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What Does Research Say are the Primary Drivers of Your Career Success?

February 2, 2026 at 7:00 PM ET

Different grads from the same college, Harvard or otherwise, often have vastly different levels of career success. The drivers of these differences are a mystery to most, but they are well understood in the field of Organizational Psychology research. When you understand these drivers, you will unlock many ways to improve your career prospects, above and beyond which college you attend. In this talk, MIT grad, research nerd, and high-performance expert Erik Fogg shares the results of his own research and that of a century of academics who came before.

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Meet the speaker:

Erik Fogg

CoFounder, Futures Forge

Erik is a serial entrepreneur and educational innovator dedicated to helping high-potential young people unlock their potential. Erik leads by equipping students with the mindset, structure, and tools to succeed independently, under stress, and at scale. Erik studied mechanical engineering and political science at MIT, system-hacking the registrar to earn both bachelor's and master's within his 4-year full scholarship. Erik has led three venture-backed startups, cofounding two. He brought one to exit, raised $25 million and grew the company to nearly 60 employees. He developed a “founder-factory” where 3 of his team grew to launch their own startups. Erik found that his greatest joy as an executive comes in coaching, and he has brought that love to Futures Forge. Erik leads the Facilitator team as well as Futures Forge’s research on performance and pedagogy. He draws both from his real-world startup and leadership experience, and also the proven methods from the state of the art, to develop and deploy the curriculum.