Have you ever wondered why you perform better with some people over others? Would you like to know the one secret ingredient to effective interactions that shows how to turn around difficult situations, how to get others to want to help you, and how to transform adversaries into partners? Dr. Jeannie Kahwajy’s deep curiosity around interpersonal effectiveness led her to Stanford in three different graduate programs (an engineering master’s in decision science, an MBA, and a PhD in organizational behavior and social psychology) in pursuit of one answer: how can numerical minorities (or novel ideas) gain their first supporter and get ahead in majority dominated, status quo preferring organizations. Her research gets beyond descriptions of what to do and shares prescriptions of how to do it, including the counterintuitive and seemingly paradoxical reality of succeeding with humility.

Dr. Kahwajy is the founder and CEO of Effective Interactions, a consulting firm that specializes in personal effectiveness and organizational achievement. She has shared her innovative approach around the globe, with senior executives in the Fortune 100 and high-growth start-ups as well as at educational and governmental institutions. Her mission is to help others unleash their best for the world.

Dr. Kahwajy is scheduled speaker at TEDxSanJoseCA Women — The Space Between Head and Heart — on December 1, 2012.