Meet Dr. Gavoni
Meet Dr. Paul “Paulie Gloves” Gavoni, Ed.D., BCBA-D.
WSJ, USA Today and Amazon bestselling author, Behavioral Scientist, and global keynote speaker who trains elite athletes and UFC professionals. Founder and Managing Member of Heart & Science International (HSI).
Dr. Paul "Paulie" Gavoni is a powerhouse of innovation, integrity, and impact. With nearly 30 years of leadership in education, behavior science, and organizational performance, he brings a rare blend of deep expertise and real-world application.
FROM UFC CORNERS TO REAL-WORLD PERFORMANCE
Dr. Paul “Paulie Gloves” Gavoni, Ed.D., BCBA-D, is a leading Behavioral Scientist and coach to UFC fighters and world champions, a Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Amazon bestselling author, former Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion, and global keynote speaker. For nearly three decades, he has rigorously applied the Science of Behavior across elite sport, organizational effectiveness, and education—including training elite athletes to recognize critical cues, maintain composure, think critically, and make better decisions when pressure, uncertainty, and consequence converge.
Dr. Gavoni’s work extends from turning around struggling schools to improving organizational outcomes in public- and private-sector settings by shaping environments that reinforce effective behavior—producing substantially improved, measurable, predictable, repeatable results.
Dr. Gavoni integrates the Science of Behavior with traditional coaching in UFC training camps and fight corners, addressing the critical difference between acquiring a technical skill and executing it when an opponent adapts and consequences are immediate. Through systematic practice, prescriptive sparring, precise feedback, and reinforcement, he helps world-class athletes recognize changing cues, maintain composure, think critically, and apply their skills accurately, fluently, and independently under extreme duress as competition unfolds. His coaching has helped develop local, state, national, and world champions, including Kenny “Deuce” Garner, who won the M-1 Global Heavyweight Championship.
Every outcome is the result of behavior. Through Deliberate Coaching®—including Performance Engineering—HSI develops performance thinking: identifying the behaviors and environmental conditions behind results, determining what needs to change, and measuring the effects. Dr. Gavoni trains executives, supervisors, and educators to shape environments that reinforce effective actions through clear expectations, deliberate practice, precise feedback, coaching, and reinforcement. Those methods strengthen critical thinking, decision-making, and workforce retention while reducing preventable errors, retraining, and costly rework. Leaders learn to sustain effective performance through systems their own teams can continue using.
HSI delivers Behavioral Science & Leadership, Education & School Safety, Federal & Teaming, and Keynotes. Government agencies, businesses, and prime contractors can engage HSI for defined leadership development, supervisor coaching, performance analysis, professional learning, and workforce-improvement work. In education, HSI strengthens school violence prevention and anti-bullying by aligning district and school leadership, consistent adult responses, de-escalation, and nonviolent conflict resolution. These methods help protect instructional time and support safer learning environments.
An award-winning professor and member of the Board of Directors of the World Behavior Analysis Day Alliance, Dr. Gavoni actively collaborates with the B. F. Skinner Foundation. In a peer-reviewed conceptual article published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, Dr. Gavoni functionally defined leadership using the Science of Behavior—a pioneering contribution to the field. His Four Hats framework—Leading, Training, Coaching, and Managing—connects leadership to observable actions and the effects they produce. The framework helps leaders determine whether better performance requires clearer direction, new skills, coaching to apply existing skills, or changes to conditions that sustain effective behavior.
Dr. Gavoni’s documented results come from separate engagements: annual employee turnover declined from more than 100% to 44% in one year; K–12 teacher turnover dropped from 28% to 7% in another; out-of-school suspensions decreased from 792 to 67 in one academic year; and two distinct schools improved from C to A. He has trained over 1,000 state, district, school, and classroom leaders, including more than 150 state-level leaders in a statewide initiative. His broader record includes 20+ books, more than 50,000 copies sold, over 300 articles, over 200 presentations, more than 5 million annual content views, over 200,000 podcast downloads, and more than 60,000 direct followers and subscribers.
B. F. Skinner Foundation
The B. F. Skinner Foundation featured Dr. Gavoni’s interview with Walter Louie as its June 2021 Article of the Month. The Foundation also named him a chair of its October 25, 2024 Skinner Session. His ongoing collaboration with the Foundation connects his scientific work to applied coaching, leadership, and organizational performance.
Leadership beyond a job title
Teachers shape classroom conditions affecting students; principals shape the conditions supporting teachers; district and state leaders influence school leadership systems. Agency and business leaders likewise shape the conditions facing supervisors and frontline teams. Dr. Gavoni teaches leaders to assess the effects of their behavior, not rely on title or intention, and to arrange environments that support effective action.
Coaching beyond competition
Dr. Gavoni appeared as a featured MMA coach on Lifetime’s Leave It to Geege and as a fighter on FX’s The Toughman Contest.
Our Mission
Equip people with the ability to engage in performance thinking: the skills, knowledge, and tools to analyze behavior, drive performance, and create meaningful change.
The RAISE Values
Values that define how HSI creates impact.
Resilience
Adapting, adjusting, and evolving in response to challenges instead of just pushing through.
Authenticity
Keeping it real: being direct, owning mistakes, and staying true to values.
Involvement
The best solutions come when the right people are at the table, shaping the outcomes that impact them.
Simplicity
Clear, actionable, repeatable solutions. Complexity is the enemy of execution and scale.
Empowerment
Equipping people to increase their influence over meaningful outcomes—capable, confident, supported, and increasingly independent.
Related Ventures
The Behavioral Toolbox
The Behavioral Toolbox is a separate, education-focused company offering practical school-based behavioral consulting, OBM coursework, and tools. Dr. Gavoni is a co-owner. It is a related venture, separate from HSI's services and from the HSI Resources vault.
Better Outcomes. Faster. Through Behavioral Science.