Robert W. Livingston

Dr. Robert Livingston is a social psychologist and leading expert on the science underlying bias and racism in organizations. Prior to joining the Harvard Kennedy School in 2015, he held positions as Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, Associate Professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of Sussex, where he
was also area chair, and founder and faculty director of the Centre for Leadership, Ethics, and Diversity (LEAD).

His research has been published in top-tier academic journals and has also been featured in popular press outlets such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, BBC, Newsweek, USA Today, Time, and MSNBC.

His Harvard Business Review article “How to Promote Racial Equity in the Workplace” was the winner of the 2020 Warren Bennis Prize, awarded to the best article on leadership published in HBR each year. This article was also included in HBR at 100—a book showcasing the most influential and innovative articles published in Harvard Business Review over the last century.

His groundbreaking approach to combatting racism is detailed in his book The Conversation: How Seeking and Speaking the Truth about Racism Can Radically Transform Individuals and Organizations published by Penguin Random House in 2021. The Conversation was selected as a Financial Times Best Book of 2021, and was also nominated for a 2022 NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Literary Work”.

In his spare time, he enjoys jazz, wine and whiskey tasting, gastronomy, philosophy, cinema, interior design, and nature documentaries. He has resided in six countries and speaks four languages.