Todd Kashdan
Author, Professor of Psychology & Senior Scientist of the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being, George Mason University
SPEAKER FEE RANGE: Please Inquire
TRAVELS FROM: Virginia
A world recognized authority on well-being, strengths, social relationships, stress, and anxiety, Dr. Todd Kashdan has published over 185 articles in peer-reviewed journals and is the author of The Upside of Your Dark Side: Why being your whole self - not just your “good” self - drives success and fulfillment (Hudson Street Press) and Curious? Discover the missing ingredient to a fulfilling life (HarperCollins). His books have been translated into 15 languages. Kashdan is Professor of Psychology and Senior Scientist at the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being at George Mason University. He has been named Distinguished Faculty Member of the Year at George Mason University and received the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology. He is a scientific advisor of Time, Inc., National Geographic, Merck, and the Templeton Foundation.
Dr. Todd Kashdan’s life is devoted to understanding how people can improve the quality of their lives and offering the tools to do so. Todd uses cutting edge science to help people function optimally in life and business.
Since receiving a Ph.D. in clinical psychology (2004), Todd has published over 175 peer reviewed journal articles on how to foster and sustain happiness and meaning in life, strength use and development, stress and anxiety, mindfulness, gratitude, social relationships, and self-regulation. These contributions have been recognized by the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology (2013) and Distinguished Research Fellow Award from the International Society for the Quality of Life (2012).
As a central figure in the scientific study of well-being, Todd authored Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life (Harper Collins), to provide cutting edge research on how to achieve a well-lived life. In Todd’s latest best-selling book with Robert Biswas-Diener, The Upside of Your Dark Side: Why being your whole self - not just your good self - drives success and fulfillment (Hudson Street Press), we offer a message driven by the latest science: emotional and social agility trumps positivity.
Todd is a scientific advisor for Time, Inc., National Geographic, and Merck. I offer keynotes and workshops to organizations as diverse as the United States Department of Defense, the World Bank, Hormel, General Mills, Gensler, the Gap, and Standard Chartered Bank. My research has been featured in hundreds of media outlets, including multiple articles in the Harvard Business Review, New York Times, and Washington Post. What is unique about Todd is that he is a clinical psychologist, professor, well-being researcher, author, and TEDx speaker, who uses science to improve the lives of people and the quality of organizations.
Since receiving a Ph.D. in clinical psychology (2004), Todd has published over 175 peer reviewed journal articles on how to foster and sustain happiness and meaning in life, strength use and development, stress and anxiety, mindfulness, gratitude, social relationships, and self-regulation. These contributions have been recognized by the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology (2013) and Distinguished Research Fellow Award from the International Society for the Quality of Life (2012).
As a central figure in the scientific study of well-being, Todd authored Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life (Harper Collins), to provide cutting edge research on how to achieve a well-lived life. In Todd’s latest best-selling book with Robert Biswas-Diener, The Upside of Your Dark Side: Why being your whole self - not just your good self - drives success and fulfillment (Hudson Street Press), we offer a message driven by the latest science: emotional and social agility trumps positivity.
Todd is a scientific advisor for Time, Inc., National Geographic, and Merck. I offer keynotes and workshops to organizations as diverse as the United States Department of Defense, the World Bank, Hormel, General Mills, Gensler, the Gap, and Standard Chartered Bank. My research has been featured in hundreds of media outlets, including multiple articles in the Harvard Business Review, New York Times, and Washington Post. What is unique about Todd is that he is a clinical psychologist, professor, well-being researcher, author, and TEDx speaker, who uses science to improve the lives of people and the quality of organizations.
- Mastering Resilience: The Art and Practice of Emotional and Social Agility
What underpins a person’s ability to bounce back from life’s most challenging moments? How can we train ourselves and other people to handle adversity? In this session, you will gain strategies for becoming stronger, wiser, socially connected, and better equipped to experience frequent moments of tranquility. By the end of this session, participants will be able to…
· Communicate about emotions and psychological flexibility
· Discover the psychological obstacles in the way of experiencing success and fulfillment·
· Learn multiple strategies for being more curious, open, and able to pursue valued goals despite the presence of pain - Emotional Agility
While mindfulness, kindness, and positivity can take us far, they cannot take us all the way. Sometimes, they can even hold us back. Fortunately, there is a solution: emotional and social agility. Emotionally agile people are highly attuned to the fact that success is about using the correct emotional resources in each unique situation. Socially agile people know what part of their personality is ideal to get the best possible outcome when interacting with others.Companies that push for positivity unwittingly create a culture in which workers don't have an outlet for the very real negative feelings that bubble up from time to time. This results in office backstabbing, water cooler gossip, disengagement, and turnover. Scientists have also discovered that instead of being a buzz-kill skeptics are crucial to vetting bold ideas that actually translate to market success. We make a grave mistake in prematurely discarding parts of our personality that feel uncomfortable or are not socially desirable to talk about in public. Kashdan will teach you how to appreciate and harness each side of your personality and in turn, become whole. Join him for a rich, lively, and wildly entertaining dialogue. You will learn practical strategies to attain greater success, meaning in life, vitality, and healthy relationships. - The Science of Work Well-Being
What does the research say about the science of happiness at work? How can we measure well-being in the workplace? What can you do to increase vitality, productivity, commitment, courage, and creativity in the workplace? What can you do to better handle transitions from work to home? Why is it important to invest in well-being from a business perspective? The answer to these questions will be provided. This includes learning and practicing practical strategies for great leadership inside and outside of the workplace. - Relentless: The Science of Strength Use and Development
Based on cutting-edge research, it has become clear that detecting and harnessing psychological strengths is an overlooked and powerful tool for successful work and relationships. Dr. Kashdan will lead an interactive, skills-building workshop exploring how to assess, use, appreciate, and develop strengths in the workplace. - Unlocking the Power to Think Differently: Where Can Your Curiosity Take You?
Asking questions and being curious every day can fuel both personal and professional growth and propel us to success. In his keynotes and interactive sessions, Kashdan discusses how curiosity and relentless questioning will lead you down a path of discovery, creativity, innovation and growth. Participants will take a curiosity self-assessment and learn how curious they are and how curiosity and the power of inquisitive thinking impacts their overall well-being. The session will include open discussion, audience participation, and concrete take-aways. - Optimizing Social Relationships
Nothing has a greater impact on quality of life than the presence of significant, meaningful relationships. Recent decades have seen a remarkable growth in research on how relationships at work can promote greater work engagement, productivity, and creativity. Kashdan will discuss several strategies for cultivating healthy relationships including net positive energizers, how pain serves as social glue, the power of curiosity when socializing, how to negotiate conflict, harnessing strengths in work teams, the Michelangelo phenomenon, the chameleon effect, and more. Kashdan will teach you how to effectively engage in tough conversations, and how to best influence and persuade other people. With this informative, entertaining, and interactive talk, set yourself up for long-term success at work and home. - Leadership Requires a Maverick Mindset
In this interactive talk, Kashdan will critically evaluate common practices in the discussion, study, and implementation of psychological interventions in organizations. The biggest problem is that researchers and consultants ignore how organizations operates. Yes, there are various strategies that can be used to improve the lives of individuals. However, these strategies cannot be blindly applied to teams and cultures. Attention must be given to a firm fact of organizations—“the machine has to run”. In the second phase of this talk, the shift is from problem to solutions. The focus is on the pragmatics of cultivating creativity in the real-world—where uncertainty, complexity, and volatility is a given because we cannot control what other people do or how the market behaves. The solutions center on the reversal of popular proverbs such as the power of negative thinking and the need to sweat the small stuff. Expect several deviations from best-selling leadership books.
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