ABOUT

Jake Breeden

Jake partners with leaders at large companies to harness the full potential of individuals and unlock high performance in teams.

Human-Centered Facilitation

Jake Breeden is founder and Chief Idea Breeder of Breeden Ideas. He teaches on the University of Virginia's Darden Executive Education and Lifelong Learning faculty. Previously he has taught on the executive education faculty at the business schools of Duke, UNC and Cornell.

Jake was V.P. and head of global learning at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and he co-founded Sapien Experience, an EdTech startup that builds custom business simulations for learning outcomes. His past clients have included Deloitte, Google, Coke, Merck, Starbucks and IBM.

He holds a BA from University of South Carolina, an MS from Boston University, and an MBA from Duke University.

In 2013 he wrote Tipping Sacred Cows: Kick the Bad Work Habits that Masquerade as Virtues (Jossey-Bass, 2013). He lives in Durham, NC, USA.

He has facilitated workshops in more than 50 countries over the past 20 years, with a focus on a broad set of topics, including:

High performance teaming

Strategic decision making

Building trust-based relationships

Delivering high performance communications

Innovating through collaboration

Creating psychological safety

Challenging the status quo

Celebrating pivots

A few samples of Jake’s past work over the years:

For newly promoted partners at one of the world’s largest professional service firms, he facilitated The Art of Empathy, an in-person workshop series designed to help build strong client relationships.
For 5,000 employees at a global pharmaceutical firm, he co-created and co-delivered CARE (Creating Adaptability and Resilience Experience) a series of virtual workshops focused on the health and well-being of associates.
For senior leaders at a global consumer goods company, he created and delivered a series of workshops on challenging the status quo and creating innovation through better collaboration.
For 2,500 directors at a large global tech company, he created and orchestrated a series of in-person workshops to help build leadership and strategy skills, including team-based decision making and overcoming unconscious bias.