A new year, a new Uni!

After 7 lucky years at University of Zurich, I'm delighted to start the new year with an SNSF Swiss National Science Foundation grant at the top-ranked Competence Centre for Diversity & Inclusion (CCDI-FIM) - University of St.Gallen (HSG).

Big thanks to everyone who helped make this happen-particularly Prof. Dr. Gudrun Sander-and to UZH Digitalization, who sponsored my most recent–and very digital–research fellowship at University of Zurich. 🙏

Project updates can be found here.

Leadership: Exclusively human?

What would the world look like if socially-skilled robots stepped into the roles normally reserved for humans?

Together with Lauren Howe, David De Cremer, and Sam Yam, we explore these questions–and more–in this thought piece on how “soft skills” such as humor–often touted as exclusively human skills for future workers–may power robots’ rise into leadership roles. (See here in The European Business Review).

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!

Award-Winning Research

Our research on work-family conflict and shocks/set-backs seems to have resonated with reviewers at the Academy of Management 2020.

“Help when dads need somebody? Follower reactions to leader work-family conflict” has won “Best Paper” from the Organizational Behavior (OB) division. This work was authored by Jamie Gloor (University of Exeter & University of Zurich), Susanne Braun (Durham University), Jenny Hoobler (University of Pretoria), and Claudia Peus (Technical University of Munich).*

“Critical events at a critical time: Setbacks and shocks in early academic career stages” has won “Best Symposium” from the Management Education and Development (MED) division. This work was organized by Stephanie Rehbock (Technical University of Munich) and Jamie Gloor (University of Exeter & University of Zurich); it also included a paper, “Men and Women’s Identity Work in response to Private- and Work-Shocks Over Time” (also coauthored by Stephanie Rehbock, Jamie Gloor, & Ronit Kark - Bar Ilan University).*

*Unfortunately, the latter two could not be listed in the formal program due to AOM’s rule-of-three.

My future of work in the future of work

My future of work will be researching the future of work and leadership at the University of Exeter Business School in Exeter, England, as Senior Lecturer (tenured).

If the name doesn’t sound familiar because of it’s well-ranked research and teaching programs, it might sound familiar as the school where writing legend and Harry Potter creator, JK Rowling, studied.

Leadership: Uniquely human?

Tune-in here for our recent session on AI & Leadership at Applied Machine Learning Days.

Thanks again for the invitation, Marisa Tschopp and Simon Schafheitle. So much fun and food for thought!

JOIN US! ***...in fall 2020. Conference postponed due to coronavirus!***

For the most up-to-date information on speakers, time tables, and conference submissions, see *HERE*.

AI & Leadership @EPFL's Applied Machine Learning Days

Join us in Lausanne for our “AI & Leadership” track on Monday, January 27 (1:30-5PM).

I’ll present at 2:40 about why soft skills such as humor are still–if not even more–important than ever, with applications to robot leadership and AI in hiring/recruitment processes.

Get your tickets here TODAY for our track and others, including keynotes from Edward Snowden.

A golden time at Goldman Sachs

Had the honor of presenting "Can funny people get ahead?" at Goldman Sachs in Zurich (with a virtual connection to the Geneva office) last week. Welcomed a big (standing room only in the back!), bright group with great questions about leveraging workplace humor for effective teamwork and leadership.

Science + comedy = super (soft skills) edutainment!

We were delighted to welcome comedian and medical doctor, Fabian Unteregger, as a guest lecturer for our business administration master seminar, “No funny business? Leadership soft skills for a digital, dispersed, and diverse age” at the University of Zurich.

After I presented an overview of the current science on behavioral humor, Fabian presented tips and tricks of successful humor use in professional settings. By the way, he also scored a 4/4 (100%) on our pop quiz that day, showing that my students aren’t the only ones who are soft skills experts!

What a fun (and funny) way to learn about leadership soft skills with this scholar-comedian combo.