Funny, provocative, and endlessly engaging, award-winning Harvard Business School professor and behavioural scientist Leslie John has a gift for making people rethink what they thought they knew about human behaviour. She has spent over a decade researching how openness — done right — builds trust, deepens relationships, and drives real business results. Drawing on her groundbreaking book, Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing, her dynamic, story-driven presentations show audiences how to leverage transparency as a strategic advantage in communication, connection, and leadership.
John is currently Harvard’s James E. Burke Professor of Business Administration, where she teaches negotiation, marketing, and behavioural economics in various Executive Education courses, including the Program for Leadership Development. She has also taught extensively in both the required and elective MBA curricula.
John’s work focuses on questions many of us quietly ask ourselves — how much is too much to share? How can we become more influential communicators? Her book turns one of our most common social anxieties into a surprising case for greater openness, and her findings have appeared in several leading journals and major media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist.
As a sought-after keynote speaker, John has delivered talks for such leading organizations as Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, WeightWatchers International, and PepsiCo. On stage, she brings the energy of a great storyteller with the rigour of a Harvard researcher — blending humour, research-backed insight, and interactive moments that leave audiences entertained, energized, and armed with practical tools to help them become more effective leaders and communicators.
John holds a Ph.D. in behavioural decision research from Carnegie Mellon University, where she also earned an M.Sc. in psychology and behavioural decision research. She completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Waterloo.
