Kathy Kolbe

Founder, Chairman of the Board
MO: 2684

While learned minds from around the world have postulated three distinct parts of the human mind - the cognitive (knowledge or intelligence), the affective (motivation and emotion) and the conative (volition or action) - only Kathy Kolbe, an award-winning and internationally-recognized theorist and expert on human behavior, has contributed original research on conation in the last 100 years.The first and only human behavioralist to provide reliable and validated new insights into the conative dimension of the mind and the nature of instincts, Kolbe has amassed over 500,000 case studies to support her breakthrough studies which prove not only the existence of conative modalities but also identify four specific conative Action Modes® derived from human instinct and define these modes as the source of the human modus operandi (MO) - all while maintaining total intellectual independence.

Author of the first assessment of the human factors that measures the third dimension of the mind - the conative - Kolbe has succeeded to prove the predictive validity of human behavior and establish the interconnectivity of the three parts of the mind in behavioral terms. She is credited with development of a system for measurement of these conative factors that explains individual differences in performance based upon universal instincts.

An entrepreneur, educator and best-selling author, Kolbe has pioneered the identification of a distinct cluster of human behaviors that led to breakthroughs in the understanding and use of innate abilities and transformed the way the world thinks about human nature. Her work has identified the cause, effect and affect of effort-related stress and proven the predictability of measurable levels of effort-related stress.

In her most recent work, Kolbe has discovered the formulas for human synergy and authored the algorithm for measuring it - thus providing a means for predicting and improving team performance. Her new discoveries in distinguishing the differences between thinking and doing are supported by a lifetime of research and validation of her theories and have earned her worldwide acclaim.

Her research - spanning three decades and several continents - represents the foremost body of work within the realm of the conative dimension of the mind. Kolbe developed the Kolbe A™ Index, an instrument to quantify human modes of operation that focuses not on the cognitive or the personality-related aspects of behavior, but on the innate drive toward action, achievement and problem solving.

Kolbe's first book, The Conative Connection, shook the very foundations of conventional wisdom regarding the mind by identifying its third - and most elusive - dimension, the conative. Pure Instinct, her breakthrough business book published by Random House, details her experience with high performers in the corporate arena and her techniques for helping them to maximize their potential.

Kolbe has released her third book - Powered by Instincts: 5 Rules for Trusting Your Guts - which shares her newest discoveries within the conative dimension and relates them to realities of the 21st century.