2024 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Asa Palley, Indiana University Kelley School of Business

Asa Palley
Kelley School of Business, Indiana University

“As a first-year MBA student, I approached K507, Intro to Spreadsheet Modeling, with a mix of anticipation and dread. While many recommended the course, it was almost described as a necessary evil: suffer through the class so you can perform well in your internship … Much to my surprise, I didn’t just learn a great deal from Professor Palley, but I sincerely enjoyed doing it. Intro to Spreadsheet Modeling quickly became (and remains) one of the most valuable classes I have ever taken. During my summer internship, I frequently applied the skills I learned in K507 and often referred to the course’s assignments when I needed a refresher. Likewise, I took great comfort in knowing that if I ever couldn’t figure a problem out, Professor Palley would only be an email away. Thanks to Professor Palley, I was able to succeed in my internship and return to campus in the fall with a full-time offer in hand.” – Emily Skooglund

Asa Palley, 37, is Assistant Professor of Operations and Decision Technologies at Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

Palley serves as an associate editor at Management Science. His research uses tools from the fields of decision analysis, operations research, and judgment and decision making to develop prescriptive methods to help individuals and organizations make better decisions. This work has been recognized with the 2018 Society for Judgment and Decision Making Hillel Einhorn New Investigator Award and the 2021 Decision Analysis Society Publication Award.

He is the recipient of the Kelley Coin, the Dr. James E. Mumford Excellence in Extraordinary Teaching Award, and the Kelley School of Business Innovative Teaching Award. He has also been nominated for the Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award.

BACKGROUND

At current institution since what year? 2016
Education: Ph.D. in Business Administration (Decision Sciences), Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
List of MBA courses you currently teach: Spreadsheet Modeling

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… I learned that there is a whole field devoted to developing tools to help people and organizations make better decisions. The slogan for INFORMS, my professional society, used to be “The Science of Better.”

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? I have been developing methodology to enhance the wisdom of crowds—when multiple forecasters combine their collective knowledge to come up with a consensus opinion that is more accurate than what could be obtained from a single person. We have found that metapredictions—predictions made by each crowd member of what others in the crowd will say—can be used to boost the accuracy of the crowd by downplaying redundant information and accentuating the unique knowledge that each individual brings to the crowd.

If I weren’t a business school professor… Counterfactuals are always difficult, but it doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch to imagine that I would be the starting defensive central midfielder on a Designated Player contract for a resurgent D.C. United team chasing their third consecutive MLS Cup victory.

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? I try to make myself as available as possible to help my students and care a lot about ensuring that they learn the concepts. I’ve also been told that I have a particularly sarcastic sense of humor when I’m teaching (and probably at other times as well). One of the great things about becoming a parent is that you earn the honor and the privilege to tell dad jokes. If I can get even one student to roll their eyes in each class session, I know that it has been a success.

One word that describes my first time teaching: exciting.

Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor: You have a lot of flexibility to set your schedule, but doing any of your many responsibilities well, whether that be teaching, research, or service, will require long periods of focused time dedicated to that task, often more time than you anticipated.

Professor I most admire and why: Jack Soll, my mentor and advisor during my Ph.D. program at Fuqua. As a collaborator, I admire his intellectual curiosity, his ability to understand difficult problems and reconceptualize them in an intuitive way, and his skill at clearly articulating complex ideas. As a friend, I admire his generosity and willingness to spend countless hours helping others. He is genuinely one of the nicest people you will meet.

TEACHING MBA STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? They bring so many different experiences and examples to the classroom and are motivated to thoroughly learn the methodologies that we cover so that they can go out into the real world and apply them.

What is most challenging? Sometimes I need to take a more deliberate pace to make sure that everyone is on the same page for some of the more technical aspects of my class, but Kelley students are very supportive and help each other get up to speed with these details.

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

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

When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as… forgiving. There are often many different ways to go about building a spreadsheet model and I try to put myself in the mind of the student completing the assignment to understand their thought process even if they don’t end up at the right answer.

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? Gardening. It’s a wonderful way to stay connected with the earth and changing seasons, and there is nothing like the smell and taste of a freshly picked Sungold cherry tomato. If you asked me ten years ago, I would have said soccer, but my ankles are getting too old and creaky for it now.

How will you spend your summer? I will travel to Chicago and Helsinki for academic conferences and am looking forward to devoting some focused time to several ongoing research projects.

Favorite place(s) to vacation: Wellfleet, MA.

Favorite book(s): The Undoing Project, by Michael Lewis. It has been on my mind after the recent passing of Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman. A fascinating look into the life stories and development of a friendship between Kahneman and Amos Tversky, two of the most influential scholars in the field of judgment and decision making.

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? The Wire. The acting and narratives are compelling, and its social commentary remains just as relevant today as the show reveals the humanity and complexity of all of its characters.

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? Hiss Golden Messenger. I have to thank Duke Performances for introducing me to so many wonderful artists from North Carolina and all over the world during my time living in Durham.

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… a reputation as a place where we teach and create new knowledge that can be applied to real-world problems to make better decisions, use resources more efficiently, and build a more prosperous world.

In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at… supporting new mothers and ensuring that parenthood does not become an impediment to one’s career trajectory. We all benefit from a society in which parents have the flexibility to both take the time they need to nurture and care for their young children and have the same opportunities to contribute their talents to their organization.

I’m grateful for… my students. The students at Kelley have a wonderful collaborative spirit and really support and look out for each other. It makes for an ideal learning environment (and fun to be a part of too!)

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