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In this episode, I’m joined by Abhinav Gupta, a Professor of Management in the Foster School of Management at the University of Washington, to discuss his recently published AMJ paper that shows how community trauma fundamentally alters risk-taking. When leaders are emotionally shaken, even competitive pressure doesn’t work the way we expect. And that has big implications for how we understand strategy today.   Christian Schumacher, Steffen Keck, and Abhinav Gupta (in-press) Violence and Competition: The Effect of Mass Shootings and Domestic Terrorism on Organizational Risk-Taking in Response to Performance Shortfalls. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2023.0306

This episode, I speak with Rachel Goodwin, Assistant Professor of Management at Syracuse University in the Whitman School of Management. In this episode, we dig into her recent AMJ article on perfectionism, based on a compelling study of professional ballet - a context where the stakes are high, the standards are exacting, and pressure to be flawless is constant. We discuss what perfectionism looks like in everyday organizational life, why high performers move between healthy and harmful forms of perfectionism, and what leaders, mentors, and peers can do to create environments where people pursue excellence without compromising their well-being.   Rachael D. Goodwin, Lyndon E. Garrett, and Ali P. Block Under Pressure to Be Perfect: How Dehumanizing and Rehumanizing Social Cues Lead to Maladaptive and Adaptive Perfectionism in Professional Ballet.  https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2023.0187

This episode, I speak with Nan Jia, Professor of Strategic Management at University of Southern California. In our conversation, I talk with Nan about her recent award winning paper recently published in AMJ about how artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance employee creativity. This paper explores how artificial intelligence can enhance employee creativity by automating routine aspects of work and enabling human employees to focus on higher-level problem-solving. We discuss how AI can change the nature of work and how organizations can best respond to these changes.   Nan Jia, Xueming Luo, Zheng Fang, and Chengcheng Liao, 2024: When and How Artificial Intelligence Augments Employee Creativity. AMJ, 67, 5–32,  https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2022.0426

The guest this episode is Winnie Jiang, Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD. I talk with Winnie about her recent paper in AMJ that explores how entrepreneurs manage identity conflicts as they attempt to be a “boss” despite coming from humble beginnings. We discuss the emotional work necessary to become a successful entrepreneur and how policy makers and mentors can best support aspiring entrepreneurs.   Jiang, W. Y., Zhao-Ding, A., & Qi, S. 2025. Breaking Free or Locking In: How Socially Disadvantaged Individuals Achieve or Reject an Aspired Identity in an Entrepreneurial Context. Academy of Management Journal, 68(1): 162-190. https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amj.2022.1104

In this episode, I chat with Martin Kilduff, Professor of Organizational Behavior at UCL, about his latest AMJ paper on workplace rivalries. We break down how rivalries form in social networks, why they push people to compete harder (for better or worse), and what that means for careers. Who’s your biggest rival? And is that a good thing? Let’s find out!   Kilduff, M., Wang, K., Lee, S. Y., Tsai, W., Chuang, Y.-T., & Tsai, F.-S. 2024. Hiding and Seeking Knowledge-Providing Ties from Rivals: A Strategic Perspective on Network Perceptions. Academy of Management Journal, 67(5): 1207-1233. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2022.0091

This episode I speak with Christy Shropshire, an associate professor of management and entrepreneurship in the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Recently, Christy published a paper about the role of displayed anger and happiness in corporate board meetings.  In our conversation, we discuss the findings in the paper, and how we can better understand the role that emotions play within organizational settings. Paper: van den Oever, K. & Shropshire, C. (2024) More than a Feeling: How Board Member Displays of Anger and Happiness Influence Strategic Decisions. Academy of Management Journal https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amj.2022.1075

This episode, I speak with Devin Rapp who is an Assistant Professor of Management at Fowler College of Business at San Diego State University. In our conversation, I talk with Devin about his recent paper in AMJ about Dirty Heroes - people who work in stigmatized jobs but are also publicly celebrated. The paper explores how workers manage perceptions of stigma, a very negative social evaluation, alongside celebration, a very positive social evaluation. We discuss the complex nature of doing stigmatized work and how making heroes of people who do these jobs can sometimes lead to unintended consequences. I also ask Devin how we can properly celebrate people who do the difficult, but necessary work in our society.   Paper: Rapp, D. J., Hughey, J. M., & Kreiner, G. E. 2024. Dirty Heroes? Healthcare Workers’ Experience of Mixed Social Evaluations during the Pandemic. Academy of Management Journal, 67(4): 1124-1157. https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amj.2022.0502 

To kick off the 4th season, I have two esteemed guests this episode, Tim Kundro and Nancy Rothbard, co-authors of the 'Best Paper' published in AMJ in 2023.  In our conversation, we talk we talk about Tim and Nancy’s recent award winning paper recently published in AMJ which explores how power can protect moral objectors in organizations, but shows that this protection operates differently for men versus women. We discuss how the importance o morality in organizational leaders and whether modern corporations are structured to be “amoral”.  Check out the post-credit scene to hear Nancy tell the story about her lived experience at the Best Paper Award announcement event this summer in Chicago.    Guests: Tim Kundro, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at Kenan-Flagler Business School at U of North Carolina.  Nancy Rothbard, David Pottruck Professor at The Wharton School at the U of Pennsylvania.   Paper: Kundro, T. G. & Rothbard, N. P. 2023. Does Power Protect Female Moral Objectors? How and When Moral Objectors’ Gender, Power, and Use of Organizational Frames Influence Perceived Self-Control and Experienced Retaliation. Academy of Management Journal, 66(1): 306-334. https://journals.aom.org/doi/full/10.5465/amj.2019.1383

