Current Research Topics

• Developing leadership talent
• Why smart executives fail
• Early warning signs for corporate disasters
• Learning from mergers and acquisitions
• Board of director effectiveness

Selected Publications

• With J. Kim and J. Haleblian, “When Firms Become Desperate to Grow via Acquisition: The Effect of Growth Patterns and Acquisition Experience on Acquisition Premiums," Administrative Science Quarterly, 2011
• How to Avoid a Bad Call, FT Press, 2010
• With A. Campbell and J. Whitehead, "Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions," Harvard Business Review, February, 2009
• With J. Kim, "The Effects of Strategic and Locational Complementarity on Acquisition Performance: Evidence from the U.S. Commercial Banking Industry, 1989-2001," Strategic Management Journal, 30, 2009
• With J. Whitehead and A. Campbell, Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep It From Happening to You, Harvard Business School Press, 2009
• With D.C. Hambrick and A. Cannella, Strategic Leadership: Theory and Research on Executives, Top Management Teams, and Boards, Oxford University Press, 2008
• With C. Helfat, W. Mitchell, M. Peteraf, H. Singh, D. Teece, and S. Winter, Dynamic Capabilities: Understanding Strategic Change in Organizations, Blackwell Publishing, 2007
• Why Smart Executives Fail: And What You Can Learn From Their Mistakes, Portfolio, 2003
• With A. Mooney, "Not the Usual Suspects: How to Use Board Process to Make Boards Better," Academy of Management Executive, May 2003
• With J.B. Quinn and P.C. Anderson, "Managing Professional Intellect: Making the Most of the Best," Harvard Business Review, 74 (March–April), 1996

Awards

• Finalists for the Academy of Management Terry Book Award, 2010 (“Strategic Leadership,” and “Think Again”)
• Emerald Management Reviews Citation of Excellence (for having been selected as one of the 50 best articles published in 2009 (out of 15,000) in management) for “Inappropriate Attachments”
• Elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Management in 2007
• Article included in Special issue: Classic Articles from AME, which “reprises and celebrates the most enduring articles from its past as chosen by the editors.” Academy of Management Executive, 2005
• Finalist for the Academy of Management Executive Best Article of the Year, 2004
• Honorable Mention for the McKinsey & Co. SMS Best Conference Paper Prize, 2002
• Finalist for the Academy of Management’s George R. Terry Award, 1998
• Academy of Management Executive Best Article of the Year, 1997
• Selected as one of the “Best Papers,” SMS Annual Conference, 1997
• Citations of Excellence, ANBAR Management Intelligence, for "Interindustry Merger Patterns" (1998) and “Leveraging Intellect" (1997)
• Ascendant Scholar, Western Academy of Management, 1993
• The Leadership Research Fund, The Leadership Institute, USC, 1993
• Zumberge Faculty Research and Innovation Fund, USC, 1991-1992
• Cenafoni Award for Best Research Proposal in Entrepreneurship, 1991
• A.T. Kearney Award Finalist, 1988
• Irwin Foundation Fellowship, 1986-1987

Professional Activities

Academic positions

• Tuck School of Business, 1993–present
• Assistant Professor of Business Administration, University of Southern California, 1987–93 

Board memberships

• Dartmouth-Hitchcock Assembly of Overseers, Kimball Union Academy

Editorial positions

• Editorial Boards
  Journal of Business Strategy
  Journal of Strategy and Management