Katrina Alcorn

Blogger, Brainstormer, Concerned citizen, Consultant, Designer, Environmentalist, Parent, Web guru, World traveler, Writer/Editor

Katrina Alcorn is an author, consultant, and expert on why women burn out at work. Her first book, MAXED OUT: American Moms on the Brink, (Seal Press, Sept. 2013) is a brave truth-telling about her own experience burning out as a working mom. Her writing has appeared in TIME.com, Huffington Post, Alternet, The San Francisco Chronicle, HONOLULU Magazine, and iVillage, and she is often interviewed for stories related to women and work for major media outlets such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, Business Week, and CBS National News. Katrina has spent more than a decade leading strategic consulting engagements with companies from Fortune 500s to large non-profits in a variety of industries, and has spoken at more than a dozen conferences internationally, including The Commonwealth Club and the Web 2.0 Expo. She is an engaging public speaker who has spoken at more than a dozen conferences internationally, including The Commonwealth Club and the Web 2.0 Expo. She is available to speak at conferences and corporate events. Her personal story of "maxing out" as a full-time working mom provides the backdrop to talks about women and the workplace. Katrina holds a master's degree in journalism and documentary filmmaking from UC Berkeley. She lives in Oakland, CA with her husband and three children.

My kids. The New Yorker and great long-form journalism. Good design. Creating positive and creative work environments. Work-life balance. Yoga. Social justice.

Let's challenge the idea that to be an effective leader, one must work long hours. 150 years of research has proven that... 1. Most people assume that if you increase your hours by, say, 50%, you will get 50% more work done. Not true. 2. For industrial workers, productivity dramatically decreases after 8 hours a day. 3. Knowledge workers have only 6 good hours of productivity a day. 4. Studies also show that when companies reduce workers hours back down to 40 per week, their businesses become significantly more productive and profitable. 5. There may be short-term gains when people work 60 or 70 hours a week. However, the risk of burnout begins after one week, and people can very quickly spin into what's called a "negative productivity cycle," creating more problems at work than they solve.

Journalism, People management, Web Design, Women in Business, Work Life Balance

I've attended 3 TEDs in Long Beach. I was a designer/strategist on two TED Prizes, Cameron Sinclair's Open Architecture Network and Dave Egger's Once Upon a School. I've made some wonderful friends through TED.

Hearing dog whistles. Jumping out of airplanes. I also make a mean roast chicken.