Maria Konnikova

Drawing on her bestselling book The Confidence Game and years of investigating the psychology of deception, Maria Konnikova reveals how and why even the smartest people fall for persuasion traps. She translates the mechanics of trust and confidence into practical lessons that help teams communicate more effectively, strengthen client relationships, and spot vulnerabilities before they become costly mistakes. Audiences walk away with a sharper understanding of human behavior—and how to ethically harness it for better business outcomes.

As a New York Times–bestselling author who became a professional poker champion during her research, Maria shows audiences how the game’s strategic principles illuminate everyday choices. She demonstrates how to distinguish signal from noise, weigh imperfect information, and make smarter decisions under pressure. Her stories from the poker table bring these lessons to life, offering actionable insights for leaders, innovators, and teams navigating uncertainty.

Maria combines academic expertise in psychology with hard-won experience at the poker table to show how emotion management directly impacts performance. She teaches audiences how to recognize cognitive and emotional patterns that undermine discipline—and how to replace them with habits that improve clarity, resilience, and judgment. Her practical tools resonate with professionals facing high-stakes environments, constant deadlines, or emotionally charged decision-making.

With a PhD from Columbia and years studying cognitive science, Maria breaks down how learning actually happens—and how to structure environments that accelerate it. She illustrates how feedback loops, pattern recognition, and deliberate practice shape expertise, using poker as a powerful metaphor for adaptive learning. Teams gain a deeper understanding of how to build skills efficiently, retain information, and foster a culture of continual improvement.

Maria helps audiences shift from binary thinking to a more realistic, probability-centered view of the world—an essential skill for leaders and organizations operating amid uncertainty. Drawing from psychology and poker strategy, she explains how to evaluate risk, update beliefs, and make informed bets even when outcomes can’t be predicted with certainty. Her insights empower audiences to become clearer thinkers, more strategic planners, and more confident decision makers.