The Perkins Platform

The creator and author of The Life Brief, a simple yet profound action-driving practice that helps people navigate life’s big decisions with clarity, creativity and courage, Bonnie Wan joins us to share her work. The Life Brief applies the art and science of brand strategy to how we live our lives. As a 30-year career Brand Strategist turned Life & Leadership Strategist, Bonnie not only helps some of the world’s most iconic companies innovate from a place of purpose, but also guides everyday people live with greater intention and imagination. She has been named Chief Strategy Officer of the Year and one of 100 Women to KNOW in America.

Listen in today for an exciting conversation with distinguished scientist and practitioner in human behavior, recognized by the U.S. Department of State as a top 1% expert, Dr. Abbie Maroño discussing body language, trust and influence in leadership. She has provided specialized behavior analysis training to elite units, including the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which comprises agents from the Secret Service, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and local law enforcement. Earning her PhD in Psychology, Abbie became a Professor of Psychology at 23 and now serves as Director of Education at Social-Engineer, LLC, specializing in behavior analysis. She contributes regularly to Forbes and Apple News and has been featured on BBC News, WIRED, and Forbes Breaking News. Abbie was honored as Reviewer of the Year for her significant contribution to the academic community. Additionally, she is an author, expert consultant, coach, and a TEDx speaker.

Join us on Wednesday, December 4 @ 6pm EST for an exciting conversation with professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, Elizabeth Klerman to discuss her research on the impact of humans being awake after midnight. Dr. Klerman’s research focuses on applying circadian and sleep research principles to human physiology and pathophysiology. She also uses mathematical analysis and modeling to study human circadian, sleep, and objective neurobehavioral performance and subjective (self-reported) mood and alertness rhythms.

On the next episode of The Perkins Platform, I am thrilled to welcome the brilliant sociologist Dr. Jennifer Patrice Sims! A trailblazer in the study of race, identity, and the social constructs that shape our world, Dr. Sims brings an unmatched depth of insight to our discussion. Dr. Sims is the author of three groundbreaking books, including the recently released, The Fallacies of Racism (2024), Mixed-Race in the US & UK (2020), and The Sociology of Harry Potter (2012). Her work has sparked conversations globally, challenging how we think about race, racism, and the ways these ideas are shared and reproduced. With accolades like the Stanford M. Lyman Distinguished Book Award and the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award, Dr. Sims’ impact on the field of sociology—and on her students—is nothing short of remarkable.  Join our conversation on Wednesday, November 27 (6pm) for what promises to be an amazing conversation!

Get ready for an insightful episode of *The Perkins Platform*! Join us as we welcome Professor Collins, a renowned expert in race and ethnic politics, urban policy, and democratic theory. Together with our host, he dives into his groundbreaking research on public participation at school board meetings and tackles a pressing question: are school boards "broken"? Drawing on insights from his upcoming book, *Democracy Speaks: School Board Governance through Deliberative Culture*, Professor Collins reveals how democratic school board practices can reshape urban education policy. Don’t miss this compelling conversation about the future of school governance and what it means for our communities!  Jonathan E. Collins is an assistant professor of political science and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Professor Collins also serves as the associate director of the Center for Educational Equity. Before joining the Columbia University faculty, he was the Mary Tefft and John Hazen White Sr. Assistant Professor of Political Science, Education, and International and Public Affairs at Brown University.

Join us on Wednesday, October 16 @ 6pm EST for an exciting conversation with passionate advocate for women’s advancement and a key advisor for leaders tackling retention and growth challenges, Deepa Purushothaman. With over 20 years at Deloitte, she became the first Indian-American woman to make partner and led the US Women's Initiative. Her acclaimed debut book, The First, The Few, The Only, won multiple awards and was named a Financial Times best business book. Deepa founded re.write, a think tank promoting a new work narrative, and is an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School. She collaborates with the Aspen Institute on talent discussions and is launching a podcast series called The Leadership Rewrite. As a board member of Avasara and the Rutgers Center for Women in Business, she works to advance women in leadership. A sought-after keynote speaker, Deepa has addressed audiences worldwide, including at the United Nations and Disney. Her TED talks have garnered over 3 million views, and she regularly contributes to the Harvard Business Review. Deepa holds degrees from Wellesley College, Harvard Kennedy School, and the London School of Economics, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and four pets.

Senior policy analyst for K-12 Education at the Center for American Progress, Paige Shoemaker DeMio joins us to discuss her recent article about states reducing qualifications of teachers. As a former high school social studies teacher, Paige has a passion for designing inclusive and comprehensive curriculum and creating education policy that will ensure a more equitable education system in the United States. Shoemaker DeMio earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio University and a Master of Public Administration degree from The Ohio State University. Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, October 2 @ 6pm EST!

