The Perkins Platform

Join us on Wednesday, June 18 @ 6pm EST for an exciting conversation with writer-artist, scholar-activist, academic-advocate, Dr. Menah Pratt to discuss her upcoming book, Blackwildgirl: A Writer’s Journey to Take Back her Superpower (April 2024). The book and companion journal, Finding your Superpower explore the challenges of Black girlhood and Black womanhood in America. Dr. Pratt is the Vice President for Strategic Affairs and Diversity and Professor of Education at Virginia Tech. A fierce advocate for those who have been disempowered, she is the founder of the Faculty Women of Color in the Academy National Conference, now in its 12th year, and the Black College Institute, now in its 7th year. She is the author of 5 books on issues of race, class, gender, culture, diversity, education, women’s leadership, and critical race feminism.  She earned her PhD and JD from Vanderbilt University. She is licensed to practice law in Illinois and Tennessee, with expertise in real estate, construction law, affirmative action, equal employment opportunity, disability, and governance. Nationally recognized as a leader, scholar, and author, Dr. Pratt has received several national awards: the 2023-2024 American Council on Education Fellowship; Women We Admire in Virginia, 2023 and 2024; the 2023 Individual Winds of Change award by the Forum on Workplace Inclusion; the 2021 Inclusive Excellence Individual Leadership Award by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education; and the 2018 American Education Studies Association Critics’ Choice Award for outstanding scholarship for A Black Woman’s Journey from Cotton Picking to College Professor.

Join us on Wednesday, June 12 @ 6pm EST for an informative conversation on overcoming the anchoring effect with Rich Horwath, founder and CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute. In his role, he helps executive leadership teams develop their strategic thinking and planning capabilities to set direction, create competitive advantage, and profitably grow their business. He is also the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of eight books on strategic thinking, including, STRATEGIC: The Skill to Set Direction, Create Advantage, and Achieve Executive Excellence, selected by Inc. Magazine as a top 4 “must-read book for 2024.” Rich has appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX TV and his work has been published in the Harvard Business Review.

University Business Communication Lecturer and Communication Consultant and Strategist specializing in change management communication from planning to stabilization, Aryca Woodson joins us to discuss her work in strategic communication. She has led and supported transformative change initiatives using strategic storytelling in both nonprofit and global health care sectors. In response to the unrest in 2020, Aryca shifted her focus to leverage strategic storytelling and change management frameworks to address the polarization in our rapidly changing world. Whether in university classrooms or community discussions on divisive political issues, Aryca passionately believes in our shared humanity as a bridge to unity. She advocates for equipping ourselves with the right tools to foster understanding and bridge divides. Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, June 5 @ 6pm EST!

Join us on Wednesday, May 29 @ 6pm EST for an important conversation with author and developmental psychologist with two decades experience working with families, Dr. Aliza Pressman, to discuss her New York Times bestselling book THE 5 PRINCIPLES OF PARENTING: Your Essential Guide to Raising Good Humans. Her book offers a comprehensive framework for nurturing children, emphasizing empathy, communication, consistency, boundaries, and self-care. Through practical advice and real-life examples, it empowers parents to foster resilience, kindness, and emotional intelligence in their children. Aliza is also the host of the popular podcast Raising Good Humans. She is the co-founding director of The Mount Sinai Parenting Center and an assistant clinical professor at Mount Sinai Hospital. She holds degrees from Dartmouth College, Teacher's College, and Columbia University. Aliza is the mother of two teenagers.

Postdoctoral Fellow at the Injury and Violence Prevention Program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, Sophie L. Kjærvik joins us to discuss her recent article on venting and dealing with anger. She earned a Ph.D. from the School of Communication at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and a Master’s in Psychology from the University of Oslo, Norway. Her research focuses on understanding how and why acts of aggression and violence occur in society, and how to prevent such socially destructive behavior through anger management and training interventions. I explore these relationships using quantitative methods (e.g., meta-analytic reviews, laboratory experiments, and online surveys). Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, May 22 @ 6pm EST!

