I spent years researching a single paradox: why the defensive decisions leaders make under pressure so often produce the very outcomes they were trying to prevent. That research became my PhD and a framework I now call the Theory of Fear.

I'm not just a researcher. I've run my own education company, Learning Brains, since 2016, and I speak professionally on fear and decision-making. I've made fear-driven decisions in my own business and watched what they cost.

I am a speaker on PepTalk, where I share ideas on fear, pressure, and judgment in professional life.

There's a personal layer. I live with a metabolic condition that produces physiological anxiety without cause — which taught me at close range that the felt urgency of fear is rarely good evidence of the actual stakes of a decision.