The University of Texas at Austin

Founder & CEO at Upgradable / Join our growing team!

Bali, Indonesia

Upgradable is an applied research lab trying to solve human flourishing. We conduct personalized upgrade experiments with ambitious clients who wish to fully optimize their lives and leave a profound legacy for the world. We use emerging technology, behavioral science, and applied rationality to help people set, plan, and plausibly achieve* their life goals. This is a lifelong research effort. We have a long way to go to know how to optimally upgrade human "hardware" and "software". *We're collecting data, but naturally this is a longitudinal study.

Upgradable

Founder

I consult, coach, and speak to help individuals and organizations change themselves and change the world. I use insight to incite change. Consulting: I've consulted for or advised 70+ social enterprises, non-profits, conscious businesses, and other mission-driven organizations. I do deep dives with selected clients to rapidly enhance strategy or execution. I've been in the trenches for a while, so chances are I've faced similar problems to the ones you're facing.  Coaching: I've professionally coached dozens of individuals and informally coached hundreds more over the last 20+ years. I prefer evidence-based coaching and am heavily influenced by solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), and internal family systems therapy (IFS). "Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." -John WatsonSpeaking: I've spoken 50+ times across 5 countries and 19 cities, including 3 times at TEDx. I give talks, emcee, moderate, facilitate workshops, conduct corporate trainings, and run simulations and games. I've also designed and led 150+ events myself, so I know the ins and outs of what event producers need to accomplish. If you want memorable, I can make that happen.

Insight Change

Principal

Stanford ChangeLabs is a transdisciplinary group within the Human Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute (HSTAR) focused on generating new theories and processes to drive transformation in global issues where scale, complexity, and urgency are all critical.I helped develop and test our pioneering framework for systemic social change, which we called "system acupuncture". I led our innovation and strategy consulting efforts using this and other frameworks with ResilientAfrica Network (RAN), an 18 university, 13 country, $22 million USAID-funded initiative designed to strengthen the resilience of African communities by nurturing and scaling social innovations. I coordinated our team of 9 full-time and part-time team members and managed relations with our clients and partners, including SAP, Hewlett Packard, Innovation Center Denmark, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and The Nature Conservancy. I also co-designed and facilitated multi-stakeholder workshops in California and Ethiopia on strategic planning, organizational innovation, systems mapping, design thinking, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation.

Stanford ChangeLabs

Senior Strategist

Effective Altruism Global is the premier conference for the effective altruism community, which was founded on the idea that by aligning evidence and reason with action you create 10x, 100x or even 1,000x more social impact with the same dollars and time.My company coordinated the team of 40 that ran EA Global San Francisco and EA Global Oxford (we also advised EA Global Melbourne). Collectively we had 825 participants, 100 speakers, and 20 partners. Elon Musk, Dan Ariely, and Peter Singer were our headliners and <a href="http://Google.org">Google.org</a>, UN Foundation, and Oxford University were key partners.It has since expanded to 10+ cities.

Effective Altruism Global

Co-Founder & Event Director

EA Ventures applied scientific rigor to identify and support projects with unusual potential for positive global impact. It has been replaced by Effective Altruism Grants.

Effective Altruism Ventures

Co-Founder

80,000 Hours uses the latest evidence to help you have the biggest possible impact with your career.

80,000 Hours

Advisor

Urban Prototyping (UP) Singapore was a first of its kind experiment using ground-up innovation to improve our urban environments through the creative use of technology and data. We held 16 events, including the first hackathon for social good in Singapore, a speaker series, a launch party, and an exhibition and mini-conference at World Cities Summit. Collectively, 750 people participated.We launched 30 new social enterprise prototypes to tackle pressing urban challenges. Hundreds more prototypes were launched since and S$1M+ raised.