This episode, I speak with Scott Sonenshein, the Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Management in the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.  In our conversation, we talk about a recent paper he published in AMJ, with co-author, Kristen Nault, about organizational resilience.  The paper explores the different ways that firms approach adversity and how these approaches can lead to distinctly different outcomes.  We also discuss how resilience is best thought of as a verb and not a noun, and how leaders can prepare their organizations for adversity.   Sonenshein, S. & Nault, K. "When the Symphony Does Jazz: How Resourcefulness Fosters Organizational Resilience during Adversity." https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/amj.2022.0988

This episode, I speak with Gurneeta Vasudeva, an Associate Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship in the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.  In our conversation, we talk about her AMJ paper about how public-private collaborations can contribute to the success of socially beneficial innovation. We discuss the findings from this paper and the implications for efforts around the world that are attempting to solve some of society’s most pressing problems.    Arslan, B., Vasudeva, G., & Hirsch, E. B. Public–Private and Private–Private Collaboration as Pathways for Socially Beneficial Innovation: Evidence from Antimicrobial Drug-Development Tasks. Academy of Management Journal,  https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amj.2021.1260

This episode, I speak with David Lucas, the Edward Pettinella Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University and a Research Fellow with the Institute for an Entrepreneurial Society.  In our conversation today, we talk about a recent paper he published in AMJ, with co-authors, Matthew Grimes and Joel Gehman, about Remaking Capitalism into a more just, sustainable, and inclusive system.  The paper explores how legislation can shape how intensely firms focus on values-driven business. This leads to a broader discussion about the purpose of the modern firm and the paradoxical way that policy can in fact get firms to voluntarily shift away from a narrow focus on shareholder maximization.   Lucas, D. S., Grimes, M. G., & Gehman, J. 2022. Remaking Capitalism: The Strength of Weak Legislation in Mobilizing B Corporation Certification. Academy of Management Journal, 65(3): 958-987. https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/amj.2020.1688

This episode, I speak with Jeff Bednar, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources in the BYU Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University.  In the pod, we talk Jeff's recent article (with Jacob Brown, Ph.D.) looking at Organizational Ghosts, which is when leaders continue to influence behaviors and emotions within the organization long after they are gone. This leads to a larger conversation about heroes in organizations and what happens when a hero's legacy is challenged or when ghosts prevent the organization from making needed changes.   Source Article: Bednar, J. S. & Brown, J. A. Organizational Ghosts: How “Ghostly Encounters” Enable Former Leaders to Influence Current Organizational Members. Academy of Management Journal https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amj.2022.0622 

This episode, I speak with Ron Burt, the Charles M. Harper Leadership Professor of Sociology and Strategy at the University of Chicago and Distinguished Professor at Bocconi University in Milan.   In our conversation, we talk about a recent AMJ paper, with co-author, Song Wang, about 'bridge supervision' in organizations, which occurs when a manager and their boss do not share any strong similar social connections. The current rise of remote employment, is likely to bring a rise in bridge supervision as well.  The paper explores how this trend may impact managerial behavior and performance. We also discuss Ron’s concerns about the long-term consequences of remote work and about how his sabbatical as an executive at Raytheon informed his recent research including the best way to fail in an organization.   Burt, R. S. & Wang, S. 2022. Bridge Supervision: Correlates of a Boss on the Far Side of a Structural Hole. Academy of Management Journal, 65(6): 1835-1863. https://journals.aom.org/doi/epub/10.5465/amj.2021.0676 

This episode, I speak with Matt Semadeni, Professor of Strategy and Dean’s Council Distinguished Scholar at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.  In our conversation today, we talk about CEO political ideology.   We discuss how political activism has shaped corporate leadership, strategy, and investing - which pulls the conversation in all sorts of interesting directions.  Finally, Matt shares his views about how organizations can approach politics by recognizing ideological differences and avoiding the negative contentious behaviors. Anchor Paper Semadeni, M., Chin, M. K., & Krause, R. 2022. Pumping the Brakes: Examining the Impact of CEO Political Ideology Divergence on Firm Responses. Academy of Management Journal, 65(2): 516-544. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2019.1131

This episode, I speak with Hatim Rahman, an Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.   In our conversation today, we talk about a recent paper he published in AMJ, with co-authors, about digital labor platforms and how experimentation by platform designers can impact worker autonomy. I also talk with Hatim about the current state of employer-labor relations and the future impact of digital platforms on employment including a prediction that might already be true by the time this podcast airs.   Anchor Paper: Rahman HA, Weiss T, Karunakaran A. forthcoming. The Experimental Hand: How Platform-Based Experimentation Reconfigures Worker Autonomy. Academy of Management Journal https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/amj.2022.0638