Suneel Gupta
Bestselling author of Backable and Harvard instructor; Expert on The Changing World of Work, Resilience, Beating Burnout, and Human Performance
FEE RANGE: $20,000–$35,000 [FEE NOTE]
TRAVELS FROM: Michigan
As the founding CEO of RISE, a breakthrough wellness company, Suneel Gupta helped thousands of people build better habits for life and work. Now as a bestselling author, host of an American Express Docuseries & podcast, and Visiting Scholar at Harvard Medical School, Suneel has taken his mission one step further – helping organizations and teams reach peak performance by lifting their people’s emotional resilience. He asks the question, “How can an organization excel on the outside if its people are exhausted on the inside?” Suneel challenges our reliance on grit, which is also scientifically associated with exhaustion. Instead, he offers leaders and teams new, science-based ideas for our changing world of work – habits for beating burnout and boosting long-term creativity, innovation, and productivity. Gupta is a writer, entrepreneur. son of immigrants, husband of a rockstar, father of two brave little girls.
Suneel is an expert at accelerating growth and innovation. In less than two years, he helped grow Groupon from a tiny startup into a multi-billion dollar company. Prior to serving as Groupon’s first vice president of product, he built products for Mozilla, blogged for MTV, developed television concepts for Sony Pictures, led trade efforts in Ghana, wrote speeches in President Clinton’s West Wing, and produced an interactive film project with his brother, Dr. Sanjay Gupta (CNN), which debuted at South by Southwest. He since founded and serves as the CEO of RISE, which is tackling the obesity epidemic through personalized mobile technology, and his company successfully raised funding from Greylock and Google.
In presentations, he looks at how to spark and accelerate innovation and capitalize on disruptions to build a digital product from scratch. He also shares insights on how to manage the hyper-growth that follows.
Suneel is an expert on lean product development, and was handpicked by Eric Ries to be the closing keynote speaker at the Lean Startup conference in 2011. He's been heralded as one of the most inspiring product speakers in the country by leaders at Deloitte and Walgreens. He has guest lectured at universities around the world, including Stanford University.
Suneel is also a lawyer and filmmaker. He started his career in the Clinton White House where he served as a speechwriter, learning from West Wing staffers like Michael McCurry and Rahm Emanuel. A few years later, he was asked to co-author the national platform for the Democratic Party.
In the media world, he blogged for MTV and produced the Kahani Movement, an interactive film project about the first generation of Indian-Americans, which debuted at South by Southwest with his brother, Dr. Sanjay Gupta (CNN). He also worked for the president of Sony Pictures Television when the studio was investing in new creative concepts like Breaking Bad.
Suneel has always moved quickly. In less than six years total, he earned a BS from the University of Michigan, an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, and a JD from Northwestern University School of Law.
In presentations, he looks at how to spark and accelerate innovation and capitalize on disruptions to build a digital product from scratch. He also shares insights on how to manage the hyper-growth that follows.
Suneel is an expert on lean product development, and was handpicked by Eric Ries to be the closing keynote speaker at the Lean Startup conference in 2011. He's been heralded as one of the most inspiring product speakers in the country by leaders at Deloitte and Walgreens. He has guest lectured at universities around the world, including Stanford University.
Suneel is also a lawyer and filmmaker. He started his career in the Clinton White House where he served as a speechwriter, learning from West Wing staffers like Michael McCurry and Rahm Emanuel. A few years later, he was asked to co-author the national platform for the Democratic Party.
In the media world, he blogged for MTV and produced the Kahani Movement, an interactive film project about the first generation of Indian-Americans, which debuted at South by Southwest with his brother, Dr. Sanjay Gupta (CNN). He also worked for the president of Sony Pictures Television when the studio was investing in new creative concepts like Breaking Bad.
Suneel has always moved quickly. In less than six years total, he earned a BS from the University of Michigan, an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, and a JD from Northwestern University School of Law.
Topics:
- Beating Burnout by Being Backable: A Recipe for Authentic Resilience
In this one-of-a-kind talk, audiences will learn the art of reframing failure at work to dramatically reduce the risk of burnout. Drawing on the principles outlined in his bestselling book Backable and on the latest neuroscience, Suneel Gupta deconstructs some of the most common myths of high performance, showing leaders and teams why strategies grounded in relentless positivity or a white-knuckled approach to “grit” usually backfire. Instead, Gupta shares practical techniques for managing stress and anxiety while building resilience—in part by focusing on the qualities that make people and teams “backable,” including authenticity and trust—and on the concrete, daily practices that boost perseverance and morale. As the CEO of Rise, which helped thousands of people overcome challenges with physical and mental health, Suneel set out to help people become more resilient—a topic he continues to explore as an instructor for Harvard Medical School. - The Changing World of Work: Connecting Well-Being and Performance
- Accellerate Your Performance Without the Burnout
In the face of an exhaustion epidemic, it’s time to rethink how we view high performance. Grit and hustle have their place but are also scientifically associated with burnout. As CEO of RISE, Suneel Gupta helped thousands of people overcome their challenges with physical and mental health. He now helps organizations increase performance, innovation, and creativity by showing why high-potential people and teams fizzle out. They don’t run out of time or talent, they run out of energy! This presentation is rooted in Suneel’s one-of-a-kind teaching at Harvard Medical School, as well as eight years of closely studying the habits of extraordinary leaders who reached breakthrough levels of productivity, resilience, fulfillment, and momentum.
Actionable Takeaways Tailored to Each Audience:
– Learn why managing energy is as important as managing time
– Build emotional runway and avoid burnout with science-based practices
– Discover habits from some of the happiest cultures on Earth
– Master everyday practices for boosting morale and engagement
– Reframe failure as a pathway to success
– Master the changing work landscape with less stress - Get Backable: Why Some Ideas Move Ahead While Others Get Ignored
The future belongs to organizations that fully engage their people in the effort to adapt swiftly to relentless change. But in the changing world of work, building community, collaboration, and connection has become harder than before. Creating a culture that spawns fresh ideas is only half the battle – showing people how to move their ideas forward is the other half that most leaders and organizations miss. When people understand how to get a new idea “backed” by colleagues, customers, and communities…big things happen. Breakthrough ideas rise to the surface, projects proceed faster and smarter, and organizations become magnets for top talent.
Actionable Takeaways Tailored to Each Audience:
– 7 ways to turn a new idea into an inspiring vision that captivates attention and inspires action
– How extraordinary leaders create a spirit of inclusion, collaboration, and community
– Learn the “Game of Now” and why extraordinary leaders don’t wait for the timing to be exactly right
– Embrace a new path to high performance that beats burnout and boosts innovation, creativity, and momentum
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