Richard Eleftherios Boyatzis (born 1946) is an American organizational theorist and professor of Organizational Behavior at Case Western Reserve University. He is considered an expert in the field of emotional intelligence, behavior change, and competence.
Boyatzis received his BA in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968, and his MA in 1970 and PhD in 1973—both in Social Psychology—from Harvard University.
Boyatzis started his career during the late 1960s, as a psychologist for the Veterans Administration. After three years as a researcher and consultant at a market research company, he became director at the consulting firm McBer and Company—now part of Hay Group—in 1976. In 1987 he became an associate professor at Case Western and, in 1991, he attained the status of a professor at the university.
His major contributions to the competence human resource theory started with his pioneering study The Competent Manager (1982).
Boyatzis has published 150 books and articles in the areas of emotional intelligence, behavior change, competencies and leadership: