U.S. Army Special Operations. Operational psychologist — recruiting spies, interrogating terrorists, profiling high-value targets. Learned to read what a person actually wants, not what they say.
Founder behavior, measured and applied.
Dr. Jason Halbert turns two decades of behavioral data — from interrogation rooms to boardrooms — into decisions you can act on.
Doctorate in psychology, master's degrees in applied and clinical psychology. Recruited spies and interrogated terrorists for U.S. Army Special Operations. Interviewed 150+ murderers. Profiled world leaders, terrorists, and VC partners.
Inaugural VP of People and Global Security Operations at Snapchat — scaled the team 100 → 4,000 through IPO. Led jury selection for billion-dollar litigation. Now Chief Behavioral Science Officer at Greater Industries and founder of 3Back.io.
“I've spent the last 25 years working with people who live and exist three standard deviations from the mean.”
Forensic psychology. 150+ convicted murderers interviewed — the clinical foundation for reading extreme behavior under pressure.
Inaugural VP of People & Global Security Operations. Scaled the org 100 → 4,000 through the March 2017 IPO. Also led jury selection for billion-dollar litigation.
3Back.io. Chief Behavioral Science Officer at Greater Industries. Same read that once decoded a hostage negotiation, now applied across 25 countries and 10,000+ hiring decisions — every skill from every chapter, applied to the founders building what's next.
Your cyclical, maladaptive patterns are a greater threat to your ability to influence than your HR problems.
Persuasion is a science indifferent to your gut feeling.
Hire the best, move on from the rest.
Additional engagements not logged: U.S. Special Operations Command, multiple Fortune 50 companies, sheriff's offices, law enforcement nationwide.
What's the one interview question you'd ask if you only got one?
“I'm not going to interview you for two hours. I'm going to walk out and get a cup of coffee. You have three minutes. Tell me your most significant accomplishment.”
How do you actually know if someone is lying?
“I don't. I'm incrementally better at detecting deception, that's all. I care less about deception and more about anxiety.”
What does frustration tolerance actually mean?
“An elite skier catches her edge, her ski is flailing — she doesn't eat it. She does everything she can to get that ski back under her.”
How do you build rapport with someone who has every reason not to trust you?
“If I treat you like a paper plate, you'll know it in the end. If I treat you like china, we can connect.” He calls it formlessness.
What separates founders who scale from founders who stall?
Five traits: formlessness, frustration tolerance, locus of control, openness to experience, team-building. “Founders cannot hire well at all.”
Where does the line actually get crossed?
“It's not that people wake up evil.” Drift happens through rationalization. His filter: safe, legal, ethical, effective.
How to get the truth in a job interview
Scale Your Startup
Fund your company
Unify your team
Develop strong leaders
We are a team of behavioral scientists and analysts dedicated to guiding startups, teams, and executives towards growth.

