Academy of Management 2024: A breathtaking whirlwind in the windy city!

*GASP!* Learning we won the "Phillips & Nadkarni Best Paper on Diversity & Cognition" Award 🏆 today at the Academy of Management was truly breathtaking! (No, really--I nearly passed out! 😅)

People tend to prefer people who are like them (i.e., homophily), which can perpetuate inequalities in organizations. For example, in many contexts, leaders have historically been men; so, if they tend to interact and network more with other men, this locks men into (and women out of) critical professional networks. Instead of revealing more bias, we develop and test a new way to network: playfulness. 💡 Across 5 mixed methods studies comprising 4,461 data points from interviews, vignettes, archival data, and recalled scenarios, we found that men and women--as well as lower and higher status persons--are more likely to interact in more playful situations. So, the next time you're planning a networking event or just want people to mix at a mixer, make it more playful (i.e., spontaneous, pleasurable, and interactive) to facilitate interactions across differences as a step toward more social inclusion and professional equity in organizations. 🌟

Above, Dr. Huong Pham, Mihwa Seong, and I accepted/hold our plaques from these 2 terrific MOC leaders, BURAK OC and Beth A. Livingston, in Chicago. The award is named in honor of the late scholarly greats, Katherine W. Phillips (Columbia Business School) and Sucheta Nadkarni (Cambridge Judge Business School)--both of whom I briefly met at past AOM meetings--who have deeply shaped the field and inspired thousands with their research in #DEI and behavioral strategy.

We are absolutely honored and utterly thrilled; this work would not be possible without our amazing coauthors (Mihwa, Eugenia, and Huong below) and unpictured coauthors: Isabelle Engeler, and Raina Brands, and the generous funding from Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF. 🙏

Of course, we (re)connected will colleagues new and known, attended scholarly sessions and presented our own research, supported the DEI division where Mihwa and I are both members of the Executive Committee, and continued our education in professional development workshops, too. But, winning this award (and presenting this paper among an all-star session of network scholars) was truly a highlight!

Exchanging & Inspiring with International & Interedisciplinary Scholars

We were delighted to share some of our research in the prestigous and selective “Organization Science Winter Conference” in Zurich (below). We discussed the work-in-progress with a range of scholars from Switzerland, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, and the U.S.

Thanks again to the organizers from ETH Zurich and to all of the participants for the warm welcome of our more micro-research in this historically more macro research community. We’re integrating the feedback and hoping to submit our paper soon.

Our core PLAID lab team were also delighted to share a new paper (funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation) on how playfulness can facilitate interactions and networking across diversity (e.g., men and women, lower and higher-status persons) in organizations. In total, 31 research groups from across HSG shared their sustainability-related insights. See here for more information.

Do you want to measure your DEI impact (and more)?

We’re looking for organizational partners for our research on men’s role in workplace gender equity.

In this collaboration, we will assess your employees’ perceptions of diversity and inclusion. Over one year, we will send short surveys to your employees to learn about inclusion practices, well-being, and leadership (3 times, <10 min).

What’s in it for you?

1.       You will receive an executive summary with customized, practical recommendations from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) experts.

2.       You can add additional, customized items to the surveys (e.g., to assess aspect of engagement, flex-work/-time, relevant to your needs).

3.       This is a unique opportunity to advance—and evaluate—your commitment to DEI while also contributing to the newest scientific insights on the topic.

This research collaboration is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and is free of charge for you.

Interested? Please contact Eugenia Bajet Mestre, Project Manager and Research Assistant.

Male Allyship Description

For more information on male allyship or our new and highly-rated hybrid training, see our video (above) or our website here.

Swiss Summit on Leadership, Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity (2023) in Zurich

Thanks again to the 52 folks from universities (e.g., University of St.Gallen, University of Zurich, University of Geneva, London Business School, DCU Business School, Purdue University, Copenhagen Business School, ETH Zürich, University of Lausanne - UNIL, University of Konstanz, etc.) and practice (e.g., PwC, Femmes Juristes Suisse - Juristinnen Schweiz, & Adecco) who joined our inaugural, interdisciplinary summit on leadership, diversity, and inclusion last week in Zurich! 🙌

We explored questions related to emotional diversity, work-family, women's charisma, going beyond the gender binary, virtual inclusive leadership, mature workers, humor/well-being in flat hierarchies, sexual harassment, maternity & "maybe baby" bias, interventions for more equity at work, (male) allyship, authenticity (when, why, & for whom?), sustainable leadership, new methods (e.g., avatars and prospective meta-analyses), and more! 🤓

Our aim was to share knowledge and foster connections--especially for our early career scholars--within and beyond 🇨🇭, within and beyond academia 💡. Check out this amazing video summary of the event from the talented Sophie Moser’s perspective (PhD student at the University of Konstanz).

Thanks again to all who joined--especially our super bright PhD students and post-docs 🌟 (all here with their talk titles and affiliations: https://lnkd.in/e7ghkEV3), experienced moderator and expert panelists (e.g., Gudrun Sander, Prof. Dr., Franciska Krings, Liana Melchenko, Joséphine Marmy, Christiane Löwe, & Jacques Berent, PhD), stellar keynotes by Janine Bosak, Thekla Morgenroth (+ special shout-out to Florence Villesèche)--and last, but not least, my ever-engaged and talented co-organizers: Lauren Howe & Clara Kulich. 🙏 (2 of us shown here, since Lauren was unfortunately sick.)

