Maria Konnikova
Maria Konnikova is renowned for her expertise in decision-making, trust, and resilience in uncertain environments. A bestselling author, psychologist, and international poker champion, Maria combines insights from her Ph.D. research and real-world experiences to deliver transformative keynotes that resonate with audiences.
Maria dives deep into the science of human decision-making through her groundbreaking work on how our brains process risk, trust, and uncertainty—and why we so often fool ourselves when under pressure. Combining behavioral science with insights from high-stakes poker, Maria reveals the cognitive biases and emotional traps that shape our judgments. Her analysis of how stories influence behavior offers powerful tools for advisors navigating complexity. Prepare to engage with science-backed psychology that uncovers what drives our choices—and how to make better ones.
Maria is the author, most recently, of The Biggest Bluff, a New York Times bestseller, one of the Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2020, and a finalist for the Telegraph Best Sports Writing Awards for 2021. She is the co-host, along with Nate Silver, of “Risky Business,” a weekly podcast from Pushkin and iHeartRadio, and the author of the weekly Substack “The Leap.”
Her previous books are the bestsellers, The Confidence Game, winner of the 2016 Robert P. Balles Prize in Critical Thinking, and Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, an Anthony and Agatha Award finalist. Maria is a regularly contributing writer for The New Yorker whose writing has won numerous awards, including the 2019 Excellence in Science Journalism Award from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology.
Her expertise has been featured at prestigious events like TED, the World Economic Forum at Davos, and SXSW. She graduated from Harvard University and received her Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University.