understand leadership not as a position, but as a practice developed through challenge, reflection, and the willingness to keep growing.
The questions I explore with students are the same ones I explore on stage and in my own life: How do we make good decisions with incomplete information? How do we communicate authentically when stakes are highest? How do we build the resilience to keep going when everything falls apart?
THE LEADER
For over 25 years, I’ve served as a leader in businesses ranging from Fotune 500 companies to small organization with less than a 100 people, leading teams through complex, high-stakes challenges where millions of dollars and organizational reputation rest on the decisions we make. I’ve learned about pressure not as a theoretical concept, but as a daily reality.
This experience—combined with my research and my understanding of performance from acting—led me to found Elite Forge Leadership Coaching. Through Elite Forge, I work with executives and organizations to develop crisis-ready leadership before the crisis arrives. My approach integrates academic research, real-world executive experience, and performance training to build leaders who can think clearly and act decisively when pressure is highest.
https://www.eliteforgelc.com/
I’m also available for keynote speaking and workshops on crisis leadership, performance under pressure, and the integration of multiple professional identities.
THE INTEGRATION
Here’s what I’ve learned: These dimensions aren’t separate—they’re synergistic.
Acting teaches me about presence, emotional authenticity, and the courage to be vulnerable. Executive leadership shows me the real-world stakes and human dynamics of high-pressure decisions. Academic research gives me frameworks grounded in evidence. Teaching forces me to clarify my thinking and transmit what I’ve learned. Coaching lets me help others develop these capabilities.
Each dimension makes me better at all the others.
The corporate executive who never studied performance doesn’t understand presence. The actor who’s never led a team doesn’t fully grasp organizational dynamics. The scholar who’s never faced real crisis doesn’t know how theory translates to practice.
But someone who has lived in all these worlds? That person has a perspective that can’t be gained any other way.
Whether I’m stepping on stage, coaching an executive through crisis, teaching future leaders, researching resilience, or simply living my own life—the work is fundamentally the same: understanding and developing the human capacity to perform when it matters most.
That’s the integration. That’s the through-line. That’s what makes me who I am.
PERSONAL
I’m based in Houston, Texas, where I balance executive work, doctoral research, teaching, acting, and coaching while also being a husband and father.
People often ask how I manage it all. The honest answer? I don’t “balance” it—I integrate it. Each dimension feeds the others. The insights from one domain transfer to all the others. Together, they create something I couldn’t achieve through any single path.
And yes, it’s demanding. But living a multidimensional life isn’t about having time for everything—it’s about refusing to settle for anything less than the fullest expression of who you are.
Nescit cedere—doesn’t know how to yield.
Not because I won’t quit when something gets hard, but because I refuse to yield to the pressure to be one-dimensional, to choose a single lane, to settle for a life that’s smaller than what I’m capable of becoming.
If that resonates with you—whether you’re here for the acting, the leadership work, the research, or simply the example of someone trying to live fully—welcome. I’m glad you’re here.