Helen Lee Bouygues
PRESIDENT OF THE REBOOT FOUNDATION
About
Helen Lee Bouygues is one of the most successful women in business transformation. She has served as interim CEO, CFO, or COO for more than a dozen companies. She is the founder of the Reboot Foundation, a columnist at Forbes, and working on a book on critical thinking.
Visionary
A former partner at McKinsey & Company, Bouygues has helped transform more than 25 firms. Over the course of a twenty-year career, she has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in capital, renegotiated billions of dollars in debt, and brought dozens of companies into the black.
“Turning around a company that has gotten off-track is an exercise in critical thinking. Research, analysis, and planning must all be brought to bear in a high-stakes, time-pressured situation.”
—Helen Lee Bouygues
The Reboot Foundation is devoted to elevating critical thinking.
In a time of vast technological change, the Foundation aims to promote richer,
more reflective forms of thought in schools, homes, and businesses.
Recent Forbes Columns
Capitol Attack Is Dire Sign Of A Need For Media Literacy
Forbes | 01/12/21
How To Teach Critical Thinking In K-12
Forbes | 11/20/2020
Expert
Bouygues has lectured around the world. She sits on multiple boards, including those of companies in the retail, manufacturing, oil and gas, renewable energy, and automotive-parts sectors.
She graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University and earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
“Our society should do a lot more to cultivate the essential capacity of critical thinking. It’s the single most important skill that our students and employees will need to thrive in the 21st century.”
—Helen Lee Bouygues
Selected press and media mentions
Media literacy in the age of disinformation
The Toronto Star | 01/15/21
11 experts explain how our digital world is fuelling polarization
Business Insider | 12/20/20
US Capitol Under Siege
India Today | 01/07/21
Advocate
Bouygues established the Reboot Foundation to promote more critical thinking. She is also the inspired mother of a daughter who is seven years old—a developmental stage regarded as the “age of reason,” when children can begin to understand another’s point of view.
“My purpose in creating the Reboot Foundation is to provide parents and others with evidence-based tools they can use to promote the development of critical thinking in the next generation.”
The Reboot Foundation seeks to:
Elevate critical thinking through targeted advocacy.
The Reboot Foundation is in the process of conducting a national poll on critical thinking. As part of this poll, the Foundation is asking a number of questions around critical thinking in a time of technological change.
Support research on the nature and development of critical thinking.
The Reboot Foundation has begun to make grants to university-affiliated researchers who are engaged in the empirical study of critical thinking. The Foundation will also research specific interventions to see if they can help people become better thinkers.
Develop critical thinking tools and programs.
The Reboot Foundation is currently developing a digital tool for parents that will guide them in cultivating their children’s capacity for critical thinking.