Daena Giardella

Daena Giardella is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a Faculty Affiliate of the MIT Leadership Center. She has been an organizational leadership consultant and executive coach as well as a media, communication, and presentation consultant for over twenty-five years. At MIT Sloan, she teaches the course Improvisational Leadership and numerous workshops for the Sloan Intensive Period (SIP), the Sloan Fellows MBA and Executive MBA programs, and the MIT Sloan Executive Education programs. Her areas of expertise include helping leaders navigate difficult conversations, constructively frame conflict, and lead diverse teams that foster innovation. She teaches interactive skills-based workshops and training programs where leaders learn to respond to implicit bias, sexual harassment, and bullying through improvised scenarios. She frequently speaks on topics related to women and leadership in business.