Knowledge To Go: Women, Customer Orientation, and Superior Financial Performance, oh my! with PhD Alumni Chandra Srivastava and Saim Kashmiri (Apr. 28, 2023)

In this talk, Dr. Chandra Srivastava and Dr. Saim Kashmiri discussed the latest research on how including women in roles of leadership impacts an organization’s strategy and financial performance. Spoiler alert… female leaders encourage a greater customer orientation among the entire leadership group, which leads to superior financial performance, but these effects vary across contexts and are most helpful to firms that operate in relatively stable and unregulated industries. They also shared some tips on how you can use these findings in your own organization.

Chandra and Saim received their PhDs in Marketing from The University of Texas at Austin in 2019 and 2012, respectively, under the advisement of Dr. Vijay Mahajan. Both conduct research examining how a company’s leadership team and structure impacts marketing and firm outcomes and are published in top journals such as the Journal of Marketing and International Journal of Research in Marketing. Chandra is currently on a leave of absence from academia to be the Chief Marketing Officer at Calque, a fintech startup, and worked in corporate reputation and crisis management serving Fortune 50 firms prior to joining academia. Saim in an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Mississippi and holds an MBA degree from LUMS (Pakistan) and an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from M.I.T. Prior to joining academia, Saim had six years of brand management experience in Global Fortune 500 companies, namely Shell Oil, Procter & Gamble, and Nestlé.

You can view the recording of this talk here.

Please note: Alumni Network webinars must be viewed live to receive CPE credit. Watching the recording does not qualify for CPE credit.

Knowledge To Go: Tactics for Communicating Your Ideas at Work with Insiya Hussain (Apr. 7, 2023)

Have you ever had a good idea at work but struggled to get people on board? Or felt uncertain about how to advocate for yourself personally?

Navigating the workplace comes with natural communication challenges. Employees at lower rungs of the hierarchy often don’t have the power and status to unilaterally implement change. Moreover, busy managers, difficult coworkers, and the potential for conflict can create an uphill climb to selling ideas persuasively.

In this “Knowledge To Go” webinar, Professor Hussain shares ten actionable tips for how to communicate ideas for maximum impact and effectiveness. Using evidence from research and practice, the session highlights concrete techniques for framing ideas, overcoming resistance, and negotiating for mutual gain.

*This talk was recorded and distributed only to those who initially registered for the webinar, and is unavailable for public viewing.

Insiya Hussain is an Assistant Professor of Management at the McCombs School of Business. Her research focuses on the challenges and opportunities that employees encounter when speaking up to share ideas and opinions, advocate social issues, and negotiate for personal rewards.

Professor Hussain’s research has been published in top-tier academic outlets such as Academy of Management Journal and Journal of Applied Psychology. Her insights have also been featured in media and practitioner outlets such as ABC KVUE-TV, Harvard Business Review, and Fortune. She has engaged in research and consulting across a variety of sectors, for firms ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

Prior to joining academia, Professor Hussain worked at J.P. Morgan’s investment bank and as a Project Manager at technology companies. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Columbia University, and her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the University of Maryland.