NEW YEAR, NEW YOU

Faculty: Vanessa Patrick-Ralhan, Associate Dean of Research and Bauer Professor of Marketing

Recognition: Journal of Consumer Research

Insights: If you’ve already ditched your New Year’s resolution, Patrick-Ralhan says the real key to achieving a personal or professional goal isn’t to make a resolution or list a set of goals but rather to adopt a set of personal policies that are grounded in your own values and priorities. This “way of being and operating in the world” allows individuals to successfully manage the pull of pleasure by boosting self-control. Finding personal and professional success isn’t about making a resolution but rather about adopting a set of personal policies that are grounded in your own values and priorities.

RECONSIDERING SERVICE

Faculty: Elizabeth Anderson-Fletcher, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management

Recognition: International Association of Fire Chiefs/Volunteer Combination Officers Section Yellow Ribbon Report

Insights: Every day, first responders in the City of Houston and across the world put their lives on the line to provide emergency services to residents, and in these moments, every second matters. As a researcher in the discipline and a volunteer firefighter, Anderson-Fletcher studies how to better serve first responders, evaluating the physiological and psychological stress in firefighters and the resulting impact on line of duty deaths and other adverse outcomes, including PTSD, substance abuse and suicide. For many first responders, “leave a place better than you found it” is a mantra of service. But for these individuals who put their lives on the line to save others, there are shockingly few resources for behavioral health and suicide prevention.

SELLING INNOVATION

Faculty: Michael Ahearne, C. T. Bauer Professor of Marketing and Research Director, Stephen Stagner Sales Excellence Institute

Recognition: Harvard Business Review

Insights: The forecasts and trend reports from leading CFOs show that most organizations see 2020 as likely a year of flat growth, making markets more competitive than ever. Some see innovation as a way to push past the slump and stand out among the competition. “Most firms will say that they’re good at coming up with new ideas. But they’re really bad at the execution,” Ahearne says. His research uncovers the need for organizations to invest in the necessary training and develop a culture of innovation to help the salesforce that can bring a new product to market, starting from the c-suite all the way to the front lines. Innovation and new product development is not enough. Organizations need to invest in the training of their sales force and create a culture of innovation to ensure successful commercialization of new products.

HUMILITY AS A SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE (LEADER CHARACTER)

Faculty: Dusya Vera, Professor of Management & Leadership

Recognition: The Leadership Quarterly

Insights: Leaders are everywhere — in higher education, sports, organizations, our country, the world. And when you think of leaders, the idea of humility (frequently misunderstood with shyness, lack of ambition and confidence or passivity) may not come to mind. Vera proposes that humility is a critical strength for leaders and organizations possessing it, and a dangerous weakness for those lacking it. Vera studies leader character and the consequences to companies that come from a leader’s character, which she describes as “the habit of being” and something that can be activated and developed.

Character shapes our judgment, our critical thinking and our decision-making. Having ‘good judgment’ or ‘poor judgment’ depends on our character and the balance of our drive, integrity, accountability, courage, humanity, humility, temperance, transcendence, justice and collaboration. Good performance is not sustainable when character and strong judgement are lacking.” Humility may not be commonly associated with leadership, but it is an important aspect of leader character that can give organizations a competitive advantage.