Ajay Agrawal
Economist & Professor, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto | Founder, Creative Destruction Lab | Co-Author, Prediction Machines & Power and Prediction | Member, Order of Canada
Michaela Kerrissey
Award-Winning Harvard Professor of Management | Expert on Teaming, Psychological Safety & Collaboration | Creator of the '4 Ups' Model | Thinkers50 Radar
Michaela Kerrissey is an award-winning Harvard professor and one of the leading experts on the science of teaming and psychological safety. A professor of management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Thinkers50 Radar honoree, she studies how teams innovate, integrate, and perform under pressure. On stage, she gives leaders her research-backed '4 Ups' model, Speak Up, Listen Up, Team Up, Level Up, to build teams that thrive.
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Michaela Kerrissey biography
Leadership speaker Michaela Kerrissey is an award-winning Harvard professor and one of the world’s leading experts on how teams actually succeed. Where many leaders leave collaboration to intuition and chance, Kerrissey brings rigorous science to the question of what makes teams innovate, integrate, and perform, especially under pressure, complexity, and competing goals. Her research cuts through the buzzwords to show leaders what genuinely builds psychological safety, trust, and high performance, and what only appears to.
A professor of management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Kerrissey has authored more than 30 publications and won multiple best-paper awards, including from the Academy of Management. She was named to the Thinkers50 Radar list of the management thinkers most likely to shape the future, and frequently collaborates with Amy Edmondson, the pioneer of psychological safety, including on their widely read Harvard Business Review work. Her research appears in leading journals and outlets from Administrative Science Quarterly to Harvard Business Review.
The Science of Teaming
Much of Kerrissey’s work focuses on “teaming”, the dynamic, real-time collaboration that happens when experts must solve problems together, often as near-strangers and across organizational boundaries. At the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she designed the Management Science for a New Era course, she has distilled her findings into a practical framework she calls the “4 Ups”: Speak Up, Listen Up, Team Up, and Level Up. It gives leaders concrete, actionable moves to create the conditions in which teams communicate openly, integrate diverse expertise, and continually improve.
As a speaker, Michaela Kerrissey is rigorous, engaging, and refreshingly practical, translating cutting-edge research into tools leaders can use right away. She speaks on building psychological safety that goes beyond “being nice,” leading high-performing teams in complex and high-pressure environments, and helping experts collaborate without losing their edge. Audiences, from healthcare and life sciences to any expertise-driven organization, leave with a science-based playbook for teams that innovate, adapt, and perform when it matters most.
Michaela Kerrissey Speaking Videos
Michaela Kerrissey, PhD, MS, Harvard University - Leading in Complex Times Welcome Video
Effective Teamwork in Health Care: Expert Panel Discussion
Michaela Kerrissey Keynote Topics
Teaming, the fast, fluid collaboration required when experts must solve problems together, is core to almost every organization, yet it's usually left to intuition and chance. Drawing on her Harvard research, Kerrissey reveals what actually makes teams innovate, integrate, and perform, even when members are near-strangers, spread across geographies, or facing complexity and pressure. Audiences leave with a science-based understanding of what makes collaboration work, and what quietly undermines it.
Psychological safety has become one of the most talked-about, and most misunderstood, ideas in business. Kerrissey dismantles the common myths (that it means being nice, comfortable, or agreeable) and reframes it as something far more powerful: the ability to speak up, question, challenge, and share hard truths without fear. She gives leaders a practical blueprint for building the kind of candid, learning-oriented environment that drives real performance in an uncertain world.
Based on the framework she developed, Kerrissey offers leaders four concrete moves that transform how teams work together: Speak Up, Listen Up, Team Up, and Level Up. She shows how these behaviors foster a climate of psychological safety, sharpen communication, and help teams integrate diverse expertise and keep improving. A highly actionable keynote that gives every leader and team member specific things to start doing differently tomorrow.
In science, medicine, pharma, and other expertise-driven fields, teams often must perform in high-stakes, high-pressure moments, coordinating with people they barely know on decisions that truly matter. Kerrissey draws on her research in these demanding environments to show how leaders can build trust fast, help experts collaborate without ego, and sustain performance without burnout. Essential insights for any organization whose success depends on brilliant people working brilliantly together.
