Allison Shapira is an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she has taught The Arts of Communication for over a decade. An executive advisor and keynote speaker, she helps leaders build trust and influence through communication. She studies the science of believability in the age of AI.
She was recently inducted into the CPAE® Speaker Hall of Fame, an award recognizing the top 1% of speakers worldwide. For more than two decades, she has worked with executives at organizations from Bank of America to Intel to the World Bank. She has advised prime ministers, cabinet members, and newly-promoted senior leaders navigating high-stakes moments.
Her latest book, AI for the Authentic Leader, explores how leaders can integrate AI into their communication without sacrificing trust, credibility, or human connection. From corporate boardrooms to roundtables in Davos, she is helping define the leadership competencies of the future.
A trained opera singer turned entrepreneur, Allison brings personal experience to her work, having led teams and spoken or performed on stages of up to 35,000 people. One of the proudest moments of her life was performing the American national anthem for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. She found her authentic voice not through performing the operatic works of others, but through becoming a singer/songwriter and writing her own music.
Allison is a graduate of the mid-career Master of Public Administration program of the Kennedy School and is a past president of the Washington DC Alumni Council.
Her first two books were the Washington Post bestseller Speak with Impact and Speak with Impact VIRTUALLY. She writes for the World Economic Forum and Harvard Business Review and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, and Bloomberg.
Having studied ten foreign languages and worked across cultures worldwide, Allison helps leaders from different backgrounds communicate with authenticity and influence.
When she is not teaching or working with clients, Allison is also an athlete, sailor, and world traveler.