Negotiation & Conflict Resolution Expert; Thaddeus R. Beal Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School; Co-Author of "Difficult Conversations"; Co-Founder of Triad Consulting Group

Boston, MA, USA

Sheila Heen Biography

Sheila Heen is a leading expert in negotiation and conflict resolution. She serves as the Thaddeus R. Beal Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School and as deputy director of the Harvard Negotiation Project, where she has contributed to the development of negotiation theory and practice. Heen specializes in complex negotiations involving high emotions and strained relationships. She is also co-founder of Triad Consulting Group, a consultancy focused on helping executives and teams manage high-stakes and challenging conversations.

Heen is the co-author of two New York Times bestsellers: "Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most" (with Douglas Stone and Bruce Patton) and "Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well (Even When It's Off-Base, Unfair, Poorly Delivered, and Frankly, You're Not in the Mood)" (with Douglas Stone). These works are widely referenced in the fields of communication, leadership, and organizational behavior. At Harvard, Heen teaches the Negotiation Workshop and participates in the executive education program at the Program on Negotiation, where she also collaborates on course design, including modules for PON Global and the PON Master Class.

Heen is a founder of Triad Consulting Group, a corporate education and consulting firm serving clients on six continents. The firm's client roster includes Pixar, Hugo Boss, the NBA, the Federal Reserve Bank, Ford, Novartis, Converse, and American Express. She works with executive teams to address conflict, repair working relationships, and support effective decision-making. In the public sector, Heen has provided training for organizations such as the New England Organ Bank, the Singapore Supreme Court, the Obama White House, and groups of theologians addressing disagreements over the nature of truth and God.

Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Harvard Negotiation Journal, and Real Simple. Heen is a frequent media guest, with appearances on shows including Oprah, NPR, Fox News, and CNBC's Power Lunch. She has spoken at Apple, Google, Microsoft, and the Global Leadership Summit. Heen is recognized for her ability to translate complex interpersonal dynamics into clear, actionable frameworks for audiences across industries and sectors.

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Speaker profile last updated by AAE Talent Team on 08/26/2026.

Sheila Heen Speaking Topics

  • Thanks for the Feedback (Even When It’s Off-Base, Unfair, Poorly Delivered, and Frankly, You’re Not in the Mood)

    High performance, collaboration and innovation rely on honest, continuous feedback. Yet every organization and every leader on earth struggles with performance feedback in one way or another. Honest feedback isn’t given, or if it is, it is met with defensiveness or demotivation. The usual solution—teaching managers how to give feedback more effectively—has failed to solve the problem. Sheila Heen turns conventional wisdom on its head and demonstrates why the smart money is on teaching leaders how to receive feedback well themselves and becoming role models for what they value and expect from those around them. Sheila’s warmth and authenticity helps even seasoned executives recognize their own (normal, human) triggered reactions to feedback: “that's just wrong,” “who asked you?” or “I’m not the real problem here.” She offers practical advice for turning even unskilled, crazy-making feedback into genuine learning. And once you get leaders motivated and eager to learn—willing to engage with others to see their blind spots and look at their own areas for growth—you get a modeling effect that quickly catches fire.

  • Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most

    Leaders, managers, colleagues and direct reports face difficult conversations every day, and as leaders become more senior, they spend more and more of their time tackling difficult conversations. These difficult conversations—conflicts between functions or geographies with key alliance partners or your biggest clients—are the complex messes that get kicked upstairs because no one below has clear answers. Handling these conversations efficiently is no longer just a good idea, it’s integral to the success of each leader, their division and ultimately, the entire organization. Failure comes at a high cost—conflicts that fester and consume energy, sap creativity and destroy teamwork.

    Based on 20 years of work at the Harvard Negotiation Project, this session provides a framework for understanding why some of our most important conversations are so hard, examines the common mistakes we all make, and offers a step-by-step method for handling them with less anxiety and better results. Tailored to the day-to-day challenges leaders face, this session offers insight and strategies for looking beneath the surface to understand disagreement, increase accountability, and manage your own reactions when under stress.

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Sheila Heen Videos

The Skill of Taking the "Third Position" in a Hard Conversation

The Skill of Taking the "Third Position" in a Hard Conversation

Sheila Heen is a New York Times best-selling author, founder of Triad Consulting Group, and a deputy director of the Harvard Negotiation Project at...

Mastering Difficult Conversations with Sheila Heen - YouTube

Mastering Difficult Conversations with Sheila Heen - YouTube

Sheila Heen Download the application guide: https://bit.ly/414PD2e Here's what we cover in this episode: -The three layers of a difficult ...

Sheila Heen — How to Navigate Hard Conversations, the Subtle Art ...

Sheila Heen — How to Navigate Hard Conversations, the Subtle Art ...

Sheila Heen of The Harvard Negotiation Project — How to Navigate Hard Conversations, the Subtle Art of Apologizing, and a Powerful 60-Day ...

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Sheila Heen is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as Thanks for the Feedback (Even When It’s Off-Base, Unfair, Poorly Delivered, and Frankly, You’re Not in the Mood), Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most and Speaking Up. The estimated speaking fee range to book Sheila Heen for your event is $50,000 - $100,000. Sheila Heen generally travels from Boston, MA, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Shawn Achor, Ryan Estis, Mike Abrashoff, Erica Dhawan and Robert Cialdini. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Sheila Heen for an upcoming live or virtual event.

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