About Jeff Leitner
Organizations come to me when they want to do something they don't know how to do — when the ambition is clear but the path isn't. The reason they can't find the path is almost never a lack of effort or talent. It's that there's something structural about the problem they can't see. I find it, and then we build something new around it.
As Innovator in Residence at the University of Southern California, I designed and launched the nation's first doctorate in social innovation.
As Co-founder of UX for Good, I've worked with the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education to build a program integrating mindfulness into public education and with partners in Rwanda to create a model for genocide museums that turns visitors into activists.
As Founder of Insight Labs, I worked with the US Department of State to develop a new vision for international organizations and with TED to discover how to mobilize millions around a common cause.
As a Fellow at New America, I collaborated with the OECD to develop the first-ever sequence for achieving all of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The problems never look alike. The work always does: a big ambition, no obvious path, a hidden structural insight, and a new thing that works.
I developed the first norms-based approach to social change, detailed in my book See Think Solve. I speak and run workshops on the unwritten rules that govern how organizations actually behave — and how to use them to drive change and innovation. Speaking venues include Harvard's Graduate School of Design, Stanford's d.school, and the World Government Summit in Dubai. My work has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Inc., and The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
What People Say
Russ Taylor, Executive Director, Foundations of East Chicago: "You call Jeff when there's a problem you can't solve. He's better at it than anyone else."
Nancy Oriol, Dean of Students, Harvard Medical School: "Jeff can create a concept and then make it concrete."
Steve Edwards, Chief Executive Officer, Chicago Public Media: "Jeff sees the big picture and the gaps in it that other people don't see. He has a level of strategic insight that's rare."
Michael Orlove, Director, National Endowment for the Arts: "Jeff can walk into a room where people are struggling to figure something out and get them to a place they wouldn't have gotten to before."
Bill Sleeth, SVP, Design Innovation, Panera Bread: "Jeff has an uncanny and effortless ability to uncover that thing you know is in there, to scratch that mental itch, and to pull out the best from a group. I literally feel smarter when I'm in a room with Jeff — that sense of crazy possibility is palpable."
Holly Mattson, CEO, Council for Interior Design Accreditation: "Jeff is willing to come into arenas that aren't his and help people think bigger. He helps people stop navel-gazing and gets them to think differently. Jeff isn't afraid to make people uncomfortable so that in the end, they're productive."
John Clarke, Asst. Dean, Strategic Initiatives, University of Illinois: "Jeff is who you call when you're struggling to imagine, realize, and manifest your future."