Speaker topics
FAQs on Booking Michaela Kerrissey
Why Michaela Kerrissey?
Booking Michaela Kerrissey brings audiences a rising star of management science who pairs Harvard-level research authority with genuinely practical, actionable frameworks. She is one of the clearest thinkers on teaming and psychological safety, two of the most important, and most misunderstood, drivers of team performance, and she translates rigorous science into tools leaders can apply immediately. Warm, credible, and refreshingly clear, she helps organizations move past buzzwords to build teams that actually collaborate and perform. She is ideal for events on leadership, culture, teamwork, healthcare and life sciences, and high performance. To bring Michaela Kerrissey to your next event, contact Aurum Speakers Bureau.
Who is Michaela Kerrissey?
Michaela Kerrissey, PhD, is an award-winning professor of management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and one of the leading experts on teaming, psychological safety, and collaboration. Her research examines how teams and organizations innovate, integrate, and perform, with a particular focus on science, medicine, and other expertise-driven industries. She has authored more than 30 publications, won best-paper awards from the Academy of Management, and was named to the 2023 Thinkers50 Radar list of top management thinkers. She designed the Management Science for a New Era course at Harvard, frequently collaborates with psychological-safety pioneer Amy Edmondson, and holds a PhD in Healthcare Management from Harvard University and Harvard Business School.
What is Michaela Kerrissey's "4 Ups" model?
The "4 Ups" is the practical framework Michaela Kerrissey developed to help teams collaborate and perform: Speak Up, Listen Up, Team Up, and Level Up. Each represents a set of concrete behaviors that, together, create a climate of psychological safety and effective teamwork, encouraging people to voice ideas and concerns, genuinely hear one another, coordinate across differences and boundaries, and keep raising the bar. Rather than treating collaboration as something that either happens or doesn't, the model gives leaders and teams specific, actionable moves to build the conditions for open communication, shared expertise, and continuous improvement, even in complex, high-pressure environments.
What topics does leadership speaker Michaela Kerrissey cover?
Michaela Kerrissey speaks on the science of teaming, psychological safety beyond "being nice," her "4 Ups" model for high-performing teams, and leading expert teams under pressure. Her keynotes suit events on leadership, culture, teamwork, healthcare and life sciences, and high performance. To book Michaela Kerrissey as a speaker, contact Aurum Speakers Bureau.
How to book Michaela Kerrissey as a keynote speaker?
Aurum Speakers Bureau can help you book Michaela Kerrissey as a speaker for your next event, conference, or board meeting. Simply fill out our contact form to inquire about Michaela Kerrissey's availability for a speaking engagement. One of our booking agents will respond to your request immediately and contact the speaker to let them know you want to hire them. We will assist you with obtaining speaking fees, booking information, and confirming availability for Michaela Kerrissey or any other top keynote speaker or celebrity of your choice.
How much is Michaela Kerrissey speaking fee?
Michaela Kerrissey speaking fees are determined by several factors, including the event's date, whether it's a virtual or in-person event, the duration, format, preparation required for their speech, and more. The same applies to the cost to hire any other top expert speakers and celebrities. The Speaker Fee Range listed on our website is simply a guideline and is subject to change without notice. If you would like to hire Michaela Kerrissey to deliver a keynote speech for your event, please fill out the contact form or email us at info@aurumbureau.com with as much detail as possible. One of our experienced agents will get in touch with you and let you know exactly how much it will cost to book Michaela Kerrissey.
How can I contact Michaela Kerrissey?
We only work with Michaela Kerrissey on paid speaking engagements. Aurum Speakers Bureau can assist you in booking Michaela Kerrissey and will handle all negotiations, contracts, and logistics associated with having Michaela Kerrissey speak at your event. We will be your sole point of contact throughout the process. Get in touch with Aurum Speakers Bureau today, and we will reach out to any motivational speaker or celebrity you want to enquire about speaking at your event. If you wish to contact Michaela Kerrissey for any other reason, we will be unable to assist you as we are not authorized to provide personal contact information.
Can I book Michaela Kerrissey for a virtual keynote?
Yes, Michaela Kerrissey is available for virtual keynotes and webinars. To book Michaela Kerrissey for a virtual event, please complete the contact form or send us an email to inquire about the special fees for virtual engagements.
