Jesse Olsen

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT JESSE OLSEN

I\'m an academic interested in how hobbies and leisure impact work, improvisation in organisations, diversity management, leadership, and cross-cultural management. A large part of my time nowadays is spent on developing SkillRealms (a tabletop role-playing game [TTRPG], like Dungeons & Dragons; for large classes and training groups. I\'ve also designed gaming supplements, and I make variously-shaped dice out of epoxy resin.If you think gaming is a silly waste of time, you should read my HBR article and get over yourself: https://hbr.org/2024/10/why-gaming-is-good-for-the-workplace.(And yeah, you should probably let your kids play some games, you fuddy-duddy. It\'s 2025.) Games and hobbies are good for our well-being and can develop skills for work and other domains of life. My research highlights and leverages this fact.I\'ve published stuff in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Harvard Business Review, the Guardian, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Mom and Dad\'s fridge, etc. I\'ve contributed my expertise to such media outlets as SBS World News, ABC Radio, the Australian Financial Review, Forbes, PC Gamer, and that Qantas in-flight magazine where the crossword puzzle has already been done, so you might as well read the articles. I\'ve done consulting, speaking, and workshops for Bank Australia, Cisco, Asian Development Bank, Perpetual, Queensland Govt, and HDFC Life Insurance. I\'ve worked and played (in proportions that I\'ll not disclose) in the US, South Korea, Japan, and now Australia.My professional (a.k.a.\"real-world\") experience includes a position as international exchange coordinator at Kwansei Gakuin University, and then as a business project manager in the Merger Integration Office and Corporate Strategies Group of SunTrust Bank (now Truist). But then I got a PhD in organizational behavior from the Georgia Institute of Technology and became an academic, which means I learned a lot about the one narrow thing I studied while forgetting most everything else I ever knew.I\'ve studied improv at the Laugh Masters Academy (Melbourne) and sketch comedy writing at the Second City (Chicago), using this training to conduct interactive workshops (both face-to-face and online) to demonstrate how improv can boost adaptability, resilience, teamwork, and leadership.Check out my games-based work here: https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/games/For bedtime reading, see my U. of Melbourne profile page: https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person656729