I have spent well over 10,000 hours on stages. I studied theatre in college, acting in or directing hundreds of plays and musicals in my 20s. Then I got a gig teaching engineers improv! Nearly forty years and one PhD later, I’m still standing on stages and in university classrooms. I’m a professor of engineering and technology leadership at Purdue University. I’m also an author and speaker. My latest book, Biohacking Leadership: Leveraging the Biology of Behavior to Maximize Your Impact (Wiley) comes out July 16, 2025. I performs stand-up comedy occasionally, as the faculty advisor of the student-run Purdue Stand-Up Comedy Club. I’ve given keynotes and led workshops on stages all over the world. My Ted Talk on the Science of Prospection has been viewed more than 1.3 million times. The focus of all my work is on helping leaders manage the complexities of human and organizational performance. My audiences always walk away from my talks entertained, informed, and equipped with evidence-based, practice-proven insights and tools to achieve greater levels of human and organizational performance.
Biohacking Leadership: How to Leverage the Biology of Behavior to Maximize Your Impact
What if the key to effective leadership isn’t just mindset or strategy, but biology? In this engaging and science-backed keynote, I introduce a bold new way to think about leadership—one rooted in the biology of behavior. Drawing on neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and behavioral science, we explores how leaders can consciously signal warmth, competence, and gravitas to activate trust, alignment, and shared value. Participants will walk away with actionable tools to optimize their own leadership signals and unlock higher performance in themselves and their teams.