Leigh L. Thompson

Leigh L. Thompson is the J. Jay Gerber Distinguished Professor of Dispute Resolution and Organizations and Professor of Management and Organizations at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She also directs the Kellogg Team and Group Research Center and holds a courtesy appointment in psychology at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Her principal research areas include negotiation, creativity and innovation, teamwork, and virtual communication.

Thompson received her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in 1982, her master’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1984, and her doctorate from Northwestern University in 1988. Before joining Kellogg, she taught at the University of Washington. She has been a faculty member at Northwestern University since 1995.

A substantial part of Thompson’s research addresses how individuals and groups negotiate, manage conflict, and improve cooperation and collective performance. Her studies have examined cognitive biases in negotiation, gender and stereotypes, group decision-making, trust, team creativity, and collaboration in face-to-face and virtual environments. Her collaborative research on gender stereotypes in negotiation has also been recognized as influential by the Conflict Management Division of the Academy of Management.

Thompson is the author or co-author of several major books on negotiation and teamwork. Her best-known works include The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator, Making the Team, Creative Conspiracy: The New Rules of Breakthrough Collaboration, The Truth About Negotiations, and Negotiating the Sweet Spot. In 2022, she co-authored Advanced Introduction to Negotiation with Cynthia Wang.

Thompson has also been extensively involved in executive education. At Kellogg, she directs programs on high-impact teams, advanced negotiation skills, and constructive collaboration, and has developed numerous courses and educational resources on negotiation, teamwork, and collaboration. Her online course on leadership, teamwork, and negotiation has also reached a broad audience of learners.

A central theme of Thompson’s applied work is that negotiation and teamwork do not depend solely on innate talent; they consist of skills that can be taught, practiced, and improved. Her books and courses translate findings from social psychology and organizational behavior into practical tools for negotiators, managers, and team members, demonstrating how conflict can be managed, creative collaboration fostered, and the quality of group decisions improved.