Leslie John, PhD

Biography

Leslie K. John is a behavioral scientist and a Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Professor John’s research seeks to understand the ways in which, and the conditions under which, people make decisions that appear to run counter to their interests. She focuses on understanding the implications of these decisions for both firms and society in two domains: privacy and health. Professor John has disseminated her research to practitioners not only through written articles but also by speaking with them directly, delivering talks and presentations to audiences including Facebook, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Currently, she teaches on the topics of Negotiation, Marketing, and Behavioral Economics in various Executive Education courses, including in the Program for Leadership Development. She has also taught in both the required and elective MBA curricula. Professor John received her PhD in Behavioral Decision Theory, Psychology & Economics, at Carnegie Mellon University.