Media Magnify Scandals of Big-Name Companies

Famous Mentors Can Be a Blessing and a Curse

By Daniel Butcher

Students and young professionals who get well-respected, or even famous, mentors gain can gain skills that help put their careers on promising trajectories. But mentees’ identities and reputations becoming connected with prominent mentors can provide both benefits and challenges.

Academy of Management Scholar Bess Rouse of Boston College said that, on the positive side, relationships and connections with prominent mentors can improve mentees’ opportunities. On the negative side, the entanglement of an individual’s career with a prominent mentor can also lead to being taken for granted, having their contributions underappreciated, and feeling overshadowed. She and her coauthors of an Academy of Management Review article refer to this as the “paradox of promise” that complicates mentees’ building meaningful career narratives.

“We were looking at mentorship in a creative context, and all of us were able to draw from our experiences as well, but our research findings apply to any place where there is a strong mentor figure where you learn by doing and being around somebody who is experienced and renowned in their field,” Rouse said. “This paradox of promise can happen—we know that working with very prominent people in the field is useful; it can help you get connections, and you learn a lot.

“This person is well-known, because they are very skilled at what they do, and so you can see that happening, where you’re learning very easily from this person, because they have a lot of knowledge to give you, but at the same time, you have the shadow over you when you go out and try to make a name for yourself,” she said. “You’ll often be referred to in context with your mentor, and so it’s very hard to break out and establish your own identity, because people assume—maybe rightly, maybe wrongly—that basically you are just the output of this other person and haven’t really established a voice on your own.

“And so that can be very challenging for people, especially if you are driven, as some of our informants were, to really make a name for themselves and separate themselves from their mentor.”

It can be difficult to craft your own career narrative in the way that you’d like if most people know you based on the work that you’ve done in the shadow of a successful, celebrated mentor. That said, some mentees embrace their association with such a figure.

“There are other people in our study that were much more comfortable to build on the legacy of that mentor and feel that they were the next stage of that—helping that legacy to live on, contributing to that legacy was really important to them, and they were able to find meaning from that,” Rouse said. “This is really about what you are trying to get out of your own creative career as a protege and thinking about the different ways to find career success.

“An interesting thing about our study is we found that all people found a way to craft a career narrative and find meaningfulness,” she said. “They just took different paths for doing that.”

Why Mentees Should Highlight Similarities with Mentors

By Daniel Butcher

While high-quality mentorship boosts protégés’ careers, a mentor who is disinterested or unmotivated doesn’t provide value to mentees. To maximize mentors’ networking help and advice, mentees should highlight similarities with their mentor to strengthen mutual identification.

Academy of Management Scholar Bess Rouse of Boston College, who coauthored an Academy of Management Review article with Beth Humberd of the University of Massachusetts Lowell on this topic, said that the effectiveness of mentoring depends on the mentor identifying with a mentee to form a close relationship.

“It has been interesting to watch the shift of people understanding more about this network structure and broader constellation of developmental relationships,” Rouse said. “One of the big pieces of advice that a lot of people would give is don’t look for the be-all and end-all of a mentor that’s going to do all of these different functions for you.

“It’s really diversifying networking and career-development efforts and understanding that different people have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to professional relationships,” she said.“Some people are much better at psychosocial support, the trust and friendship part of a mentoring relationship, whereas some people are much better at the career side of it and giving sponsorship opportunities or challenging you or reading your work.

“Those benefits of mentorship can come from a range of different people.”

Talking about pastimes cultivates identification

People enjoy talking about their pastimes and things they have in common with each other. Mentors are no exception.

“Think about not only how we are similar in terms of our work experience or where we want to go, but also commonalities as simple as like hobbies—if you find somebody who plays tennis and you play tennis, use that as a conversation-starter,” Rouse said. “Think about how you can develop an easygoing relationship that then can build into a mentoring relationship.

“You shouldn’t underestimate those various forms of connection that you might use for networking and relationship-building, and think about doing those in small doses, rather than thinking, ‘I’m going to find my mentor today’—it’s establishing a good rapport with potential mentors,” she said. “There’s a whole body of literature on positive work relationships and high-quality connections—ask yourself how you can build smaller connections into bigger relationships.

“Especially as an introvert, thinking about having those particular strong, high-quality connections is what ends up building into those valuable mentoring relationships.”

