Leslie Rowley

Business adviser, Care taker, Connector, Consultant, Designer, Educator/Teacher, Idea generator, Musician, Parent, Performer, Producer, World traveler, Writer/Editor

In addition to being a behavioral scientist by training and trade, I am an organizational engagement leader and strategic content producer with nearly three decades of experience in mission-driven organizations and a reputation for building new programs and imbuing life with fun! I have produced in-person and online education-focused and entertainment-laden conferences for thousands; developed and led educationally-based international travel programs for groups number from a handful to hundreds; interviewed over 160 people on my four-years-strong podcast Roads Taken; taught seminar- and lecture-style courses for dozens of students at a time; and curated an intimate, ongoing “Living Well, Dying Well” book club bimonthly for seven years. I’ve worked in an opera house and the White House; I’ve been part of a consulting delegation to Saudi princes and have advised national non-profit directors; I’ve been a podcast host, a TV game-show host, and yacht rock garage band front woman; I’ve traveled in over 80 countries; I’m a former cellist, yogi, and mixologist and current songwriter, tea drinker, mother, roller skating fan, death doula, ice cream aficionado, and a big fan of dance parties. The post-it note on my desk I refer to most reads “Make someone feel special today.” It’s right next to a note from a friend that says “You are like human sunshine.” I strive to do and be those things daily. I live in New Jersey with my husband and two teens.

My passion lies in taking others on journeys—both physical and metaphorical. I love collaborating with experts in all fields to create experiences to move people, to bring them together in a sense of shared purpose, and to take them from one state of understanding to another. With my super-power of being able to see both the forest and the trees, I can not only envision the touch-points on that journey but also bring that vision to reality and produce life-changing experiences for whomever organizations need to engage. Whether in a classroom or boardroom, on a sailboat or a sales team, or at an intimate retreat (or massive TED conference), I love finding and sharing meaning with others. The projects that light me up right now are: Advising and nurturing the people and ideas affiliated with the SUGARMAN PRACTITIONER IN RESIDENCE program at the KAHNEMAN-TREISMAN CENTER FOR BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE & PUBLIC POLICY so that world-changing projects can spin out into the real world https://behavioralpolicy.princeton.edu/SugarmanPractitioners Helping organizations and individuals with their engagement strategy and activation through LJR ADVISORS https://ljradvisors.com/ Creating, producing and hosting the weekly interview podcast ROADS TAKEN, celebrating the twisting paths to and through midlife with a bunch of extraordinary ordinary humans just like you https://RoadsTakenShow.com Sustaining HEREAFTER PARTNERS, a curated set of resources and community for people to get comfortable with and prepared for death and dying as early as possible https://HereafterPartners.org/ Engaging with smart people with all sorts of lived and acquired experience on what "endings" means to them, to help inform a new course/book project/podcast. DM me and let me know what that word brings up for you. https://bit.ly/EndingsAdvisor (Also the music of Brand New Heavies, Molotov Jukebox, PostModern Jukebox, Indigo Girls, Sade, Satie, and Ravel)

Adjusting the way we approach endings can improve our individual and societal wellbeing. In Western society, we’re not great at endings. We try to prolong the life of a person or venture at all costs. We avoid planning for or merely talking about death. We can’t even let our movie franchises conclude, even after the ultimate “End Game.” Yet new initiatives often cannot begin without antecedents coming to a close. Pinpointing a true end point, however, can be tricky. Who has authority to declare the end of a political dynasty, artistic movement, global pandemic, cultural trend, your childhood? Even when some “official” definition exists for endings—recessions, wars, human life itself—questions can still linger as to whether it’s really over. My latest research explores the complexities of our relationship to endings and uncovers ways that behavioral science and other disciplines might inform a new approach to policy decisions (and general living) by helping us keep the end in mind. I start by asking the fundamental question of how we know when something is over, considering theological and philosophical conceptions of endings. Using individual experiences as a guide, along with disciplinary tools from economics, public health, art, military strategy, and other fields, I look at the psychological underpinnings of our resistance to endings and the sociological implications of our current approaches. I have collected stories from actors as diverse as mountain climbers, Trappist monks, Broadway producers, and those tackling America’s “digital divide” to illustrate endings that were unexpected, how some could have been anticipated, and when a new approach could have led to more optimal outcomes. I even look at cases in which finales were anticipated but never came—failed apocalyptic prophecies and death row reprieves—to reflect on the ways that belief and identity further complicate our relationship with the end. I am still collecting these stories and building a typology of and process for approaching endings and would love to hear from TEDsters about their endings experiences. Please find me and share! Endings happen, even if we may not want them to. I hope my work will help unpack what endings signify, in what contexts reframing could be beneficial, and how we might proactively craft endings and, ultimately, how this embrace may lead to time better spent before the end comes.

Applying social psychology and behavioral science to real-world interests, Creating and curating immersive, joyful experiences, Ice-cream eating, Listening, Making conversations about death/dying/aging/endings more normalized and accessible for younger cohorts of society

People don’t know I’m good at re-writing lyrics to well-known songs for special occasions (YMCA to celebrate a work milestone; a Minecraft-themed Call Me Maybe for a kid’s birthday) and rollerskating.