Influential Woman · Education Leadership

Francesca Gino

Instructor, Maven

Cambridge, MA

5Awards received

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Honorary Degree from Harvard Cert Honorary Degree from Harvard Cert Multi-certified Executive Coach

Her Story

About Francesca

My work is research-driven and built for leaders who want real change. I partner with leaders to get clear on what they want to achieve, create alignments, and strengthen how they lead and work together. Then I help them cascade that ambition throughout the organization and develop leaders to embrace it. I have had the opportunity to see transformations not pan out, and so I believe that the success that comes with any organizational transformation or team transformation, or really even personal transformation, depends on whether we understand the ambition we're after, and then we own it and carry that forward at every level. My teaching these days is often either in organizations, I also teach for a platform called Maven, so I teach courses on negotiation and influence for now, or I might be coaching executives, so it's more personal transformation. Or I might be advising senior leadership teams. I love that work, and it's quite bespoke, so it looks different project by project.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Francesca

01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I'd say to think about the questions that are truly worthy of your attention, so that you can identify things that you're interested in, but that can also solve problems for and help leaders think through the challenges that they're facing. Sometimes, in doing research or in teaching, we oversimplify and we lose some of the nuance that I think is critical when real leaders or real employees are trying to apply the framework and ideas that we teach. And so I would ensure I spend time with people in their work, truly understanding the challenges that they're facing, so that what you end up studying and teaching is truly meaningful and impactful.

02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I had a big professional setback since my position at Harvard was revoked in 2025, for something I didn't do, and so it was a major setback. I found myself having to truly imagine what is possible and thinking about how to rebuild and restart. I think that is something that I thought a lot about, and I'm hoping to continue capturing lessons of what my experience taught me since sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we don't feel prepared for the moment. And we are resilient, and so I hope in the future to teach about that.

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