Sheena Iyengar
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- Columbia Business School Professor
- Director, Global Leadership Matrix
- Author, 'Think Bigger' & 'The Art of Choosing'
- Ernst & Young
- TED
- KPMG
- The North Face
- Deutsche Bank
- St. Joseph's Health Centre Foundation
- International Association of Privacy Professionals
- Publisher's Weekly
"Your talk was motivating – it really inspired me to think beyond my own abilities."
-Jason Wolfe, CEO/Founder"Thoroughly enjoyed your thought-provoking presentation. The model you are advocating is simple yet powerful."
-NY Angels Member"Thank you for your contribution to making the Women in Asian Business Conference in Singapore such an outstanding success. From the very positive feedback we have received, your presentation was a highlight of the agenda for many in the audience. The participation rate at the conference exceeded our expectation with almost 750 people attending the event and over 200 organizations from across the financial services, technology, media, consumer, agribusiness, construction, and natural resources sectors were represented at the conference. The event also attracted significant coverage in the Asian and European press, as well as on all major wires services. I personally believe the conference made a valuable contribution to advancing the discussion on the need for greater gender diversity in the workplace in Asia. There was a compelling case for how increased gender diversity in Asia can only improve business."
- Deutsche Bank"Sheena Iyengar was a big hit with the audience and really capped off our day of inspiring talks! "
- St. Joseph's Health Centre Foundation"We have heard so many rave reviews about your presentation at the IAPP Global Summit that it would be fair to say that the event was a huge success in great part due to your participation. So, thank you for working with us this year. "
-International Association of Privacy Professionals"Choice, perhaps the highest good in the American socioeconomic lexicon, is a very mixed blessing, according to this fascinating study of decision making and its discontents. Psychologist Iyengar cites evidence that a paucity of choice can damage the mental and physical health of dogs, rats, and British civil servants alike. But, she contends, choice can also mislead and burden us: advertising manipulates us through the illusion of choice; a surfeit of choices can paralyze decision making; and some choices, like the decision to withdraw life support from a loved one, are so terrible that we are happier if we delegate them to others. Iyengar draws on everything from the pensees of Albert Camus to The Matrix, but her focus is on the ingenious experiments that psychologists have concocted to explore the vagaries of choice. (In her own experiment, shoppers presented with an assortment of 24 jams were 1/10th as likely to buy some than those who were shown a mere six.) Iyengar writes in a lucid, catchy style, very much in the Malcolm Gladwell vein of pop psychology-cum-social commentary, but with more rigor. The result is a delightful, astonishing take on the pitfalls of making up one's mind."
-Publisher's Weekly"Prominent social psychologist Iyengar begins her unique and invigorating study of choice by telling the story of a man who survived for 76 days stranded alone in the middle of the ocean. He chose to live, Iyengar tell us, just as she has chosen not to let her blindness keep her from conducting prodigious research and intrepid experiments. Iyengar exponentially expands our understanding of the central role choice plays in the lives of animals and humans in a rapid-fire, many-faceted, and original inquiry that is at once personable and commanding. She explains our 'biological need for choice and control,' the decision process, and the myriad influences that dictate everything from purchasing choices to career moves, voting, medical decisions, and marriage. The daughter of Sikh immigrants from India, Iyengar is particularly astute in her globally significant analysis of the striking differences between how Americans and Asians make decisions. Much of this eye-opening anatomy of choice focuses on consumerism, a lively, revealing arena, but Iyengar's high-voltage curiosity and penetrating insights are far more valuable when applied to deeper matters of existence."
-Booklist"Columbia Business School professor Sheena Iyengar has spent the past 18 years studying how we make decisions and the ways our choices affect our lives. Here she probes choices ranging from soda brands to spouses and explains often surprising research on choice. From a survey showing that arranged marriages may produce more long-term happiness than love-marriages to a study concluding that people are more likely to buy jam if they're offered fewer flavors to choose from, The Art of Choosing is filled with insights likely to leave readers more careful about the choices they make."
-Worth Magazine"While the last decade has seen an outpouring of books on choice (many of which cite Iyengar's work, including Malcolm Gladwell's Blink), few can get as close to the topic as Iyengar, whose riveting research and insight comprise her new book, The Art of Choosing."
-Body & Soul Magazine"No one asks better questions, or comes up with more intriguing answers. "
-Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers"Sheena Iyengar's work on choice and how our minds deal with it has been groundbreaking, repeatedly surprising, and enormously important. She is someone we need to listen to."
-Atul Gawande, author of Complications and Better"An intimate, beautifully written, and deeply compelling book that examines both the art and science of making wise decisions. Choosing to read it should be the easiest choice you ever make. "
-Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness"Thank you for a terrific session last week with our management team! Everyone absolutely LOVED your speech - and the workshops were a fantastic way to apply the learning to our specific brand needs. Thank you for taking the time to organize insightful questions/topics, and guide our team through a well thought out brainstorming framework."
-The North FaceMany of us want that next great idea, but we often forget an important part: how?
Columbia Business School's DR. SHEENA IYENGAR has developed the Think Bigger framework, a six-step method for innovation that helps answer this question. Iyengar's work with AI, particularly through her "Choice Mapper" tool, demonstrates how AI can enhance our ability to innovate and make better choices. This talk explores the intersection of AI and human creativity, showing how technology can be leveraged to unlock our full potential.
Where do our best ideas come from?
In her course and book Think Bigger, DR. SHEENA IYENGAR presents a six-step method that draws on insights from neurological and cognitive science to unlock creative potential. This talk explores how anyone can generate innovative ideas by putting their mind to work effectively.
Innovation expert DR. SHEENA IYENGAR examines how artificial intelligence is reshaping creativity and decision-making at the leadership level. Drawing on her research into choice and innovation, she shows where AI can expand creative thinking and where human judgment still matters most. Leaders leave with a clearer understanding of how to use AI to enhance originality without losing direction.
Have you ever been told to grow up, get your head on straight, and stop dreaming? Luckily, we can learn to dream in a way that is not only intentional and adaptive but also inventive.
Drawing on her extensive research on choice and her unique experience, DR. SHEENA IYENGAR guides audiences through an iterative process to enable dreaming with greater hope, courage, and purpose.
In The Art of Choosing, Columbia Business School professor DR. SHEENA IYENGAR draws from her award-winning, discipline-spanning research to explore the "3 Cs" of choosing: Choice Overload, Culture, and Creativity. Iyengar delves into the intricacies of how we make choices and how those choices shape our lives. This talk covers a range of decisions, from the trivial to the profound, offering surprising insights into our decision-making processes and how we can improve them.
Key Takeaways from Dr. Iyengar’s speech:
- Find out what effective leaders need to know about choice and how to choose your way to success.
- Understand the differences in how people perceive choice, and its effect on what people want and how they act.
- Learn the effect that the ability to choose has on job performance. For example, Iyengar cited Google’s policy of allowing employees to work on their own projects for 20 percent of the time. Fifty percent of Google’s new products, including Gmail and Google Voice, have come out of employee projects.
- Discover how to give people the kinds of choices that will motivate them.
- Recognize how choice is viewed in different cultural contexts.
DR. SHEENA IYENGAR can’t grant you special powers, but she can help you understand the inner workings of choice. In particular, she can help you lead by choice, revealing what effective leaders need to know about choice and how to choose your way to success. Sheena believes that all of us can develop and benefit from leadership skills, no matter what title or position we hold, by learning to choose wisdom, compassion, and humility.


