Leadership

My three guiding leadership principles are the following:

• Servant leadership--I succeed if we succeed: I perceive my role fundamentally as a facilitator and servant leader, committed to helping students, faculty, staff, and alumni excel in their respective areas.
• Shared governance--openness: I believe in transparent collaboration and collective decision-making that fosters shared success.
• Embracing differences--everyone belongs: I value each individual's unique perspectives and contributions to the collective goal—everyone should feel welcomed and valued.

These principles are not mere words; they represent who I am and reflect my actions and decisions. Importantly, my research and teaching also shape my administrative leadership philosophy and practices. Topics like leadership, workforce diversity, innovation and entrepreneurship, talent acquisition and development, corporate social responsibility and sustainability, ethics, strategic planning, and behavioral and data science form the foundation of my research and inform my daily strategic focus and operational decision-making.

To illustrate the impact of my leadership, below is a small selection of performance indicators from recent roles:

President of the Academy of Management:

• Roles from 2018-2023: Vice President-Elect & Professional Development Workshop Chair, Vice President & Program Chair, President-Elect, President, and Past President.
• Led an organization's strategic and operational/budgetary aspects, including 40 full-time employees, about 20,000 members from 115 countries, $12.5MM annual operating revenue, and a $50MM investment portfolio.
• Successfully led the 2020 Academy of Management virtual conference as Program Chair, including 26 Divisions and Interest Groups, 7,200 participants from 88 countries, and 11,000 contributors. The conference was flipped from in-person to virtual in just four months.
• Maintained a balanced budget during COVID.
• Increased global membership—more than 60% of new members are from outside the US.
• Increased student membership to 5,600—the largest number since the organization was created in 1936

Chair of the Department of Management (The George Washington University School of Business):

• Improved academic excellence, diversity, and inclusion in the Department of Management’s academic programs and faculty research and teaching activities. For example:
  • Developed an inclusive and interdisciplinary vision that cuts across disciplines and programs (i.e., leadership, human resource management, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, sports management, tourism, and hospitality, applied psychology, and research methods)
  • Recruited research-active faculty and high-performing staff
  • Enhanced the student experience and student-centered education
  • Grew entrepreneurial activity and Increased external funding through centers and institutes
  • Created opportunities for students and fostered a collaborative spirit
  • Defined strategic priorities and secured resources to fulfill those priorities
• The Department of Management increased credit hours consistently every single year and the overall enrollment increase was about 30%.

• Faculty in the Department of Management received a mean “instructor overall quality” = 4.60 and a mean “quality of course” = 4.40 (on a five-point scale).
• Implemented a new and very successful faculty performance review process involving self-ratings from faculty as the first step by following evidence-based practices (as described in my book Performance Management for Dummies).
• By the end of my 3-year term, faculty in the Department of Management published more articles annually and more articles in highly visible journals than faculty in any of the other seven departments in the School of Business.