Tessa West, PhD

Tessa West is a Professor of Psychology at New York University and expert in interpersonal communication. She studies interactions between people who differ in their racial, religious, national, political, and social class backgrounds, documenting the ways in which subtle behaviors have profound effects on the ability of people to make decisions and work effectively with one another. Tessa studies these questions in teams of surgeons, workplace interactions in established firms, new venture teams, and cross-national interactions, and with people who come from over 50 countries. Her work has been covered by the New York Times, ABC World News, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The Guardian, and the US Supreme Court. She has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, NPR’s Hidden Brain, and Bloomberg, and is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and CNBC. She has two Ted Talks: “The surprisingly simple reasons why teams fail” in 2025, and “The problem with being too nice at work,” which was one of the top 10 most watched Ted Talks of 2024. She is the author of two books: “Jerks at Work: Toxic coworkers and what to do about them,” and “Job Therapy: Finding work that works for you.”