Featuring: Rupal Patel, Founder & CEO, The Global Leadership Lab
September 12, 2025
Leaders today are facing more noise than ever before and drowning in a sea of inputs. Decision-making in these circumstances can become difficult, overwhelming, and sometimes paralyzing. In this interactive session, Rupal Patel demystifies what agile decision-making looks like in practice, and strips away the fluff so that participants leave with tangible and immediately-actionable tools for making better decisions under pressure and ambiguity.
With over 20 years of experience advising leaders at the highest levels, Rupal will share her timeless decision-making frameworks, including:
Rupal is the founder and CEO of The Global Leadership Lab, a leadership and Board advisory firm, that supports organizations by developing their leaders’ foundational leadership skills. The Global Leadership Lab specializes in translating intangible concepts like agility, authenticity, strategic thinking, and resilience into practical actions, behaviors, and habits that create tangible results.
Rupal’s high-octane career has taken her from military briefing rooms in jungles and war zones to corporate boardrooms and international stages. During her career at the CIA, she advised Four-Star Generals, earned War Zone Service commendations, and was recognized by the CIA Director for “superior support to the President of the United States.”
After leaving the CIA, she earned her MBA and started her first award-winning business over a decade ago. Rupal is a sought-after speaker, consultant, and advisor whose trailblazing work has been incorporated into the MBA and Executive MBA programs at elite business schools across the US and Europe where she serves as visiting faculty. She has been featured in USA Today, Business Insider, CNBC and other prominent media outlets and is the author of the international best-seller From CIA to CEO: Unconventional Life Lessons for Thinking Bigger, Leading Better, and Being Bolder. Her popular TED talk explores the power of “owning your weird” to unleash personal excellence.