Your Skills, Not Your Jobs, Are Part of Your Identity

By Daniel Butcher

Rather than focusing on job titles or specific industries during a job search, candidates who imagine how their skills and experience could translate to a variety of roles are better able to bounce back after career setbacks and transition from one professional identity to another.

Academy of Management Scholar Dean Shepherd of the University of Notre Dame said that research he conducted on disabled veterans found that some of them did well in transitioning to new careers after leaving the military, while others did poorly.

“The ones who did poorly looked at superficial links between their previous jobs in the military and the civilian jobs they were considering: ‘I was a sniper in the army; we don’t need anyone to be a sniper in in civilian life but the police use weapons’ or ‘I used to drive a tank. What can I do in civilian life? I can drive a bus,’” Shepherd said.

“But other people—the ones who did well—looked at it more structurally and said, ‘In the military, I learned discipline; I learned to be able to attend to important responsibilities for an extended period of time; I learned how to follow orders and execute those things at a structural level, which means that in entrepreneurship, I can do X and Y,’” he said.

For example, the newspaper, magazine, and publishing industries have been disrupted by the transition from print to digital advertising, the availability of free content, the rise of social media and AI, and other factors, which has lead to a structural decline in the number of jobs in those areas.

“This concept relates to the media landscape; if you lose a career in journalism, you could say, ‘Okay, I could find something that superficially matches my professional identity, such as PR [public relations] or media relations, or maybe journalism means other things: ‘I’m an investigator’ or ‘I’m a writer who’s a subject-matter expert on these things—what could that lead to?’” Shepherd said.

“And it might lead to something that on the surface looks like something very different but that structurally uses the same skills that you used in your previous career,” he said.

“The advice is to try and look at things not just superficially but rather at a deeper level and consider how your skills can transfer to a different career and professional identity.”

Want to Bounce Back from a Setback? Try Identity Play

By Daniel Butcher

People who can approach job searches with a flexible mindset about their professional identity are better able to bounce back after devastating job losses or even injuries that affect the types of jobs they’re able to do.

Academy of Management Scholar Dean Shepherd of the University of Notre Dame said that if people get fired or laid off, butt heir job is not a critical part of their identity, then they can often recover relatively quickly. But many people’s self-image is intertwined with their career.

“If you can find a job that’s kind of related to that identity, then you’re probably going to be fine, but if it was a strong part of your identity and you’re unable to capture a job that represents that identity, then you can fall a long way,” Shepherd said.

“But the interesting aspect is that when you hit rock bottom, it’s actually quite freeing—it’s like freedom when you hit the bottom, because you say, ‘It can’t get any worse,’ and suddenly, when you hit the bottom, you actually start to think more freely and can engage in this identity play,” he said.

Research on musicians and dancers who have experienced traumatic events uncovered surprising findings about self-reinvention and reimagining one’s professional identity to achieve growth in a new career.

“Professional musicians and dancers who have an injury and can no longer perform those roles that they’ve been performing their whole life and was a strong part of their identity, and also people who get injured and have become paraplegics or even quadriplegics, after a while, they can actually perform well in a different career, and they look back and say, ‘The best thing that ever happened to me was getting that injury,’ Shepherd said. “It wasn’t at that time, of course; it was devastating, but it allowed them to go and pursue something else, and that something else became what they felt was actually something better than what they were before.

“In some ways, maybe it’s better, or maybe they’re just telling themselves it was better, but either way, that’s a good thing that happened or at least a silver lining,” he said. “So I suppose that’s the advantage—when we hit rock bottom, then we can start to really pursue something else—we can play with these different identities and find something that may actually lead to an outcome that’s better than what would have happened if we had never lost that original career in the first place.”

Of course, for some, there’s a sad side to that kind of story.

“Some people engage in chronic dysfunctional behavior and take drugs and remove themselves from society and their own way of thinking after suffering a professional setback or injury,” Shepherd said. “But if you can engage in this identity play, then you can maybe find a better version of yourself.”

Immigration Debates Rarely Mention This Important Fact

By Daniel Butcher

Many immigrants—both legal and illegal—are willing to do the kinds of unglamorous, undistinguished, and downright dirty jobs that no one else wants to do, according to Academy of Management Scholar Dean Shepherd of the University of Notre Dame. He likens their psychology to that of Dalits, India’s most oppressed and stigmatized people, many of whom are garbage collectors who scavenge through slum trash dumps for items to sell. They’re commonly called “ragpickers.”

