Michael J. Gelb is an American author, executive coach, and management consultant who has spent four decades helping individuals and organizations unlock their creative potential. Born in 1952, Gelb studied psychology and philosophy at Clark University before earning a master's degree in Psychophysical Re-education from Goddard College. He became a certified teacher of the F.M. Alexander Technique — an early influence that would shape his lifelong focus on the connection between mind, body, and learning.
In 1982, Gelb founded High Performance Learning, a consulting enterprise that has served clients at organizations including DuPont, Microsoft, Merck, and the U.S. Army. His breakthrough came with the 1998 publication of How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day, a landmark work that applied Renaissance principles of curiosity, imagination, and whole-brain thinking to modern personal and professional development. The book became an international bestseller and established Gelb as one of the world's foremost authorities on creativity and innovation. He followed it with Lessons from the Art of Juggling (co-authored with Tony Buzan), which explored how learning complex physical skills mirrors the process of mastering any new discipline.
Beyond da Vinci, Gelb has drawn on the lives of history's greatest innovators — from Thomas Edison to Charles Darwin — to distill timeless principles for leaders and learners. He is a senior fellow at the Center for Humanistic Management and serves on advisory boards at Fordham University's Gabelli School of Business and the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business. At Nightingale-Conant, his audio programs bring the same wit, depth, and practicality that have made his books beloved worldwide, offering listeners a hands-on path to cultivating genius in everyday life.
