Momentum

Kim Perkins is a positive psychologist who develops and delivers leadership training and executive coaching. She has recently coached executives at Genentech, Abbott Labs, and Shire Pharmaceuticals as a trainer with The Mind Gym, a London-based firm delivering targeted, interactive workshops to top companies around the world. With Bennett McClellan, she is co-founder of the Total Question Workout, a systematic way of asking better questions to get better answers to run your business. Currently, she is undertaking an unprecedented challenge: helping the board of directors at Patton State Hospital, California’s largest mental institution, implement positive organizational psychology strategies to transform worker engagement. A former pro athlete and sports coach, Kim is a three-time champion of the world’s longest inline skating race, the 87-mile Athens to Atlanta. Kim is also a 20-year veteran of the publishing industry, including positions at Penguin USA and several magazine startups.

Kim is finishing her doctorate in Positive Organizational Psychology at Claremont Graduate University, under the mentorship of Dr. Jeanne Nakamura and Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi. As a researcher, Kim studies competitiveness in organizational settings, with special attention to how competitive situations affect motivation and performance. The book chapter on flow she co-authored with Dr. Nakamura is due out from Sage Publications this year.

Kim holds a BA in English from Oberlin College and an MA in Evaluation and Research Methods from Claremont Graduate University. She lives with her husband in Pasadena.