Author, TEDx Speaker, Keynote Presenter
Pioneering The Science of Becoming™ through the intersection of behavioral science, virtue ethics, and human flourishing.
About DeAngelo
DeAngelo Burse is a behavioral scientist, TEDx speaker, and author of Yours To Design: Constructing a Life That Is Meaningful. He developed the NIMBLE framework to help people navigate hereditary and environmental influences to become their ideal selves. As a PhD candidate in psychology at the University of Birmingham in England, his research explores self-regulation, character education, and applied behavioral science. He earned a Master of Science in Psychology, specializing in social psychology, and is certified in Choice Theory® and Reality Therapy.
DeAngelo teaches social psychology and abnormal psychology as a university professor. He is also CEO of Breakroom Huddle, where he works as a keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, and coaching psychologist, delivering evidence-based programs for Fortune 500 companies, healthcare systems, and government agencies. His work has been featured on ABC, CBS, and NBC-affiliated channels.
Additionally, DeAngelo is the creator of 90-Second Psychologist, a video series that transforms complex psychological concepts into immediately applicable insights in just 90 seconds. He also hosts the Social Curiosity Podcast and speaks globally on the Science of Becoming—exploring character development, personal transformation, and human flourishing. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, DeAngelo enjoys spending time with his wife and three kids, outdoor activities, grilling, and watching NFL football.
Keynotes and Workshops
Keynotes and workshops embody DeAngelo’s training, utilizing behavioral science and his Nimble framework to overcome heredity and environmental constraints while helping participants reframe narratives, improve social interactions, and maximize their potential.
Behavioral Science Coaching
Coaching sessions integrate behavioral science to improve decision-making, resolve problems, reduce unhelpful thoughts and feelings, and promote responsibility, constructive choices, resilience, adaptability, stronger relationships, and overall life satisfaction.
Unconventional Approach
DeAngelo is known for his scholarly yet unconventional approach, which combines philosophy and psychological research, stories, humor, passion, audience interaction, and personal connection—all directed toward advancing human flourishing.
Inspiring Change with Corporate Clients
Self-Improvement Framework
A unique approach to helping people reach their full potential and become their ideal selves.
Inherited Traits
Understand the genetic predispositions that underpin certain behavioral patterns and outlooks. Inherited traits carry a blueprint that influences how people respond to various situations.
Environmental Influences
Early childhood experiences, peer groups, and societal pressures play a crucial role in influencing an individual's beliefs, values, and behavior patterns. Learn how the environment shapes identity and personality.
Nimble Concept
Gain insights into how individuals can harness their creative abilities to shape their identity and who they become, as well as effectively manage both genetic and environmental influences.
Self-Transformation
DeAngelo's I.D.E.A.L. approach to personal growth, as well as his S.T.A.R. model for pursuing meaningful careers, assist people in learning effective principles for self-transformation and purposeful career paths.
Personal/Social Flourishing
Explore principles of virtue ethics, the pursuit of purpose, and the concept of flourishing, which provides a comprehensive framework for why people should strive to be their best selves.
BREAKROOM HUDDLE
Breakroom Huddle helps people become who they’re capable of becoming, and helps organizations build the cultures that make that possible. Through corporate programs, Breakroom Huddle brings behavioral science and Character Education into the spaces where real change happens, from individual development to organizational impact.
At the center of it all is the Science of Becoming™, a psychological research lane exploring why some people realize their potential while others don’t. That research shapes three core offerings: Character at Work, a corporate character education program grounded in virtue ethics; the Design You Method, a self-improvement framework and training platform for individual growth; and Yours to Design, DeAngelo’s book exploring these ideas in depth.
Beyond these programs, Founder DeAngelo Burse delivers keynote talks, workshops, coaching, and author-led book studies, bringing this work directly into the workplace.
We believe the office “break room” has the potential to transcend its conventional purpose as a mere relaxation spot, evolving into a transformative space where meaningful discussions can spark profound changes at both individual and organizational levels.
Our executive and leadership coaching incorporates The Design-You Method into both in-person and virtual individual and group sessions, offering significant benefits. Drawing from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Choice Theory/Reality Therapy, we help clients:
- Understand the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
- Focus on problem resolution and reduce unhelpful negative thoughts and feelings
- Provide tools to examine and test beliefs to facilitate life changes
- Encourage clear and profound thinking, emotion management, and reduction of self-limiting beliefs that lead to negative attitudes and behaviors
- Promote personal responsibility in decision-making
- Encourage better choices for improved mental health and behavioral changes
- Discover and create purpose in their lives by setting and achieving goals to enhance life satisfaction and, in turn, work satisfaction
- Journey towards becoming their ideal selves
- Reach full potential by tapping into unique strengths, passions, and aspirations
- Create more meaningful moments in their lives by appreciating the present, practicing gratitude, and cultivating fulfilling relationships
Utilizing Social Psychology for Positive Workplace Culture Enhancement
Social Psychology is the scientific investigation of social interactions whereby practitioners seek to understand how people’s attitudes, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others.
With training in the social sciences, DeAngelo is able to assist companies with solving problems and improving performance to create a more positive work culture. By taking an inductive approach, DeAngelo possesses the skills to begin with a specific social issue and analyze a diversity of social psychological theories to better understand ways to offer solutions that address root causes of problem behavior .
DeAngelo is trained in social and personality psychology, two related but distinct fields: social psychology studies how situations and social context shape behavior, while personality psychology examines the stable individual differences that make each person distinct. Understanding both the situation and the person has become the throughline of his work, a research lane he calls the Science of Becoming™: why some people realize their potential while others don’t.
That research draws on three areas:
- Character Education: Grounded in virtue ethics. At its core is practical wisdom, the applied judgment that connects knowing what’s right to actually doing it. This approach gives organizations a shared language and standard for character, treating culture as something built deliberately rather than managed after the fact.
- Choice Theory and Reality Therapy: These frameworks hold that people act to meet basic psychological needs, including belonging, power, freedom, and enjoyment, and that we have far more control over our actions and thoughts than our feelings. This informs how DeAngelo helps individuals and teams take ownership of change.
- Applied Social and Personality Psychology: By examining both the situations people are in (social) and the traits they bring to them (personality), DeAngelo identifies the root causes beneath workplace challenges, rather than addressing surface symptoms alone.
Testimonials
How Clients Describe Our Work
DeAngelo was a keynotes speaker for our “Elevate Your Purpose” series and spoke to our Memory Makers on the practical power of Narrative Identity. He provides practical help for breaking through the false identities that we may cling to from our past to adopt a vision of a future version of ourselves. DeAngelo can help you become an architect of “You” and design a life that’s meaningful.
We were incredibly fortunate to have DeAngelo Burse as our final keynote of the day at our annual conference and retreat. He absolutely nailed what our audience needed to hear, delivering a thought-provoking message about the social science of people. DeAngelo brings with him both a positive energy and an emotionally sensitive insight that truly connected with our attendees. From discussions about interacting with others in a value-building way to a challenge about building one's legacy the right way, Mr. Burse was potent and affecting.
Coding Director