Matt Kaufman's Books
The Campfire Effect
How to Engineer Belonging in a Disconnected World
What if the most effective model for building thriving teams, classrooms, and families has been hiding in plain sight at summer camp?
For 150 years, summer camps have been quietly perfecting the art of creating belonging. They've figured out how to take strangers and turn them into communities in a matter of days. They've learned to balance challenge and support in ways that help people grow. And they've done it all without PowerPoint, performance reviews, or strategic planning documents.
The Campfire Effect explores the neuroscience behind what makes camp work. It examines five neurochemicals that drive human connection and shows how camp naturally creates the conditions for each one to flourish. Then it offers practical frameworks for applying these lessons to workplaces, classrooms, and homes.
This isn't a book about summer camp. It's a book about belonging, using camp as the lens.
Coming February 2026
The Summer Camp MBA
50 Leadership Lessons from Camp to Career
​Camp is the best first job a person can have.
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Where else does a nineteen-year-old wake up responsible for the safety, growth, and happiness of ten children? Where else do young people learn to lead teams, resolve conflicts, adapt to chaos, and make decisions with incomplete information, all before lunch?
The Summer Camp MBA captures 50 leadership lessons that camp teaches better than any business school. It's written for camp directors who want a framework for developing their staff. It's also for camp alumni who want to understand why their summers shaped them so deeply, and how to articulate that to the rest of the world.
Available now!