oving husband to his wonderful wife, Anna, and adoring father to three bright, beautiful little boys—Benjamin, Lucas and Sébastien—Ari Meisel is a family-man first and foremost. He is also an author, speaker, coach and the creator of Leverage —an effective set of practices and principles designed to help the overwhelmed become more effective. A New York native, Ari spent his formative years in the Empire State before leaving to attend the University of Pennsylvania, where he obtained his degree from the prestigious Wharton School. Following his studies at Penn, Ari began a successful career in real estate development until the unexpected took him off-course in 2006: Crohn’s Disease.

Ari’s case was severe, and required over a dozen daily medications and several hospital visits. After reaching a personal low point in hospital, Ari decided he would do everything in his power to strengthen his by then weak body. Through a combination of yoga, nutrition, natural supplements and rigorous exercise (Triathon and Crossfit) he was able to fight back the symptoms of Crohns until he was finally able to suspend his medication. Eventually Ari was declared free of all traces of the ‘incurable’ disease, and competed in Ironman France in June of 2011. Ari has since spoken at seminars and at a regional TED Talk about his struggle against a seemingly insurmountable opponent. Through the process of data collection, self tracking, and analysis, Ari helped develop Leverage. This was a way of dealing with the daily stresses of life by optimizing, automating, and outsourcing all of his tasks in life and business.

You can read more about Ari here.

Josh Davis, Ph.D. is the author of Two Awesome Hours: Science-Based Strategies to Harness Your Best Time and Get Your Most Important Work Done. He holds a bachelors from Brown University and a PhD from Columbia University. His past work has included mechanical engineering, teaching in a Brooklyn Public High School, and serving on the faculty in the Department of Psychology at Barnard College of Columbia University. Currently, he is the Director of Research and Lead Professor for the NeuroLeadership Institute. He also coaches and trains individuals in the art of public speaking and managing being overwhelmed. His writing has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, strategy+business, Training + Development, People & Strategy, the NeuroLeadership Journal, and Psychology Today. He co-edits the NeuroLeadership Journal.

You can read more about Josh here.