Gratitude for all involved, especially our funding from SNSF Swiss National Science Foundation, University of Zurich, Geneva School of Economics and Management - UNIGE, Competence Centre for Diversity & Inclusion (CCDI-FIM) - University of St.Gallen (HSG), assistance from UZH Digital Society Initiative, & Brice Olivier Mbigna Mbakop. 🙏 While every one did a stellar job, I was particularly proud of my team’s stellar representation from the PLAID lab at CCDI (FIM-HSG; see below).

On the far left, you also see our new post-doc: Huong Pham. She finished her dissertation at LMU and brings methods expertise and interests in leader-follower granting processes. Dr. Pham will lead a paper on leader signalling via sports in our Swiss National Science Foundation Project. Welcome to the team, Huong!

#leadership #diversity #inclusion #dei #futureofwork #futureofleadership #sustainability #management #psychology #business #ethics #philosophy

Why the future is…funny? (TEDx Zurich talk)

Wow! I’m incredibly grateful for the organizers, coaches, hosts, translators, 100(ish) volunteers and folks behind the scenes, 800(ish) attendees (including some of my family, team, and friends!), and 9 other speakers who bravely shared their big ideas at a very inclusive TEDx Zurich yesterday! What a powerful and unforgettable experience with loads of creative and inspiring ideas and individuals.

In my 12-min. talk, I wove a narrative through my years of research on diversity, (social) sustainability, and humor—condensed into 3 key points—pointing to why the future is (or rather should be) funny.

***Want to know more? Check out the video here.***

As our team grows and we remain active in countless ways across HSG (and beyond), please follow us on LinkedIn or our CCDI page for a more complete and current overview of our team, engagements, research, and impact.

To slow down climate change, speed up gender equity?

On behalf of my coauthors Eugenia Bajet Mestre, Corinne Post, and Winfried Ruigrok, we’re delighted to share our new article on the nexxus between gender/diversity, leadership, and sustainability.

Gender equity and environmental sustainability may seem like unrelated issues, but research shows that they are in fact closely intertwined. Women and other underserved groups are disproportionately impacted by the global climate crisis, but they are also uniquely positioned to lead the fight for sustainability. We offer six strategies to help business and political leaders empower women and address environmental challenges through an intersectional approach to sustainability. To tackle climate change (as well as the myriad other sustainability challenges that face today’s organizations), we argue that leaders must acknowledge the complexity and interconnectedness of these issues — and work to develop integrated solutions that will improve them all.

Artwork accompanying our article in HBR by the talented Lars Leetaru.

See here for the original article in Harvard Business Review (in English).

See here for the television interview with Jamie Gloor in TVO (in German).

We’re delighted to see our work featured as “Strategic Intelligence” by the World Economic Forum and gaining above-average traction for Harvard Business Review articles with 22,000+ hits after only 1 month published.

But what do you think? Share your comments here—let’s keep the discussion going as we aim for awareness and positive impact in the areas of gender/diversity, leadership, and (social) sustainability.

The risky business of potential parenthood

Is actual motherhood a requirement to face motherhood penalties? Are young, childfree women the “riskiest” employees to hire?

To answer these questions (and more), see our new paper on potential pregnancy as a hiring risk coauthored with an amazing team of talented coauthors: Tyler Okimoto (University of Queensland) and Eden King (Rice University).

Non-traditional paths for non-traditional leaders

Check out the new teaser for our new project (below).

Non-traditional paths for non-traditional leaders?

I am absolutely honored and still in utter disbelief that the Swiss National Science Foundation has awarded me with a 1.2million PRIMA grant to form a small team to study extra-curricular and network-based paths to (more diverse) leadership. I’ll be working closely with the Centre for Diversity & Inclusion at the University of St. Gallen for 5 years, starting in Janury 2021.

More info coming soon-follow the project here for updates!

Let's get digital! ...and inclusive.

Delighted to share that Prof. Brooke Gazdag (LMU) and my new big data research on digital inequality and collaboration in science has been accepted for presentation at the inaugural the ETH-organized conference on organizing in the digital era in Switzerland. *UPDATE* Due to a time conflict that arose after acceptance, however, we unfortunately had to withdraw our paper and miss out on this amazing conference.

Our symposium on humor (with Prof. Rashpal Densa-Khalon, University of Surrey, co-organizer, and Prof. Cecily Cooper, University of Miami, discussant) that includes my paper on humor in uncertainty, as well as the symposium on gender bias in organizations (led by Prof. Samantha Paustian-Underdahl, Florida State University, and Dr. Kate Frear, Center for Creative Leadership) that includes our paper on identity and motivated reasoning (with Profs. Tyler Okimoto, University of Queensland, and Xinxin Li, Shanghai Jiao Tong University) have been accepted for presentation at the 79th annual Academy of Management Conference in Boston.

Looking forward to meeting colleagues, coauthors, and new contacts, starting, joining, and continuing discussions, and sharing science on a local and global scale.