Newton Circus

UP Singapore Co-Founder & Co-Director

- The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed." -William GibsonOur aim was to make behavior change 10X easier by leveraging the best of behavioral science and emerging technology.We built the world's first global lifehacking events series, the first that deeply integrates emerging technology, the first that publishes all outcome data, and the first that pays participants when they actually change.We held or inspired 100+ events in 10+ cities.

Self Spark

Founder & CEO

My partner invented a novel fishing method called Integrated Multi-Trophic Recirculating Aquaculture System (IMTRAS) and I helped him build a social enterprise around it. IMTRAS is many times more sustainable and efficient than competing systems. We built a 20,000 liter (room-sized) hatchery and a 200,000 liter (backyard-sized) holding tank capable of producing 17 tons of seafood annually.

OnHand Agrarian

Partner

We worked to bring a Singaporean Member of Parliament's vision of spreading social innovation throughout Asia to life. I led our efforts to bring a first in the world, multi-million dollar social innovation industrial park to tender stage. Ultimately a very small part of the park was built. I helped plan and execute Global Social Innovators Forum 2009, which drew 550 delegates, 38 speakers from 13 countries, and secured S$500K+. This was the largest social innovation conference in Asia, and one of the largest in the world.

Social Innovation Park

Catalyst

We built the foundation for a social innovation incubator in Austin, Texas. We launched online and held the first social innovation round table in Austin.

Austin Social Innovation Incubator

Polymath Project is a lifelong endeavor to build a bricks and mortar university for today's Leonardo da Vinci. We prototyped our classes online and in person, developed a unique pedagogical approach, and built a community of over 1,000 students and supporters.

Polymath Foundation

Founding Board Member

RoadStoryUSA was an educational family entertainment center concept pioneered by my mentor, serial entrepreneur Gary Hoover. We aimed to reinvent the museum industry by framing each museum as a store and incorporating theme park elements. We raised $7 million, but ran into the recession and couldn't get to launch. I was part of the founding team and focused broadly on "getting stuff done".

Story Stores, Inc.

Generalist

I created a research primer of the world's most innovative organizations working in aging for participants of the New Aging Enterprise conference. I also assisted with ideation, website usability, and marketing for the inaugural US$50,000 Dell Social Innovation Challenge, one of the first of its kind in the world.

RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service

Project Coordinator

I re-founded (it had disbanded) the University of Texas at Austin chapter of Break Away. We sent 41 students to 3 cities during their spring breaks to participate in Hurricane Katrina relief, volunteer with the Southern Ute tribe, and do environmental conservation. We ran it profitably, but opted for a co-op model where we returned all profits to the participants. I advised subsequent teams which sent similar numbers abroad to volunteer.

Alternative Spring Break

We trained 641 people in CPR, First Aid, and the use of AEDs over the first three years and subsequent teams have trained thousands more. Every year had been profitable, with total revenues and sponsorship of $100,000+. The model was replicated twice in other cities.

American Red Cross of Central Texas

Founder & Chair, Mass CPR Training

I catalyzed the development of the Youth Services Department for the 9-county chapter of the American Red Cross of Central Texas. As part of this effort, I co-founded the American Red Cross Club at The University of Texas at Austin, founded the Annual Mass CPR Training, co-founded the Youth Council, launched the Annual Leadership Development Retreat, and mentored the founders of the American Red Cross Club of Texas State University and American Red Cross Club of Bowie High School. I also founded two associated organizations: the Community Emergency Response Team - University of Texas at Austin and Emergency Response Coalition - University of Texas at Austin.

Co-Founder & Chair, Youth Services

I worked closely with our Principal Investigator Dr. Judy Langlois and her team to do pioneering social development research. Our lab was key in developing the concept that average faces are attractive faces. As an Undergraduate Research Assistant and then Lab Manager, I recruited and managed approximately 200 participants across five development psychology studies, from data collection to data analysis to thank you letters. I also supported neuroscience research on stereotype development in infants using state-of-the-art event-related potential (ERP) equipment.

James Norris

James Norris