About

Known as the Disaster Avoidance Expert, I am on a mission to protect leaders from dangerous judgment errors known as cognitive biases, which devastate bottom lines and bring down high-flying careers. My expertise and passion is developing the most effective and profitable decision-making strategies, based on pragmatic business experience and cutting-edge behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience, to empower leaders to avoid business disasters and maximize their bottom lines.

The bestselling author of several books, I am best known for my national bestseller on avoiding disasters and achieving success in business and other life areas, The Truth Seeker’s Handbook: A Science-Based Guide. My next book, Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters, is forthcoming with Career Press in November 2019. It’s the first book to focus on cognitive biases in business leadership and reveal how leaders can overcome these dangerous judgment errors effectively. After that I’m publishing The Blindspots Between Us: How to Overcome Unconscious Cognitive Bias and Build Better Relationships with New Harbinger in April 2020, the first book to focus on cognitive biases in professional and personal relationships and illustrate how we can defeat these dangerous judgment errors in our relationships. My cutting-edge thought leadership was featured in over 400 articles I published and over 350 interviews I gave to popular venues that include Fast Company, CBS News, Time, Scientific American, Psychology Today, The Conversation, Business Insider, Government Executive, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Inc. Magazine, and many others.

My expertise comes from over 20 years of consulting, coaching, speaking, and training for mid-size and large businesses and nonprofits. I serve as the CEO of the boutique consulting, coaching, and training firm Disaster Avoidance Experts, which uses a proprietary methodology based on groundbreaking research to help leaders and organizations maximize their bottom lines by addressing potential threats, seizing unexpected opportunities, and resolving persistent personnel problems. My clients include Aflac, Balance Employment Assistance Provider, Edison Welding Institute, Fifth Third Bank, Honda, IBM, International Coaches Federation, Ohio Hospitals Association, National Association of Women Business Owners, Sentinel Real Estate, The Society for Human Resource Management, RealManage, The Columbus Foundation, Vistage, Wells Fargo, the World Wildlife Fund, and over a hundred others, who achieved outstanding client results.

I also have a strong research and teaching background in behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience with over 15 years in academia, including 7 years as a professor at the Ohio State University and before that a Fellow at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. My dozens of peer-reviewed academic publications include journals such as Behavior and Social Issues, Journal of Social and Political Psychology, and International Journal of Existential Psychology and Psychotherapy.

My civic service includes over 4 years as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Intentional Insights, an educational nonprofit advocating for research-based decision-making and truth-seeking in all life areas. I also co-founded the Pro-Truth Pledge, a civic project to promote truthfulness and integrity for individual professionals and leaders in the same way that the Better Business Bureau serves as a commitment for businesses. I serve on the Advisory Board of Canonical Debate Lab and Planet Purpose and the Editorial Board of the peer-reviewed journal Behavior and Social Issues.

A highly in-demand international speaker, I have over two decades of professional speaking experience across North America, Europe, and Australia. I get top marks from audiences for my highly facilitative, interactive, and humor-filled speaking style and the way I thoroughly customize speeches for diverse audiences. Meeting planners describe me as “very relatable,” as “a snap to work with,” and as someone who “does everything that you would want a speaker to do.” Drawing on best practices in adult learning, my programs address the wide spectrum of diverse learning styles, as attested by enthusiastic client testimonials and references. I regularly share the stage with prominent leaders, for example recently speaking on a roundtable panel with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Elhadj As Sy, Chancellor of Austria Brigitte Bierlein, CEO of Penguin Random House Markus Dohle, and billionaire philanthropist and Chair of the Bertelsmann Management Company Liz Mohn. You can also check out this brief speaker demo video, this short TED-style keynote video, this hour-long opening keynote video, and other speaking videos, learn more about frequently requested programs, get information targeted at meeting planners, and see my Speaker One Sheet for more information on his speaking.

I earned my PhD in the History of Behavioral Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011, my M.A. at Harvard University in 2004, and my B.A. at New York University in 2002. I live in and travel from Columbus, OH. In my free time, I enjoy tennis, hiking, and playing with my cats, and most importantly, I make sure to spend abundant quality time with my wife to avoid disasters in my personal life.

Contact me at Gleb[at]DisasterAvoidanceExperts[dot]com, follow me on Twitter @gleb_tsipursky, Instagram @dr_gleb_tsipursky, Facebook, YouTube, RSS, and LinkedIn. Most importantly, help yourself avoid disasters and maximize success, and get a free copy of the Assessment on Dangerous Judgment Errors in the Workplace, by signing up for my free Wise Decision Maker Course.

I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.