“In some ways, immigrants think like the ragpickers, because they say, ‘I’m doing this so we can eat tonight, but I’m mainly doing this so my children get educated, so that they can get a good job, so that they can marry well, and so that our family’s future generations are going to move forward,” Shepherd said. “And researchers have found that in a lot of immigrant communities, they place a high emphasis on the children’s education—and that’s the reason they’re willing to do dirty jobs.

“They come over to a new country, and they work very hard in order for their for their children to have a better education,” he said. “That’s why they immigrate in the first place, in order to have a better life for their family.”

In the United States in 2023, foreign-born workers were more likely than native-born workers to be employed in service, natural resources, construction, and maintenance jobs, as well as production, transportation, and material moving occupations, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Foreign-born workers were less likely than native-born workers to be employed in sales, office, management, professional, and related occupations.

“We spoke to ragpickers and other entrepreneurs that live in slums, and we asked them, ‘What are your personal goals?’ and they almost don’t understand the question, because their goals are all to do with the next generation,” Shepherd said. “They don’t see much hope for themselves, because when we asked them, ‘What do you plan on doing after retiring?’ they told us, ‘What retirement? I’m never going to retire.’

“It’s all about future generations, and immigrants do the same thing,” he said.

How the GOP Won the 2024 U.S. Election

By Daniel Butcher

The Republican Party took advantage of the headwinds facing the Democratic Party during the cycle leading up to the 2024 U.S. election, including switching presidential candidates at a late stage and persistently high inflation, for which voters blame incumbents. Regardless of the potential effectiveness of their policy proposals, winning GOP candidates spoke to American voters’ concerns about jobs and the high cost of living as many Democrats instead painted a rosy picture of the economy.

Academy of Management Scholar Tim Pollock of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville said that, in contrast with Democrats, who focused on touting the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris Administration, more Republicans were willing to talk about voters’ concerns, anxieties, worries, grievances, and other negative feelings.

“Republican candidates were willing to say, ‘Yeah, we hear you. We are going to deal with this. We’re going to bring inflation down,’ even though inflation was already coming down, and even though many of the factors across the supply chain that might have been responsible for inflation are not actually under government control,” Pollock said. “Whatever the actual reasons are, they said, ‘We hear you, and we’re going to do something about it.’ And the Dems are citing data and saying, ‘No, things are great—unemployment is low, and the stock markets are hitting record highs.’

“But if I’m living paycheck to paycheck, I don’t care what the S&P 500 is doing,” he said. “I care about the prices of eggs, meat, and gas.”

In an ironic twist, many economists are skeptical that the Republicans’ policy proposals—sparking a global trade war with high tariffs and deporting illegal immigrants—will actually improve the economy, create jobs, or bring down inflation.

“Every economist I’ve seen, heard, or read says that they’ll do the opposite—those policies would increase inflation,” Pollock said. “Increasing tariffs would only increase costs, because they’re going to get passed on to U.S. consumers, and cracking down in immigration will cause labor shortages, etc.

“But on the campaign trail, they were saying, ‘I’m going to solve the problem,’ and people are thinking, ‘Great, because nobody else is listening to what my concerns are; nobody else says they want to fix this, and they hear me and understand what I care about,’” he said.

A sample of Pollock’s AOM research findings:

• After an IPO, Celebrity and Status May Be Too Much
• How Influencers Can Gain Followers and Boost Engagement
• Six Things to Expect from Narcissistic CEOs
• Misconduct Trends Increase the Likelihood of Media Scrutiny
• How CEOs Become A-List Stars
• Celebrity CEOs Often Get Typecast into One of Four Roles

Effective Persuasion Calls for Appealing to Emotions Over Logic

By Daniel Butcher

In persuasion, whether it’s gaining support for a business plan, selling a product or service, or seeking forgiveness after a misstep, it’s crucial to pay attention to emotions and respond in kind. Academy of Management Scholar Tim Pollock of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville said it’s most effective to show people that you’ve actually listened to them and tried to understand how they’re feeling, rather than argue with them based on logic or data.

Pollock said many organization leaders face challenges responding to emotional problems or reactions with rational analyses and logical arguments.

