Paul Leonardi

Paul Leonardi, Ph.D., is Department Chair and Duca Family Professor of Technology Management at UC Santa Barbara. He holds appointments in the Department of Technology Management and the Department of Communication.

Dr. Leonardi’s research, teaching, and consulting focus on helping companies to create and share knowledge more effectively. He is interested in how implementing new technologies and harnessing the power of informal social networks can help companies take advantage of their knowledge assets to create innovative products and services. He is an expert on digital transformation. 

He has authored more than 70 articles that have appeared in top journals across the fields of Management, Communication, and Information Systems. He also publishes his work for managers and executives in outlets such as Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. He is the author of four books on technological innovation and organizational change, including the award-winning, Car Crashes Without Cars and Technology Choices. His latest book, The Digital Mindset: What it Really Takes to Thrive in the Age of Data, Algorithms, and AI (co-authored with Tsedal Neeley) is available now.

Dr. Leonardi is a Fellow of the Academy of Management and a Fellow of the International Communication Association. He has won major awards for his research from the Academy of Management, the American Sociological Association, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Association for Information Systems, the International Communication Association, the National Communication Association, and the National Science Foundation. He has also received two major teaching awards for graduate student mentorship and education.

Over the past decade, he has consulted regularly with companies on issues of digital transformation and organizational change. Recent engagements include work with Google, Microsoft, General Motors, Cisco, and YouTube. He is also a frequent keynote speaker for corporate trainings and user conferences on these and other topics related to innovation and change.