I find the structural insight everyone else has missed - and build something great around it.
Organizations come to me when the ambition is clear but the path isn’t. Then together, we design new programs, institutions, and strategies for challenges nobody has solved before. For the OECD and US State Department to Harvard Medical School and the Chicago Architecture Center.
COLLABORATIONS
The problems have nothing in common. But the work does.
IN PROGRESS
A new framework for understanding and helping families facing pediatric cancer
UX for Good · Chicago
IN PROGRESS
A new institution helping nations recover from conflict and build more peaceful societies
Aegis Trust · Kigali, Rwanda
IN PROGRESS
A new approach to reinvigorating Chicago’s downtown
Chicago Architecture Center · Chicago
COMPLETED
The first-ever sequence for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals
OECD · Washington, DC
COMPLETED
A new model for using professional sports to build better cities
Chicago Architecture Center · Chicago
COMPLETED
A new funding model for nonprofit theater
Steppenwolf, Goodman, Lookingglass, Court & Writers Theatres · Chicago
SPEAKING
Unwritten Rules
Every organization runs on rules no one wrote down — invisible forces that determine what gets prioritized, who gets promoted, and whether change actually happens. Most leaders try to drive change by rewriting the formal rules. But it doesn’t work, because the unwritten rules always win.
In this talk, I show audiences how to surface these rules and use them — rather than fight them — to navigate office politics, lead more effectively, and drive real innovation.
Harvard Graduate School of Design · Stanford d.School · World Government Summit (Dubai) · Facebook · Microsoft · AT&T · MetLife · TEDx Lake Forest College · Business Innovation Factory · and 40+ other institutions, companies, associations, and conferences.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
“You call Jeff when there’s a problem you can’t solve. He’s better at it than anyone else.”
Russ Taylor
Executive Director
Foundations of East Chicago
“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.”
Steve Edwards
Chief Content Officer,
Chicago Public Media
“Jeff’s talk on unwritten rules was as insightful and thought-provoking as it was entertaining and engaging.”
Esther Lee
Global Chief Marketing Officer
MetLife
BOOK
See Think Solve: A Simple Way to Tackle Tough Problems
Most approaches to solving big problems assume people behave rationally — that if you give them the right information, the right incentives, or the right plan, they’ll change. They don’t. Human behavior is governed by invisible social norms that no one writes down and most people don’t notice. This book shows you how to see those norms and use them to create change that actually works.
ABOUT
Jeff Leitner
Organizations come to me when they want to do something they don’t how to do — when the ambition is clear but the path isn’t. The reason they’re stuck is almost never a lack of effort or talent. It’s that there’s something structural about the problem they can’t see. We find it, then we build something great around it.
I’ve done this with the US State Department, Harvard Medical School, the OECD, the Poetry Foundation, the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education, the Kigali Genocide Memorial, and dozens of other institutions.