Dennis Perkins

Dennis Perkins is Chief Executive Officer of The Syncretics Group, a firm devoted to effective leadership and teamwork in demanding environments. Dennis has studied leaders and teams facing conditions of extreme challenge – a place he calls The Edge – the outer limits of human endurance. Based on his research, Dennis has identified critical strategies that enable leaders and teams to reach their greatest potential in any challenging environment.

Dennis’ passion to understand The Edge has taken him to disparate places – to Antarctica, where he retraced the footsteps of famed explorer, Ernest Shackleton; and to Australia, where he sailed with the crew of the Midnight Rambler, winners of the challenging 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race. He subsequently completed the 626 nautical-mile race, often called the Everest of offshore racing, as a crew member on a Volvo 60 racing boat.

Dr. Perkins has worked for over thirty years as a trusted advisor to senior leaders and teams in organizations ranging from Fortune 100 corporations to nonprofit associations. He is a highly, sought-after keynote speaker and an accomplished author. His riveting leadership and teamwork presentations feature dramatic stories recounted in his best-selling books, Leading at The Edge and Into the Storm.

A graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Dennis served as a Marine infantry officer in Vietnam. He subsequently received his MBA from Harvard University, and a PhD in psychology at The University of Michigan. Before he founded The Syncretics Group, Dennis was a faculty member at the Yale University School of Management.

Dr. Perkins has written extensively on leadership, teamwork and organizational effectiveness. He is the author of Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition; Into the Storm: Lessons in Teamwork from the Treacherous Sydney to Hobart Ocean Race. Managing Change: The Challenge of Building a New Organization; Racing through the Storm: Building Exceptional Teams in Extraordinary Times; and Using the Power of Resonant Metaphor to Increase Leadership Effectiveness.

Education

• Master of Business Administration (MBA) with Distinction Harvard Business School
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) University of Michigan
• Master of Arts (MA) University of Michigan
• Bachelor of Science (BS), with Distinction United States Naval Academy