Alex Budak helps leaders develop the mindset, skills, and everyday courage to lead change and bring others with them.
He is a faculty member at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and created the core leadership course at Berkeley's School of Public Health. Poets&Quants named him one of its 50 Best Business School Professors. His teaching inspired the campus-wide Berkeley Changemaker program, now spanning 50 courses. It also inspired student tattoos.
His book, Becoming a Changemaker, is being translated into 28 languages. CNBC named it a top-five nonfiction book about work, and Thinkers50 included him in its 2026 Radar Class of management thinkers to watch.
He previously co-founded StartSomeGood, which has raised more than $12 million to launch and scale new initiatives from urban gardens to mental health startups in more than 50 countries.
Outside of the classroom, he delivers keynotes on leadership, change, and courage from Argentina to the Arctic Circle, speaking at organizations like Accenture, Salesforce, the World Bank, and UNHCR.
Formerly a travel writer, Alex now enjoys the adventures of life with his two young kids, his favorite changemakers. A lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, Alex brings that same stubborn optimism to everything he does, though he admits he learned one lesson the hard way: never go budget skydiving.
Expertise and Research Interests
- Leading Organizational Change
- Everyday Courage
- Influence Without Formal Authority
- Purpose and Values in Leadership
- Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation
- Meaning and Fulfillment at Work
- Leadership and the Future of Work
