Full Name
Jeff Eggers
Speaker Bio
As a senior policy advisor, security professional, and leadership consultant, Jeff Eggers leverages 20+ years of experience managing strategic efforts and leading high-stakes, high-performing teams during his time with the White House, Department of Defense, and the U.S. Navy. Eggers explains why humble leadership is more important than heroic leadership, why leadership’s role is to cultivate rather than control, how a sense of “we” is the common thread amongst all high-performing teams — ranging from Formula One Racing to the Tokyo String Quartet to Navy SEALS — and why the most significant risk factors to a corporation are internal.
A former Special Assistant to the President for National Security affairs for President Obama, Eggers was responsible for oversight of critical and sensitive aspects of U.S. foreign and national security policy. Six years of White House experience, to include four years as the National Security Council’s Senior Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Credited with the mediation and resolution of the 2014 Afghan presidential electoral crisis, Eggers facilitated a political agreement which resulted in a unity government and peaceful inauguration. As a result, he was presented with the Samuel Nelson Drew Award by President Obama for “Distinguished Contribution in Pursuit of Global Peace.”
A researcher in behavioral science and consultant on leadership and organizational performance, Jeff founded and ran the McChrystal Group Leadership Institute, managing engagements with Fortune 500 clients requiring assistance with organizational performance, leader-development and culture shaping. Prior to joining McChrystal Group, Jeff worked with a diverse mix of clients across varying industries, to include an NBA franchise where he helped with leader succession planning. He has taught courses in change management, leadership, and public policy for organizations such as U.S. intelligence agencies, the Foreign Service Institute, and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He was also an Adjunct Senior Analyst for the RAND Corporation, where he completed a study on “Adaptability in Large Organizations” for the U.S. Air Force.
Jeff retired from the U.S. Navy following a successful 20-year career as a U.S. Navy SEAL with extensive operational and combat leadership experience. Jeff’s operational tours included several SEAL Teams, commander of the Special Operations Task Unit in western Iraq, and Operations Officer and Mission Commander for the U.S. Navy’s undersea special operations command. Jeff also served as a strategic advisor on national security matters, to include the mid-2013 change of mission in Afghanistan, enabling an end to the U.S. combat mission and shifting emphasis to Afghan security forces. He also shepherded the negotiation and signing of the U.S.-Afghanistan Strategy Partnership Agreements and served as a Strategic Advisor to General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of NATO ISAF — a broad coalition of over 100,000 U.S. and parent national personnel assisting the Government of Afghanistan to promote sustainable security.
Jeff was previously a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, conducting research on the intersection of behavioral science, organizational design, and complexity toward novel solutions that revitalize American prosperity through mitigation of cognitive error and more rational U.S. policy-making. In this role he has served as an expert witness to the Senate Armed Services Committee. He is also a member of the NationSwell Council, a forum for advancing innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges in America. Finally, Jeff is a board member of the Special Operations Fund, non-profit that cares for and assists the families of special operations veterans killed in action.
Eggers is the co-author of the national best-seller Leaders: Myth and Reality and has published in esteemed academic journals and media outlets such as Fortune, Foreign Policy, Politico, U.S. News and World Report, amongst others.
A former Special Assistant to the President for National Security affairs for President Obama, Eggers was responsible for oversight of critical and sensitive aspects of U.S. foreign and national security policy. Six years of White House experience, to include four years as the National Security Council’s Senior Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Credited with the mediation and resolution of the 2014 Afghan presidential electoral crisis, Eggers facilitated a political agreement which resulted in a unity government and peaceful inauguration. As a result, he was presented with the Samuel Nelson Drew Award by President Obama for “Distinguished Contribution in Pursuit of Global Peace.”
A researcher in behavioral science and consultant on leadership and organizational performance, Jeff founded and ran the McChrystal Group Leadership Institute, managing engagements with Fortune 500 clients requiring assistance with organizational performance, leader-development and culture shaping. Prior to joining McChrystal Group, Jeff worked with a diverse mix of clients across varying industries, to include an NBA franchise where he helped with leader succession planning. He has taught courses in change management, leadership, and public policy for organizations such as U.S. intelligence agencies, the Foreign Service Institute, and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He was also an Adjunct Senior Analyst for the RAND Corporation, where he completed a study on “Adaptability in Large Organizations” for the U.S. Air Force.
Jeff retired from the U.S. Navy following a successful 20-year career as a U.S. Navy SEAL with extensive operational and combat leadership experience. Jeff’s operational tours included several SEAL Teams, commander of the Special Operations Task Unit in western Iraq, and Operations Officer and Mission Commander for the U.S. Navy’s undersea special operations command. Jeff also served as a strategic advisor on national security matters, to include the mid-2013 change of mission in Afghanistan, enabling an end to the U.S. combat mission and shifting emphasis to Afghan security forces. He also shepherded the negotiation and signing of the U.S.-Afghanistan Strategy Partnership Agreements and served as a Strategic Advisor to General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of NATO ISAF — a broad coalition of over 100,000 U.S. and parent national personnel assisting the Government of Afghanistan to promote sustainable security.
Jeff was previously a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, conducting research on the intersection of behavioral science, organizational design, and complexity toward novel solutions that revitalize American prosperity through mitigation of cognitive error and more rational U.S. policy-making. In this role he has served as an expert witness to the Senate Armed Services Committee. He is also a member of the NationSwell Council, a forum for advancing innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges in America. Finally, Jeff is a board member of the Special Operations Fund, non-profit that cares for and assists the families of special operations veterans killed in action.
Eggers is the co-author of the national best-seller Leaders: Myth and Reality and has published in esteemed academic journals and media outlets such as Fortune, Foreign Policy, Politico, U.S. News and World Report, amongst others.
Speaking At
