< Back to Speaker Page
Dr. Sam Potolicchio was named one of “America’s Best Professors” by the Princeton Review, the Future Leader of American Higher Education by the Association of Colleges and Universities and was also profiled in a cover story on his leadership curriculum by Newsweek Japan as the “Best Professor in America”.
Potolicchio is the President of the Preparing Global Leaders Forum and also teaches in Executive Education EMBA programs at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown and at the Mannheim Business School (Germany). He is a visiting lecturer at University of Bologna (Italy) and teaches two classes (US Political Systems and Preparing to Be President) to Georgetown University undergraduates.
He is a columnist for Newsweek Japan, a Distinguished Global Scholar at the Canterbury School of Fort Myers, and the lecturer on Leadership at the Library of Congress for COIL, an international leadership program of the United States Congress.
Potolicchio has served as the Distinguished University Professor, Department Chairman and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Political Science at RANEPA, Director of Global and Custom Education at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, a visiting Professor at NYU’s DC campus and co-taught with Senator Richard Lugar at UIndy’s Semester in Washington Program.
Potolicchio has delivered lectures in over 85 countries, from Oxford, LSE, Cambridge and Yale to Iraq’s Komar University and Donetsk State University. As a middle-school basketball coach he led his Little Hoyas to 6 league titles and previously served as a 5th grade Latin teacher, public high school teacher of Law and History and secondary school admissions officer.
B.A. Government, Georgetown; B.A. Psychology, Georgetown; M.T.S. Theology and Culture, Harvard; PRSE, Harvard; MA, Government, Georgetown; PhD, Government, Georgetown
You Aren’t Hamlet: Deciding In an Age of Information Surplus
Tuesday, February 4, 10:30 AM – 11:15 AM
Ever struggle deciding when to decide? Our indecision is often driven by our desire to make a perfect decision. As our access to information increases this tendency for decision-making procrastination magnifies. This session provides prescriptions for how to decide both more decisively and effectively by introducing a specific mindset that mitigates many of our decision making anxieties. Anchored by simulation exercise, we will provide a set of practical skills and habits of mind to make you a more confident, efficient and accurate decision maker.
Persuading Skeptics: How To Influence In a Polarized and Fragmented World
Wednesday, February 5, 9:15 AM – 10:00 AM
Track 1
We have the ability to spend more time with our tribes and nestle in our own idea cocoons. This has made the project of persuasion an uphill climb. Rooted in the latest cutting edge science and employing “in-the-trenches” experience from facing skeptical audiences in geopolitical hotspots around the world, this session provides 5 tangible tips to become a more able persuader. Participants will have a chance to hone their persuasive skills in a series of challenges.