B-School Bulletin: The Age Of Dominant Leaders, Managing Millennials, & More

Shima Massiri is one of five new professors at the Michigan Ross School of Business. She joins the technology and operations faculty as an assistant professor

Michigan’s Ross Just Hired Its Largest Group of Women Profs In A Decade

News from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business

“Michigan Ross welcomes six new tenure and tenure-track faculty to campus this year, including a Ph.D. alumnus and a former senior economist from the Council of Economic Advisers.

“Five of the six new professors are women, underscoring the school’s efforts to retain a faculty that is not only centered on excellence but also one that better reflects the diversity of our community. This represents the largest group of women to fill tenure and tenure-track positions in the last ten years. Over the last five years, Ross has hired men and women in equal numbers.

“‘By hiring five women as professors we’re demonstrating our commitment to cultivating a diverse and inclusive community, and following through on our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) strategic plan,’ said Taryn Petryk, director of Diversity and Inclusion at Michigan Ross.”

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Why We Prefer Dominant Leaders In Uncertain Times

News from London Business School

“We are witnessing a worldwide surge in a certain type of leader claiming the highest offices of power — leaders who are confident, controlling, and strongly hierarchical. Indian voters elected the dominant Narendra Modi into power in 2014, Britain’s Nigel Farage saw his sharply argued views endorsed during the 2016 Brexit campaign, Donald Trump was elected president of the U.S. in 2016 after repeatedly promising to be ‘strong,’ and autocratic Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was reelected this year. The question is: Why are voters choosing this type of leader now? Our research (recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) attempts to answer this by focusing on when and why such leaders ascend to leadership roles.

“We drew on research from evolutionary and social psychology, which distinguishes between dominance and prestige as two alternative pathways to leadership. Leaders associated with dominance are assertive, confident, controlling, decisive, dominating, and intimidating. Many of these traits are positive, but dominant leaders have also been known to exhibit negative traits such as narcissism, aggression, and uncooperativeness. They are the prototypical ‘alpha male’ in the group, and they frequently claim leadership positions instead of waiting to have leadership responsibility conferred upon them.”

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Olin’s Andrew Knight explains millennials in a recent webinar


Managing The Millennial Wave

News from the Washington University in St. Louis Olin Business School

“’Millennials in the workplace’ is a big topic among non-millennials — both in the media and at work. So we tapped Andrew Knight, associate professor of organizational behavior, to shed some light on his research regarding this intriguing generation. He presented his findings in a recent webinar, identifying three trends that organizations are facing:

“1. Millennials are difficult to retain.

“2. Millennials prize their personal lives over their work lives.

“3. Millennials want opportunities to grow and develop.”

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Peter Horst, former CMO of the Hershey Company


4 Tips For Finding Your Career Sweet Spot

News from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

“Alan Hart (MBA ’06) – Alumni Council member, host of the podcast ‘Marketing Today with Alan Hart’ and ATOMCK managing partner – hosted marketing executive Peter Horst for a talk at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Horst is the former CMO of The Hershey Company and served in executive roles at Capital One, General Mills, US WEST (Qwest) and Ameritrade. During his visit, he shared insights from his marketing career – which one recruiter called a ‘mosaic background’ – with students, faculty and staff.”

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MBA Students Pledge Summer Pay To Social Impact Internship Fund

News from the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business

“This spring, the Net Impact chapter at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business launched a fundraising campaign for the Social Impact Internship Fund (SIIF) to encourage first-year MBA students to donate 0.5% of their summer internship pay to benefit fellow students who pursue internships in the social impact field.

“By the end of the 2016-17 academic year, 152 first-year MBA students — 55% of the full-time MBA class — had taken the pledge to become a SIIF sponsor.”

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Not To Brag: Insights On ROI

News from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

“How can a firm successfully tackle corporate social responsibility? Olga Hawn, UNC Kenan-Flagler strategy and entrepreneurship professor, explores the impact of different CSR strategies.”

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