Bestselling author, top-rated leadership speaker, and unconsultant who believes that individuals have the power to transform companies and cultures through great leadership and applied critical thinking, Bryce G. Hoffman joins us to discuss his position on one of his recent articles about how to overcome the anchoring effect. Bryce is the author of American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company, which was named one of the “Best Business Books” by Bloomberg and Red Teaming: How Your Business Can Conquer the Competition by Challenging Everything, which Jon Gordon called “further proof that Bryce Hoffman is one of the great business writers and thinkers of our time.” These books have become manuals for leaders who want to learn how to create winning cultures, navigate complexity, and make better decisions faster in today’s rapidly changing world. He was also named one of the “Top 100 Leadership Speakers” by Inc. magazine and has been a guest lecturer at the National University of Singapore, Warwick Business School, and Washington State University, as well as an adjunct lecturer at the University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. In 2015, Bryce founded Red Team Thinking to teach individuals and organizations how to use applied critical thinking to make better decisions in today’s complex world. Red Team Thinking® evolved from a system developed by the military and intelligence agencies to make critical and contrarian thinking part of their strategic planning process. And in 2021, he launched The Thinking Leader Podcast, featuring conversations with business and thought leaders, cognitive scientists, military officers, and other bestselling authors who share his desire to help people think more deeply and lead more effectively.

Join us on Wednesday, April 24 @ 6pm EST for an exciting conversation with Karen “Dr. K” Baptiste, as she shares her work as the Founder Preschool to Prison, LLC, and film Director of her new, award-winning documentary, Preschool to Prison. Dr. K has served on the International Board of Directors and the Education Legislative Committee at ASCD where she advocated to Congress and developed national educational policy points to address systemic barriers. As a visionary who can make magic and transform any space she’s in, Dr. K leads with compassionate courage and has bridged her love of supporting individuals with special needs and individuals impacted by the criminal justice system with storytelling in film. Growing up in the Bronx and becoming a special education teacher in the Bronx, seeing kids drop out of school was the norm. She is also a co-author for The New Classroom Instruction That Works.

Award-winning journalist and author, Tom McGrath joins us to share his recent opinion piece on how bad became the new good and discuss his new book, Triumph of the Yuppies: America, the Eighties, and the Creation of an Unequal Nation, which will be published by Grand Central Publishing in June 2024. Tom is also the author of the newsletter Common Good, which explores issues related to politics, culture and the economy. He was previously the editor-in-chief of Philadelphia magazine, as well as chief content officer of the magazine’s parent company, Metro Corp. (which also publishes Boston magazine). He continues to write for both publications, as well as several others, including Politico. In 2022 he was named Writer of the Year at the National City & Regional Magazine Awards. Read his work at tommcgrathwriter.com. Subscribe to his newsletter at tmcgrath.substack.com. He lives in suburban Philadelphia. Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, April 17 @ 6pm EST!

“Recognized by Meetings and Conventions Magazine as one of the nation’s top business speakers.”, Kaplan Mobray is globally acclaimed as one of the world’s most dynamic and inspirational business speakers, and joins us to discuss his book, The 10Ks of Personal Branding: Create a Better You. Wharton educated, Kaplan has been featured on CNN, FOX, Businessweek, The Wall Street Journal, and shares his message to NFL players and fans annually at the Super Bowl. He continues to serve as a consultant to Fortune 500 companies and an advisor to the nation’s top business schools, working with business leaders to elevate Performance Excellence, Branding, Leadership Effectiveness, Innovation, Diversity Equity and Inclusion and Workforce Transformation. Kaplan has delivered presentations in 23 countries across 5 continents. All of his innovative presentations have been described as life-changing events. In his personal pursuits, Kaplan is a professional saxophone player. He resides in West Nyack, NY and is active in civic and charitable organizations.  Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, April 10 @ 6pm EST!

Join us on April 3@ 6pm EST for an exciting conversation with world-renowned organizational psychologist and author, Dr. Steven G. Rogelberg, to discuss his new book, Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings. Dr. Rogelberg holds the title of Chancellor’s Professor at UNC Charlotte for distinguished national, international and interdisciplinary contributions. He is an award-winning teacher, has over 200 publications, been cited well-over 10,000 times in the academic literature, and was recipient of the very prestigious Humboldt Award for his research on meetings. Adam Grant has called Steven the “worlds leading expert on how to fix meetings”. He has been interviewed or featured on major TV broadcasts (e.g.  CBS This Morning, multiple times on CNN, BBC World), radio (e.g., NPR’s Morning Edition), leading podcasts, and in most major newspapers and magazines. His keynotes on meetings span the globe and occur at the world’s leading organizations including but not limited to Google, Facebook, Amazon, Pfizer, Cisco, Bank of America, PayPal, Dell, The United Nations, 3M, RAND, The Security Exchange Commission, Corning, Siemens, London Stock Exchange, TIAA, and Warner Brothers. He was the inaugural winner of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) Humanitarian Award and just finished his term as President of SIOP, the largest professional organization in the world for organizational psychology.