2025 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Tom Taiyi Yan 闫太一, University College London School of Management

Tom Taiyi Yan 闫太一
University College London School of Management

“Tom’s personal journey—growing up in Beijing, moving to rural Tennessee as an exchange student, and navigating cultural barriers—has deeply influenced his approach to teaching. He is committed to creating an inclusive and psychologically safe classroom, particularly for students from marginalized backgrounds and developing countries. 

A hallmark of Tom’s teaching is his ability to bring real-world challenges into the classroom. He completely redesigned the Global Leadership module in the UCL-PKU MBA to prepare students for the complexities of leading multicultural and geographically dispersed teams. He also integrates cutting-edge human-AI interaction research into his Managerial Decision-Making course, where students gain hands-on skills in analyzing how AI-driven decisions shape businesses and government policies.” – Dr. Raina Brands

Tom Taiyi Yan, 33, is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at University College London School of Management. 

His research examines two topics: 1) How can organizations build more equitable and inclusive teams? 2) How can business leaders foster more creative and innovative organizations?

His work has been featured in leading management and psychology journals such as Organization Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, and Psychological Bulletin. His meta-analysis tracking the magnitude of gender disparity in leadership emergence over time won the best paper award at Personnel Psychology. He has also published multiple articles in the Wall Street Journal to translate academic research for a wider audience and offers evidence-based recommendations to organizations. In addition, his research has been featured in the Washington Post, Time Magazine, Business Insider, Market Watch, and Scientific American. 

In the classroom, he is dedicated to using his multicultural background to create a safe, vibrant environment for student learning. At UCL, he has been nominated multiple times for university-wide teaching awards, and won the Distinguished Teaching Award at University of Maryland College Park. 

In the academic community, he is passionate about building bridges between Asia and the U.S. and U.K. He has led and volunteered in multiple initiatives in translating research outputs between Mandarin and English. This year, he serves on the panel of Carolyn Dexter Award to recognize best efforts that internationalize the Academy of Management. 

Prior to academia, he had briefly worked at Mercer, Morgan Stanley, and Aceman Group Consulting. 

BACKGROUND

At current institution since what year? 2020

Education: PhD in Organizational Behavior, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland; BS in Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign 

List of MBA courses you currently teach: Global leadership 

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… It was more of a gradual realization rather than an “ah ha” moment. My undergraduate advisors Emily Grijalva and Dan Newman told me about business academia with an exciting possibility to learn across disciplinary boundaries and create positive impact among real-world organizations. However, I was failing miserably in my PhD and was ready to quit on this whole thing, till my advisors Vijaya Venkataramani and Subra Tangirala helped me get on the right path. They believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. And as I went on, I became more and more committed to this career. 

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? One ongoing project I’m very passionate about explores the effect of feeling socially disconnected (i.e., loneliness) in enhancing creativity among women, but not men. This research, with Ying Zhang from Tsinghua University, challenges the prevailing wisdom that creativity is stimulated when people feel socially connected or use their social circle to facilitate the creative process. We highlight that while social connectedness may be beneficial for men, it often has negative “side effects” for women’s creativity—it brings gender-based expectation that prescribes women to conform and assimilate. Hence, we look at how the feeling of social disconnectedness may remove this layer of conformity pressure for women, and facilitate their creative pursuits. 

We were able to partner with a renewable energy machinery manufacturer in Eastern China, and conduct some very cool studies. We first held a “competitive contest” to solicit creative ideas with tangible impact on the organization and found a positive effect of social disconnectedness on creativity for women (and a slight negative effect for men). Then, we conducted dozens of interviews with these employees to gain insights into the gender-specific impacts of social disconnectedness. Finally, we conducted an experiment in the UK to replicate our results in a Western cultural context. 

The world often expects women to be “connected” (e.g. be a team player, community builder etc.), but our research highlights the potential downside of this expectation in hampering their creativity. Relatedly, to the extent we stigmatize loneliness and the feeling of social disconnectedness (e.g. loneliness epidemics), our work suggests nonchronic loneliness has benefits in removing conformity pressure and facilitating women’s creativity. 

If I weren’t a business school professor… I’d like to say an NBA player but if I’m being real, probably a data analyst (preferably for an NBA front office). 

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? I’m a Chinese person who has a hint of American Southern accent so that sometimes tickles my students in London. I grew up in Beijing but went to live on a farm and attended a Southern Baptist high school in Eastern Tennessee, where I learned all my English and most of my English-speaking mannerisms. These cross-cultural experiences gave me a unique perspective in today’s world, and I use these stories in the classroom to build a safe environment for students from all walks of life. 

One word that describes my first time teaching: Delightful.  

Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor: You are pretty much an entrepreneur. People will help you but success requires independence, discipline, and proactivity. Don’t look for someone to tell you what to do all the time. 

Professor I most admire and why: This is easy. My advisor Vijaya who taught me the importance of work ethics, professionalism, and creativity all the things you need to succeed in this field; and my other advisor Subra who taught me everything I know about Scotch. 

TEACHING MBA STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? In Mandarin there’s a phrase that translates to “mutual learning between students and teacher” (教学相长). I’ve encountered so many fascinating stories from MBA students that fueled my passion for research. 

What is most challenging? Evolving my teaching with the latest developments (AI, remote working, international relations etc.), which is also the most rewarding. 

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

In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: Comparison-obsessed. 

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

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? Tennis is 1A— I picked up tennis a little over a year ago and became obsessed with improving. Movies is 1B— I deeply enjoy all the film institutions in London (shoutout BFI, Curzon, and Prince Charles Cinema) and write a little film watching journal. 

How will you spend your summer? I’m getting married!!! 

Favorite place(s) to vacation: Anywhere with her (she will no doubt pick somewhere with good ice cream). 

Favorite book(s): Wuxia is a genre of fiction that depicts the legends and adventures of martial artists, often in ancient China. My favorites are The Return of the Condor Heroes (神雕侠侣) and The Smiling, Proud Wanderer (笑傲江湖). I’ve loved these books since I was 7 years old and I just finished rereading them over Christmas break, and they made me fall in love with Chinese literature all over again. 

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? I often struggle with my own emotions and films somehow help me process them. After I met my fiancé, it’s also our beloved way to spend time together (her favorite so far is Tenet in BFI IMAX 70mm) . 

Some of my all-time favorites in no particular order: 1) Before Sunrise; 2) A Brighter Summer Day牯嶺街少年殺人事件; 3) Tenet; 4) Past lives; 5) Decision to Leave; 6) Infernal Affairs無間道; 7) Margin Call; 8) In the Mood for Love 花樣年華; 9) the Gentlemen; 10) Uncut Gems; 11) City of God; 12) Zero Dark Thirty; 13) Pride and Prejudice; 14) Dune Part 2; 15) Portrait of a Lady on Fire.   

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? I’ve gotten myself deep into the world of film scores. Heavy rotations are Ludwig Göransson’s score for Tenet, Sufjan Stevens’ score for Call Me By Your Name, Hans Zimmer for Interstellar, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Social Network, and the GOAT Shigeru Umebayashi for In the Mood for Love. 

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this…closer connections with business/industry. While academia has the benefit of scientific rigor and a longer time horizon, industry is uniquely insightful in identifying emerging issues. 

In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at…be more actively involved with business school to help shape the future of business education. 

I’m grateful for… all the wonderful people who tolerate my many eccentricities and shenanigans, including you dear reader who tolerated my indulgent gushing about films. 

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