Smart Talk: Inspiring Conversations with Exceptional People

Susan Fowler educates leaders on motivation best practices based on solid science communicated through compelling storytelling, case studies, and real-life examples. Through her writing, speaking, consulting, training, and coaching, Susan is dedicated to providing leaders around the globe with a cutting-edge framework, dynamic model, and pragmatic course of action. She helps leaders to shape workplaces where people flourish while at the same time producing sustainable results.

Altitude Adjustment author Mary Beth Baptiste knows all about following lifelong dreams: In the 1990s she left her whole known world on the east coast to take a wildlife biology job at Grand Teton National Park. Her memoir describes her journey from her entrenched Portuguese roots in Massachusetts to the rugged mountains of Wyoming. An award-winning author, she has published her work in a variety of periodicals and anthologies.

Kristen Pressner is Vice President and Head of Human Resources Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America for Roche Diagnostics. Kristen has worked extensively in both the United States and Europe, in diverse positions across all HR disciplines.

Kristin Neff is currently an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the first empirical studies on self-compassion over a decade ago.

Max H. Bazerman is Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and the Co-Director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. Max's research focuses on decision making, negotiation, and ethics. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of twenty books (including The Power of Noticing, Simon and Schuster, 2014; and Blind Spots [with Ann Tenbrunsel], Princeton University Press, 2011) and over 200 research articles and chapters.

Maria is a contributing writer for The New Yorker online, where she writes a weekly column with a focus on psychology and science. Her first book, Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes (Viking/Penguin, 2013), was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into seventeen languages.

Dr. Joan Williams is a Distinguished Professor of Law and Hastings Foundation Chair at University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and has authored or co-authored seven books. The New York Times called Joan Williams “something of a rock star”. Rachel Dempsey earned her bachelor’s degree in Literature from Yale University in 2009 and is currently a student at Yale Law School. She has blogged for Amnesty International and the Huffington Post, and her posts with Joan have been published on Psychology Today, New Deal 2.0, the Huffington Post, and MomsRising and excerpted in Time magazine.

As Chief Thought Provoker and coach, he guides organizations and individuals through a systematic process that provides clarity, direction, and results while gaining new perspectives through intentional, strategic thinking. Marc A. Wolfe sees the world of business with a vision of what it can be versus where it is. Marc developed his unique Action Acceleration strategy through his professional experience, having consulted with medical professionals, creative thinkers, and corporate executives.