Poets&Quants | Gies Faculty Profile

What is creativity research? Gies College of Business Professor Jack Goncalo can tell you. He explores the multifaceted aspects of creativity: its stimulation, its collaboration dynamics, and its psychological consequences. His research investigates the differences in individual and group creativity, seeking fresh insight into human behavior.

“I have been fascinated by creativity for 25 years now and I remain fascinated by it,” he says.

Goncalo’s academic trajectory began during his undergraduate studies when he was hit by another fascination: for organizational behavior. It eventually led him to pursue a Ph.D. at the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley. He began teaching at Gies College of Business in 2016.

Goncalo discovered his passion for academia over time. “There wasn’t one moment when a lightbulb went off and I just decided to pursue a career as a business school professor,” he says. Along the way he became a research assistant and was “bit by the research bug.”

Investigating creativity, he studies how to foster it, how to encourage it collaboratively, and how to unpack biases in evaluating it. It’s a subject that makes for lively discussions — amplified by the range of voices in a Gies classroom. “I am fascinated by the breadth of experience that Gies students bring to the classroom,” Goncalo says.

Title: Professor

At current institution since what year? 2016

Education:

B.A. (Psychology) University of California, Berkeley
M.S. (Business Administration) University of California, Berkeley
Ph.D. (Business Administration) University of California, Berkeley

Professional bio, highlighted awards/achievements:

Jack A. Goncalo is Professor of Business Administration and the Robert and Helen Seass Faculty Fellow at the Gies College of Business, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He began his career at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University where he was the Proskauer Professor. Professor Goncalo is known for his research on individual and team creativity which has been published in numerous academic journals and highlighted in Time Magazine, The New York Times, Forbes Magazine and CNN. Key findings from Professor Goncalo’s research have shown that individualistic groups are more creative than collectivistic groups1, the norm to be Politically Correct can boost the creativity of demographically diverse teams2 and that decision makers can be biased against creative ideas. He is currently the Co-Editor in Chief of Research in Organizational Behavior.

List of courses you currently teach:

Leading Individuals and Teams
Micro Organizational Behavior
Creativity and Social Control

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when…

There wasn’t one moment when a lightbulb when off and I just decided to pursue a career as a business school professor. The process unfolded over a few years. As an undergraduate I intended to major in business but I received a grade in calculus that did not allow me to continue. I also took the survey course in business and hated everything but Organizational Behavior. I decided to pursue Organizational Behavior as a psychology major. I became a research assistant and I was bit by the research bug. I also took a seminar from Charlan Nemeth and I became fascinated with creativity. Pursuing a Ph.D. at the Haas School of Business, working with Jennifer Chatman and Barry Staw seemed like a natural next step.

What are your major research interests?

My main area of research is creativity. I have investigated creativity from several angles—how to stimulate individuals to think more creatively, how to encourage creative collaboration, biases in the evaluation of creative ideas and more recently, the downstream psychological consequences of being creative. I have been fascinated by creativity for 25 years now and I remain fascinated by it.

What are you currently studying?

Right now my collaborators and I are focused on the consequences of creativity. So, far we have discovered the experience of being creative can feel liberating and help people to lift psychological burdens. Being creative can also feel like an act of self-disclosure and being creative together can help build relationships. Our latest finding is that being creative can disinhibit self-indulgent choices that might have health implications (e.g. consuming more calories, consuming more alcohol, exercising less). This new research departs from most research on what makes people creative to instead investigate the psychological consequences of having the experience of being creative.

What is the most significant discovery you’ve made from your research?

My research on creativity has generated three key insights. First, groups can be constraining; indeed, they may produce homogeneity in both thought and deed. Groups that actively promote individualism can counteract these constraints and facilitate the expression of creative ideas. Second, though people claim to desire creative ideas, they often reject creative ideas in favor of more mundane or purely practical solutions. Third, the act of engaging in creative work has sweeping behavioral, affective and interpersonal consequences both positive and negative.

If I weren’t a business school professor…

I can’t begin to contemplate it. I can’t imagine doing any other job. I was lucky enough to find the perfect job for me.

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor?

Maybe the fact that I’m not trying to stand out. I am just trying to do my best work and I rarely focus my attention on what other people are doing or why they are doing it.

One word that describes my first time teaching: Fun!

Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor:

I started my Ph.D. in 1999 at the age of 22 at a business school, so I think I heard it all very early on in my career. I went in with my eyes wide open.

Professor I most admire and why:

Solomon Asch. He conducted the very first experiments on conformity in social psychology. The experiments were simple, elegant and they taught us profound things about why people mindlessly follow the crowd. The work resonates to this day.

TEACHING GIES STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students?

I am fascinated by the breadth of experience that Gies students bring to the classroom. It’s possible to see issues from many different perspectives because students are actively involved in so many different things.

What is most challenging?

When I was an undergraduate, it was much more difficult to access information and so a lot of my coursework was spent on simply sharing facts, terms and definitions. My students now have free access to an unlimited amount of information. That means that my job is not to be a sharer of facts but a curator who ties together and explains how and why people behave the way they do. I have to make the material meaningful which is more challenging than just delivering information.

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: Curious.

In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: Late.

When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as… Slow but generous.

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies?

I enjoy jogging alone, especially when the weather is nice and I can enjoy the sunshine. It clears my head and helps me focus.

Favorite book(s):

Since childhood I have been obsessed with the golden age of ocean liners from the late 1800’s to roughly 1960. I have a collection of books about them. When I was a kid, I was limited to the few books they had at the library but now Amazon is a dangerous thing. I just ordered three ocean liner books a couple of days ago. I suppose this was an early preview of the obsessiveness that I bring to my research. Aside from that I love true crime—The Devil in the White City is one favorite.

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much?

The Sopranos. I rewatch it periodically. It is just so well written that the characters seem like real people. I wish I could watch it again for the first time.

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why?

It is truly all over the place depending on my mood. But if you forced me to choose, I would say Grunge from the early 1990’s. It takes me back to a particular time and place that no longer exists. Popping in a brand new cassette tape of Soundgarden and driving off in my 1990 Volvo to see Pulp Fiction in the movie theater could only happen once.

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… Free espresso.

In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at…

Sharing what they earn with the people who do the work.

I’m grateful for… My family and friends.

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