Mary Shapiro

For more than 30 years, Shapiro has focused on advancing individuals of multiple social identities into leadership, and in improving the productivity of teams.  She has done so in the capacity as professor, executive trainer, scholar, and consultant.

As a Fellow of Simmons University’s Institute of Inclusive Leadership and as a consultant, Shapiro works with organizations to build a work culture that enables all people to fully contribute; and with individuals to make their best contributions by navigating the often unintentional and unrecognized barriers they face as women, people of color, and introverts. This continues Shapiro’s 30 years of teaching at Simmons School of Business as a professor of Organization Behavior and in the inaugural endowed position of the Trust Professorship of Leadership when she developed a university-wide undergraduate leadership curriculum.

Shapiro researches and publishes in the areas of women and their careers; organizational efforts in moving towards gender equity; and in teams. In addition to journal articles, her books include The HBS Guide to Leading Teams, published by Harvard Business School Press, which captured the strategies and stories from 25 years of working with teams, and two books on interviewing and career strategies recognizing the nuances of many dimensions of diversity. Her case studies featuring women protagonists leading change are distributed through Harvard Business School Press. She developed The Communication Styles Diagnostic, an online tool that has been used by thousands of managers to improve their effectiveness with individuals and teams.

Throughout her career, Shapiro has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, private institutions, and non-profits, including organizations such as CVS, Liberty Mutual, Harvard University, and Partners Health Care. She works with numerous Boards of Directors and for 12 years served on the Executive Board of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts (GSEMA). In addition to her dedication to Girl Scouts, for 25 years she has raised funds for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute through the Pan Mass Challenge, a 200-mile bike ride. She received her M.B.A. and M.S. Economics from Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.

For more information, visit her LinkedIn profile.

Programs Mary Teaches

Leading More Effective Teams
Introverts as Leaders: Quiet Power as a Leadership Strength