Setbacks Can Spur Leaps Forward
Modupe Akinola
Authority on Organizational Environments Who Advises Leaders on Managing Stress, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiatives, and Women’s Leadership; Award-Winning Professor of Management and Leadership, Columbia Business School; Named to the Thinkers50 Radar List (2022)
Biography
Modupe Akinola is an Associate Professor of Management at Columbia Business School. Her research examines how organizational environments can engender stress, and how this stress can influence individual and organizational performance. She uses multiple methodologies, including physiological responses (specifically hormonal and cardiovascular responses), behavioral observation, and implicit and reaction time measures to examine how cognitive outcomes are affected by stress. Additionally, Akinola examines the strategies organizations employ to increase the diversity of their talent pool, as well as the biases that affect the recruitment and retention of women and people of color in organizations.
Akinola has written on these topics in numerous academic journals and her research has been covered in various media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, WIRED, Scientific American, Forbes, The Economist, and The Huffington Post. Her co-authored Sunday New York Times op-ed, titled “Professors are Prejudiced, Too“(with Dolly Chugh and Katherine Milkman), was one of the Top 20 most-emailed/read/tweeted articles the weekend it was published. Akinola was recognized as a Rising Star by the Association of Psychological Science, and received Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s esteemed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellowship.
Akinola teaches the Core Leadership course to Columbia Business School MBAs and lectures in several executive education programs at Columbia Business School. She has extensive corporate training and coaching experience through her consulting work with organizations including HSBC, Staples, The Bridgespan Group, The Executive Leadership Council, CoreNet, Harvard Divinity School, KIPP Schools, and several public school districts across the country. In addition, Akinola has advised numerous police departments across the country in their reform efforts, and most recently has assisted the Cleveland Division of Police in implementing its consent decree with the Department of Justice.
Akinola blends her experience in the business world with cutting-edge academic research on the biology of leadership in creating a dynamic, experiential, and high-impact learning experience for her students and the organizations she advises. She is one of the most highly rated business school professors at Columbia Business School and received Columbia Business School’s Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2015.
Prior to pursuing a career in academia, Akinola worked in professional services at Bain & Company and Merrill Lynch. In addition, she has worked in Accra, Ghana, where she created several nurseries and literacy centers aimed at providing child care for underprivileged babies, teaching literacy to homeless mothers and children, and offering them the opportunity to learn a trade or receive formal education.
Akinola holds a B.A. and M.A. in Psychology, as well as a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University. She also holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Modupe Akinola is available to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting meetings, interactive workshops and customized keynotes through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers & Advisors, a division of Stern Strategy Group®.
Videos
Books & Research
Media
Under Pressure (Audio starts at 23:00)
May 23, 2022
The Early Years of the Black Community at Bain (Audio)
February 7, 2022
Optimizing Your Stress (Audio)
August 25, 2021
How to Turn Bad Stress Into Good
August 17, 2021
Why Is It So Hard to Speak Up at Work?
March 15, 2021
Leading with Love and Choosing Freedom (Audio)
February 5, 2021
Pulling Rank
September 8, 2020
Stereotypes Harm Black Lives and Livelihoods, but Research Suggests Ways to Improve Things
July 8, 2020
These 7 Podcasts Will Help You Achieve Your 2020 Goals
December 28, 2019
Enabling Productive Thinking to Develop Gender Balance
October 14, 2019
Stress Better (Audio)
July 17, 2019
On the Board, “Twokenism” is the new Tokenism
November 3, 2018
How Scientists Are Blocking Bias in the World at Large
January 31, 2018
A-Z Name
Akinola, ModupeBiography
Modupe Akinola is an Associate Professor of Management at Columbia Business School. Her research examines how organizational environments can engender stress, and how this stress can influence individual and organizational performance. She uses multiple methodologies, including physiological responses (specifically hormonal and cardiovascular responses), behavioral observation, and implicit and reaction time measures to examine how cognitive outcomes are affected by stress. Additionally, Akinola examines the strategies organizations employ to increase the diversity of their talent pool, as well as the biases that affect the recruitment and retention of women and people of color in organizations.
Akinola has written on these topics in numerous academic journals and her research has been covered in various media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, WIRED, Scientific American, Forbes, The Economist, and The Huffington Post. Her co-authored Sunday New York Times op-ed, titled “Professors are Prejudiced, Too“(with Dolly Chugh and Katherine Milkman), was one of the Top 20 most-emailed/read/tweeted articles the weekend it was published. Akinola was recognized as a Rising Star by the Association of Psychological Science, and received Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s esteemed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellowship.
Akinola teaches the Core Leadership course to Columbia Business School MBAs and lectures in several executive education programs at Columbia Business School. She has extensive corporate training and coaching experience through her consulting work with organizations including HSBC, Staples, The Bridgespan Group, The Executive Leadership Council, CoreNet, Harvard Divinity School, KIPP Schools, and several public school districts across the country. In addition, Akinola has advised numerous police departments across the country in their reform efforts, and most recently has assisted the Cleveland Division of Police in implementing its consent decree with the Department of Justice.
Akinola blends her experience in the business world with cutting-edge academic research on the biology of leadership in creating a dynamic, experiential, and high-impact learning experience for her students and the organizations she advises. She is one of the most highly rated business school professors at Columbia Business School and received Columbia Business School’s Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2015.
Prior to pursuing a career in academia, Akinola worked in professional services at Bain & Company and Merrill Lynch. In addition, she has worked in Accra, Ghana, where she created several nurseries and literacy centers aimed at providing child care for underprivileged babies, teaching literacy to homeless mothers and children, and offering them the opportunity to learn a trade or receive formal education.
Akinola holds a B.A. and M.A. in Psychology, as well as a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University. She also holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Modupe Akinola is available to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting meetings, interactive workshops and customized keynotes through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers & Advisors, a division of Stern Strategy Group®.
Social Media