Research Associate at University of Waterloo, Canada, Maksim Rudnev joins us to share his research on how logical thinking and empathy define wisdom. He is a quantitative social scientist interested in human values, wisdom, and social perception, as well as their development across various cultures and countries. He focuses on understanding the substance of cultural (in)variability and the methods intrinsically linked to cross-cultural inference. Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, September 25 @ 6pm EST!

High-performance psychologist, author and one of the world’s leading experts on the relationship between the mind and human performance, Dr. Michael Gervais joins us to share his advice for achieving mastery. He has developed a framework for mental skills and practices that help individuals and teams excel under pressure. His clients include Super Bowl champions, Olympians, top athletes, and Fortune 50 CEOs. Gervais has supported Team USA in multiple Olympic Games and hosts the popular podcast Finding Mastery, which has over 25 million downloads. His latest book, The First Rule of Mastery, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in November 2023. Gervais also created the online course Finding Your Best and co-founded the Performance Science Institute at USC Marshall School of Business. He holds a doctorate in psychology with a focus on sport performance and a master’s in kinesiology. Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, September 18 @ 6pm EST!

Professor and Chair of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University’s ILR School and author, Vanessa Bohns joins us to discuss her book, You Have More Influence Than You Think: How We Underestimate Our Power of Persuasion, and Why It Matters. She holds a PhD from Columbia University and an AB from Brown University. Her research has been published in top academic journals in psychology, management, and law, and her research and writing have been featured in media outlets such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and the Economist. Professor Bohns is an expert in social influence, compliance, consent, why it’s so hard to ask for things, and why it’s so hard to say no. Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, September 11 @ 6pm EST!

Principal Consultant at True Culture Coaching & Consulting based in Northern Virginia, Dr. Shawna M. Gann joins us to share her work on racial ambiguity and multi-racial experiences. She specializes in Organizational Culture and DEI solutions, focusing on inclusive practices and empowering organizations to support authenticity and belonging. Dr. Gann's research and work emphasize creating welcoming environments for racially ambiguous and multiracial employees. Her global experiences in Italy, Germany, The Czech Republic, and South Korea enrich her DEI insights. She serves on the Justice Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advisory Board for Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability and hosts the podcast Our True Colors. Outside work, Dr. Gann enjoys music, dance, karaoke, and spending time with her family and their three whippet pups. Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, September 4 @ 6pm EST!

Join us on Wednesday, August 28 @ 6pm EST for an exciting conversation with public philosopher, Jonny Thomson to discuss his latest book, Mini Philosophy: A Small Book of Big Ideas. Jonny runs the social media accounts Mini Philosophy (@philosophyminis), a community of 500,000 across three platforms. He’s a staff writer at Big Think, where he writes about philosophy, theology, psychology, and occasionally other subjects when he dares step out of his lane. He is the bestselling author of three books: Mini Philosophy, Mini Big Ideas, and Mini Psychology. Before turning to writing full-time, Jonny taught philosophy at Oxford University for ten years. Jonny lives in North Oxfordshire with his wife, two young sons, and an aggressively fecund apple tree.

Social psychologist who studies our moral minds and how best to bridge political divides, Kurt Gray joins us to discuss his upcoming book, Outraged: Why we Fight about Morality and Politics (Pantheon) and the research related to it. Gray received his PhD from Harvard University, and now directs the Deepest Beliefs Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also leads the Center for the Science of Moral Understanding, which explores new ways to reduce polarization, and is a Field Builder in the New Pluralists, which seeks to build a more pluralistic America. Gray’s work on morality, politics, religion, creativity, and AI has been widely discussed in the media, including the New York Times, the Economist, Scientific American, Wired, and Hidden Brain. He is also the co-author of the book The Mind Club: Who Thinks, What Feels and Why it Matters (Viking). And he frequently speaks at public events—including 3 TEDx talks—and for many different organizations. Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, August 21 @ 6pm EST!

Join us on Wednesday, August 14 @ 6pm EST for an informative conversation with neuroscientist and physicist, Kelly Clancy to discuss her book, Playing with Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World. Kelly has held research positions at MIT, Berkeley, University College London and the AI company DeepMind. Her research focuses on uncovering the principles of intelligence, and she has invented novel brain-computer interfaces to investigate the biological underpinnings of agency. Her essays on neuroscience and AI have appeared in Wired, Harper’s and The New Yorker!

Tune in for our Special Segment with Harvard trained nutritional psychiatrist, professional chef, nutritional biologist and author of the international bestseller, This is Your Brain on Food, Dr. Uma Naidoo. She joins us to discuss the impact of sugars on decision-making, leadership and focus. Dr. Naidoo founded and directs the first and only hospital-based Nutritional Psychiatry Service in the USA. She is the Director of Nutritional and Metabolic Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital & Director of Nutritional Psychiatry at the MGH Academy while serving on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Naidoo has been invited by the World Economic Forum to consult on their New Frontiers of Nutrition initiative. After being one of only four US physicians to be invited to meet personally with HRH The Prince of Wales, she was asked to collaborate with HRH and the UK College of Medicine on a public health Brain Food project. She is currently developing the first and only CME based educational program at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard to educate other clinicians globally about nutrition for brain health. Dr. Uma has appeared as a Nutritional Psychiatry expert on Live with Kelly & Ryan, Today Show, 700 Club, ABC, and been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Thrive Global, Harpers, Shape, Parade, Boston Globe, AARP, and more. Tune in for this special broadcast!

