TEAMWORK KEYNOTE SPEAKER.

I'm a science and investigative journalist first. All my other work is rooted in that sensibility: Explore, research, debunk, fact-check—and only then apply.

My career began as a reporter covering tech and business, and then as an entertainment and culture writer, and eventually as an investigative journalist exposing corruption in government and business, after which I transitioned to telling stories for the screen and stage as a Broadway and TV producer.

• Spent years covering superlative business teams as a reporter for Wired, Fast Company, and Forbes
• Entrant for the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Journalism, and co-led team that won the Donald Robinson Memorial Award for investigations exposing gun trafficking, given by the American Society of Journalists and Authors
• Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical, as co-producer of The Outsiders on Broadway
• Head writer and executive producer for two upcoming TV series

Browse the best-of my writing »

While running companies, I began conducting research studies on behavior change and group problem-solving.

After spending a decade writing about innovative companies, I began looking at the common wisdom and past research on teamwork through my science journalism lens. I realized that so much of the standard advice we hear in business school and from business gurus may sound good, but is wrong. I concluded:

One-size-fits-all teamwork advice usually leads to average, not innovate teams.

So I stepped back to research the first principles of how humans collaborate best, how groups of people actually become more than the sum of their parts. What are the patterns? And what are the underlying mathematical models, brain-science, and human behaviors that lead to the kind of super-additive teamwork we were told we could have in The 7 Habits.

I wanted to know why so much teamwork and business advice sounds good but clearly doesn’t work. I (and debunking common wisdom about teams that leaders still cling to and preach), 

• I took a years-long, multidisciplinary look at the dynamics of breakthrough teams in history—from sports to commerce, from the teams behind great inventions to those behind great social movements.
• I began conducting original psychology and organizational behavior studies on storytelling, team trust, and remote teamwork, including the world’s largest psychology study on “intellectual humility," unearthing widely-cited data on open-mindedness.
• Wrote about the conclusions from this work in three books, each a bestseller: Smartcuts, The Storytelling Edge, and Dream Teams.

Check out more of my research »

Now I draw on all of the above to craft custom keynotes & leadership workshops around the world:

We've been hearing the same things about teamwork from business gurus for the past 50 years. But our teams don't need cliché advice or outdated ideas. They need practical ideas and inspiration for the next 50 years.

That’s my goal when I apply all of the above as a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator to help leadership groups rethink teamwork and achieve greater business results.

I want teams to do better, by thinking differently.

That's why my teamwork keynotes & workshops often include:

• How the underlying psychology and neuroscience of trust, EQ, and psychological safety actually work—and how to foster them (not just wish for them)
• How productive conflict makes teams better—and how to harness it while building healthy culture (and stomping out unproductive conflict)
• The science of Dream Teams—teams that are smarter than the smartest (or most powerful) person on the team
• The habits and behaviors that foster those teams (and how to model them and put them into practice)
• How to harness the latent potential in promising teams, so they can think differently, innovate, and make breakthroughs
• Special courses and workshops:
• How to communicate and manage conflict with emotional intelligence »
• How to use storytelling to build trust and psychological safety in teams »
• Dream Teams Leadership Intensive: 10 interactive modules of advanced leadership habits and tactics »