2025 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Arianna Marchetti, London Business School

Arianna Marchetti
London Business School

“Arianna Marchetti co-developed and teaches LBS’s ‘Strategy Analytics’ elective – the first data-driven and AI-based Strategy elective course at LBS. This popular elective teaches students how to enhance their strategic decision-making capabilities using big data and AI tools. She also excels in teaching LBS’s ‘Understanding General Management’ core course, which shows MBA and EMBA students how to exert their influence both within and beyond organizations. One of the first courses students take in the MBA program, it encourages them to fully express their personal and professional values to make an impact on society and within organizational contexts.” – School nomination

Arianna Marchetti, 37, is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School. 

Her research offers new theoretical and empirical insights into how organizations achieve coordination of and cooperation between their employees through formal structures and informal mechanisms. On the formal side, Marchetti explores how emerging technologies shape hierarchies by asking, for example, how AI can be integrated into decision-making processes through collaborative structures. 

On the informal side, she studies the role of organizational culture and, for instance, develops novel methods to measure culture at scale. 

At London Business School, Marchetti teaches across MBA, executive MBA, and PhD programs, focusing on strategic management in the digital era and strategy analytics. She earned her PhD in Strategy from INSEAD and her MSc and BSc in Industrial Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome. 

Before joining academia, she worked as a consultant at EY.

BACKGROUND

At current institution since what year? 2020

Education: PhD in Management (concentration in Strategy) from INSEAD 

List of MBA courses you currently teach: Understanding General Management, Data-driven Strategy, Strategy For The Data Era, Lima Global Experience

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… When I was a child, I used to teach my dolls with imaginary lesson plans and very serious class rules. I didn’t know it would be business school, of course—but even then, I loved explaining things. In a way, the path of a professor picked me early on.

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? I am researching how human managers and AI can work together on decision-making in organizations. One key insight? Adopting AI doesn’t mean managers are permanently replaced in the tasks they hand over to algorithms. Instead, when humans and AI form an “ensemble”—solving the same problem and aggregating their predictions—they often outperform either the manager or the AI working alone. This approach works also when neither the human nor the AI is especially accurate on their own, which is common in complex managerial tasks. Each brings something valuable: the human offers experience, intuition, and gut feeling, while the AI contributes the power to process large datasets and model complex patterns—something humans simply can’t do. But for this partnership to be effective, two conditions must hold: the human needs access to unique data that the AI cannot use and must be a better prediction than chance, while the AI needs enough data to be more accurate than a random guess. When these conditions are in place, both the human and AI remain active participants in decision-making, ensuring managers retain their competence and continue to learn, rather than being sidelined.

If I weren’t a business school professor… I seriously considered becoming a justice. Then, I discovered I’d probably enjoy being a psychotherapist or a coach (I love deep conversations). And just when I thought I’d figured it out, I realized I have a hidden talent for planning weddings and organizing events. Turns out, I had plenty of backup plans… but I’m glad this one stuck!

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? Probably my sense of humor: I believe learning sticks better when there’s laughter involved. That, and my ability to really empathize with my students. 

One word that describes my first time teaching: Online. I started at LBS in the summer of 2020, mid-pandemic, and I was terrified the tech would completely fall apart. What I didn’t expect was how meaningful it would feel. Despite the distance, the students showed up with curiosity and heart, and we built something real in that virtual space. It reminded me why teaching matters.

Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor:  You control your schedule, but your work controls you. No one warns you that “flexibility” often means working all the time. It’s freedom… with fine print.

Professor I most admire and why: Phanish Puranam (my PhD advisor)—for his generosity, wit, integrity, and endless curiosity. He’s the kind of person who makes you want to think deeper, ask better questions, and be a better human while you’re at it. 

TEACHING MBA STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? They bring real-world ambition into the classroom. I love how they connect theory to practice, challenge ideas with business instincts, and push me to stay up-to-date with evolving industries, trends, and technologies. It’s like a live feed into the future of business.

What is most challenging? Finding the right language to reach a room full of people who think differently. Business students come from such diverse backgrounds and the challenge is to teach in a way that resonates with everyone, stretches their thinking, but still feels accessible.

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: Curious.
(But if I could cheat a little: curious, a little skeptical, and not afraid to laugh—even at themselves. That’s the dream combo.)

In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: Rambling.
(The kind who talks a lot but doesn’t quite land on a relevant point. It makes thoughtful discussions more challenging for everyone.)

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

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? Horse riding. It’s my favorite way to disconnect, get outside, and feel completely present. Plus, nothing humbles you quite like a 1,200-pound animal with opinions.

How will you spend your summer? Chasing new adventures with my 2-month-old daughter and my husband. We’ll be exploring, making memories, and figuring out baby-friendly traveling. And we’ll attend a summer camp in Spain to play polo for the first time!

Favorite place(s) to vacation: Anywhere I haven’t been yet. I love discovering new places, especially if there’s sunshine and great food involved.

Favorite book(s): Crime and Punishment (by Fyodor Dostoevsky). I was so hooked, I skipped school for three days just to finish it.

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? Forrest Gump. It’s a reminder that life doesn’t have to be complicated to be meaningful.

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? Opera. There’s something about the raw emotion, the drama, and the sheer power of the human voice. It’s music that demands your full attention—and rewards it. One of the best things about London is the quality of the shows one can always find here.

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… Real-world messiness. I’d love to see business education embrace uncertainty, complexity, and moral nuance. The future belongs to leaders who not only solve tough problems but also know how to ask, “Should we?”—not just “Can we?”

In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at… Leveraging data for strategic decision-making. Besides all the noise around AI, most businesses do not truly harness the power of the vast troves of data they have access to for making high-level decisions. A lot of progress has been made in the last decade regarding systematizing operational decisions with the help of analytics tools, but this does not yet percolate to most board rooms, where gut feeling often dominates.

I’m grateful for… The unwavering love and support of my family and friends. They’re my anchor, my cheerleaders, and the reason I can do what I do with heart and confidence.

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