Acting with Power with Melissa Jones Briggs ‘04

Can acting skills be valuable in the boardroom? How can we use the tools of theater and improvisation to enhance our leadership skills, foster authenticity, and navigate power dynamics? Well, we are about to find out. Melissa Jones Briggs is a Lecturer in Organizational Behavior at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and also serves as an Associate Fellow at the Oxford Character Project at the University of Oxford. She specializes in performance as a tool for social and organizational change. In this conversation, we explore the intersection of theater and leadership, talking about the importance of empathy, presence, and the role of personal power. The discussion also touches on the challenges of covering and uncovering identity in professional settings, the responsibility of the arts in social change, and the significance of relationships in defining success.Melissa Jones Briggs is a Lecturer in Organizational Behavior at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. Melissa specializes in performance as a tool for social and organizational change. She also teaches in the flagship Stanford Executive Program among others on campus in California. In the UK, Melissa serves as an Associate Fellow at the Oxford Character Project at the University of Oxford. Outside Academia, Melissa works with senior leaders and teams at some of the world's top corporations, VCs, hyper-growth startups, NGOs and national institutions. She has experience serving on the Board of Directors for both non-profit and educational (K-12) organizations. An honors graduate of Wake Forest University, Melissa also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, the Coaches Training institute, and the Actor’s Center Conservatory in New York. She divides her time between California and London with her husband Lee Briggs (‘02), their three daughters, and german shepherd dog.