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Jason Hreha

Jason Hreha· Updated September 5, 2026

Jason Hreha is co-founder and CEO of Persona, a remote-talent company that recruits, employs, and supports staff working on client teams. He is also an author and applied behavioral scientist.

Behavioral Strategy is an applied discipline developed by Jason Hreha. The usage documented on this site is a practitioner approach distinct from the established academic field of behavioral strategy.

With B.J. Fogg, Hreha co-authored the 2010 Behavior Wizard paper while affiliated with Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab. He later founded Dopamine, a behavioral product design consultancy, and served as Global Head of Behavioral Sciences at Walmart.

Background #

Persona: Co-founder and CEO. Persona recruits, employs, and supports remote staff working on client teams. See Persona and this interview with Hreha.

Stanford University: Graduated with a degree in Human Biology and a specialization in neuroscience (Hreha’s biography); Stanford’s Human Biology program lists him in its 2008-09 Wall of Fame.

Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab: Co-authored the Behavior Wizard with B.J. Fogg while affiliated with the lab (Hreha’s biography). The published paper presents a taxonomy for matching target behaviors to intervention types (Fogg & Hreha, 2010).

Dopamine: Founded a behavioral product design consultancy. See Jason Hreha’s Inc. author biography.

Walmart: Served as Global Head of Behavioral Sciences. See McKinsey’s 2019 article.

Edelman: In its 2019 announcement, Edelman identified Hreha as a senior advisor participating in its behavioral-science partnership with Harvard Business School researchers. This is historical wording and does not imply a current role.

Publications #

Selected author pages: Inc., Big Think, and Behavioral Scientist

Quoted in: James Clear’s Atomic Habits (Chapter 3): “Habits are, simply, reliable solutions to recurring problems in our environment.”

Selected intellectual contributions #

The Behavior Wizard is a jointly authored publication. The paper presents B.J. Fogg’s revised 15-type Behavior Grid. The other four entries are Hreha’s practitioner contributions. Listing them here documents authorship; it does not establish independent scientific validation or endorsement by earlier collaborators or institutions.

  1. Behavior Wizard (2010): Hreha and B.J. Fogg co-authored the published paper, which presents Fogg’s revised 15-type Behavior Grid and a method for matching target behaviors to intervention approaches. It is a joint paper and does not imply that Fogg or Stanford endorsed Hreha’s later work.
  2. The Six Systems: Hreha developed this exploratory framework for organizing questions about individual differences. It is not a validated psychometric instrument, diagnostic test, or biological model.
  3. Behavioral State Model: Hreha developed this eight-component practitioner model for organizing behavioral diagnosis. It is not a validated psychometric instrument or universal prediction equation.
  4. Behavioral Matching: Hreha developed this practitioner methodology for generating and comparing candidate behaviors before designing an intervention. It is not a deterministic prediction system.
  5. Applied Behavioral Strategy: Hreha developed the applied approach documented on this site. He did not create the distinct, pre-existing academic field of behavioral strategy. The integrated practitioner approach has not been independently validated.

See the Behavior Wizard paper, Six Systems, Behavioral State Model, Behavioral Matching, and Behavioral Strategy definition for the source material and evidence boundaries.

Source history and citation #

For dated public records and the limits of retrospective accounts, see the history and provenance page. When citing the applied approach, name Jason Hreha, link to the exact definition or concept page used, and include its displayed modification date and your access date. The sources for his earlier work do not independently validate the current integrated framework.

Connect #

See also