I am a military history professor-turned-corporate strategist, armed with a PhD and a passion for unlocking the secrets of the past. As I ventured into business, I realized that my expertise in military history was the key to solving complex challenges across various functions - from strategy and operations to change management and innovation.

But there was one thread that bound them all together: empathy. It fascinated me how the power of empathy, buried within the annals of history, could shape the present and future of business. So I embarked on a mission to share this knowledge through captivating keynotes.

My book, Defend and Befriend, chronicles the greatest, yet unknown story of empathy in world history. It tracks a small group of U.S. Marines in the Vietnam War who leveraged the power of empathy to build a sustainable trust in the most unlikely of places. The marines, unbeknownst to them, actually laid the foundation for a unique empathy framework that companies today can use to build trust with customers and employees. After studying this group of marines for more than a decade, I have applied this empathy framework in the corporate world, which has yielded impressive business returns.