Join us on Wednesday, July 31 @ 6pm EST for an exciting conversation with Margot Machol Bisnow to discuss her book, Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams - 99 Stories from Families Who Did. Margot is a writer, wife, and mom from Washington, DC. For the last 10 years, she has spoken to parent groups about raising fearless, creative, confident, resilient entrepreneurial children who are filled with joy and purpose. She has a BA in English and an MBA, both from Northwestern, and spent 20 years in government, including as an FTC Commissioner and staff director of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. In the 1990s she established a non-profit that set up economic think tanks in Eastern Europe’s emerging democracies. Margot served as an Advisor to EQ Generation, an after- school program in New York City that gives children the skills to succeed; on the Advisory Board of the MUSE School in Malibu, that prepares young people to live consciously through passion-based learning; and on the Board of Spark the Journey in Washington DC, that mentors low-income high school students to achieve college and career success.

Join us on Wednesday, July 31 @ 6pm EST for an exciting conversation with Margot Machol Bisnow to discuss her book, Raising an Entrepreneur: 10 Rules for Nurturing Risk Takers, Problem Solvers, and Change Makers. Margot is a writer, wife, and mom from Washington, DC. For the last 10 years, she has spoken to parent groups about raising fearless, creative, confident, resilient entrepreneurial children who are filled with joy and purpose. She has a BA in English and an MBA, both from Northwestern, and spent 20 years in government, including as an FTC Commissioner and staff director of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. In the 1990s she established a non-profit that set up economic think tanks in Eastern Europe’s emerging democracies. Margot served as an Advisor to EQ Generation, an after- school program in New York City that gives children the skills to succeed; on the Advisory Board of the MUSE School in Malibu, that prepares young people to live consciously through passion-based learning; and on the Board of Spark the Journey in Washington DC, that mentors low-income high school students to achieve college and career success.

A bill signed into law recently makes Louisiana the first and only state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every classroom in public schools and colleges. Listen in to my thought-proking conversation with one of the nation's foremost authorities on religion and schools to discuss this decision and share his expertise, Dr. Charles J. Russo, M.Div., J.D., Ed. D.  Dr. Russo is the Joseph Panzer Chair in Education in the School of Education and Health Sciences, director of its Ph.D. program, and research professor of law in the School of Law at the University of Dayton.  He was the 1998-99 president of the Education Law Association, and 2002 recipient of its McGhehey (Achievement) Award. He. has authored or co-authored more than 300 articles in peer-reviewed journals; authored, co-authored, edited or co-edited 81 books, and has more than 1,300 publications. Dr. Russo also speaks extensively on issues in education law around the globe. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law on the Faculty of Law at the Sydney Campus of Notre Dame University. Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, July 24 @ 6pm EST!

Highly successful speaker and trainer, captivating audiences nationwide with his expertise and charisma, Andy Craig joins us to discuss a leader's role in inspiring a team and reducing workplace burnout. With a BA in Speech Communications from the University of Washington, Andy has navigated various industries, ultimately finding his passion in speaking and sales. He began coaching in 2006 and became a certified Thinking Into Results Facilitator in 2012. Andy ran for U.S. Senate in Oklahoma in 2014, co-authored "The Change 3" in 2015, and has since delivered impactful seminars across 30 states, engaging numerous Fortune 500 companies. A licensed Ziglar Master Coach and Ziglar Legacy Certified Trainer, Andy gained international acclaim with his bestselling book, "Passion Power: Discover the 3 Indispensable Keys to Your Success." His message on achieving breakthroughs and overcoming limiting beliefs resonates globally, further highlighted by his recent features in In The Know Magazine and Influence Magazine as an Influence 100 Authority. Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, June 26 @ 6pm EST!

Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and co-director of the Stanford Center for Sleep and Circadian Sciences, Dr. Jamie Zeitzer joins us to share the results of his recently released study about individuals that work late into the night. Dr. Zeitzer is a Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and co-directs the Stanford Center for Sleep and Circadian Sciences. He is also a Health Science Specialist at the Palo Alto VA. He has more than 25 years of research experience in sleep and circadian rhythms across a wide variety of organisms, including humans. His more than 150 papers on the impact of light, use of wearables, and physiology, have been cited more than 12,000 times. Tune in for this broadcast on Wednesday, July 10 @ 6pm EST!