“You can’t have an emotional impact by relying solely on logical reasoning, and it isn’t going to have the effect that you hope for,” Pollock said. “If we’re having a rational discussion, we’re being analytical and saying, ‘Okay, let’s look at the data. Let’s figure out what’s going on.’

“That can work really well in some cases, but when I’m reacting emotionally, trying to explain to me why I’m wrong or why things aren’t as bad as I feel they are, or providing me with data is not going to be an effective strategy,” he said. “Parents know this; think about if you’ve tried to have a rational argument with your kid when they’re in the middle of a meltdown—it doesn’t work very well, and so it’s the same principle.

“You have to read of the situation, understand where the emotions are coming from, and address the source of the emotions, not try to provide an analytical assessment—you can’t answer emotions with analysis.”

A related communications pitfall to avoid is making a crisis-management statement that deflects responsibility, comes off as insincere, or doesn’t contain an actual apology.

“In the face of misconduct, they’ll try to rationalize stuff, as opposed to just saying ‘You’re right; I’m sorry’ or to go back to Bill Clinton, ‘I feel your pain,’” Pollock said. “If you say that and apologize and mean it, it’s more effective at diffusing the situation.

“Do not give the performative non-apology or deflection of blame and accountability,” he said. “‘We’re very sorry, but it isn’t really our fault, but we’re still sorry this happened to you,’ as opposed to, ‘We’re sorry we did something,’ and a lot of their apologies sound more like ‘We’re sorry we got caught,’ as opposed to, ‘We’re sorry for what we did.’”

A sample of Pollock’s AOM research findings:

• After an IPO, Celebrity and Status May Be Too Much
• How Influencers Can Gain Followers and Boost Engagement
• Six Things to Expect from Narcissistic CEOs
• Misconduct Trends Increase the Likelihood of Media Scrutiny
• How CEOs Become A-List Stars
• Celebrity CEOs Often Get Typecast into One of Four Roles

When Entrepreneurs Can’t Acknowledge Failure, Disaster Strikes

By Daniel Butcher

Elizabeth Holmes, who was convicted of fraud for lying about the effectiveness of the blood-testing product of her biotechnology company, Theranos, is a cautionary tale illustrating a potential downside of entrepreneurship. Unable to deal with the failure of her company’s blood-testing methods, she just plowed ahead, refusing to acknowledge the disappointing results or telling any of the investors—or anyone else—that the tests weren’t working. She pretended like everything was okay, continued to collect investor money, and built up the biotech startup to a $9 billion valuation.

Academy of Management Scholar Dean Shepherd of the University of Notre Dame said that it’s common for entrepreneurs to deal with failure poorly, but investors failed to effectively scrutinize Theranos.

“A lot of the stakeholders there were maybe willfully ignorant—they wanted to believe her,” Shepherd said. “They didn’t ask probing questions; they ignored the negative signals, which is what we call a confirmation device.

“They look for information that confirms their opinions, and they discount or ignore information that disconfirms them, and so in many ways, she was negligent, but they were also negligent,” he said.

Sometimes entrepreneurs can’t even acknowledge failure to themselves, much less publicly, because their entire identity is wrapped up in success. One major failure could crack that self-image.

Shepherd said that job loss—or the failure of one’s business—can devastate a person’s sense of identity. He wrote about his research findings related to such phenomena in Hitting Rock Bottom After Job Loss: Bouncing Back to Create a New Positive Work Identity.

“Failure can have a huge impact on you psychologically, because your identity is quite often highly related to the things that you do for work, and when you lose that identity, you go into a crisis or a freefall, because you don’t know who you are anymore,” Shepherd said. “And if you don’t know who you are, you don’t know how to socially act, and it can be a very dangerous situation.”

Crowdfunding Reshaped the Global Economy

By Daniel Butcher

Crowdfunding platforms such as GoFundMe, through which hundreds of millions of people have donated more than $30 billion for mostly charitable causes since it launched in 2010, also provide nonfinancial support via social media. For example, in 2024 alone, GoFundMe users drove support for causes they care about through 55 million-plus shares across various social-media channels and via email.

Academy of Management Scholar Dean Shepherd of the University of Notre Dame said that crowdfunding has opened the world to a new way of doing good. This form of support for micro-entrepreneurs’ mini-projects affects the global economy.

“In some ways, it’s like the economy itself has these little probes into an uncertain environment, and some are going to fail, and some are going to gain traction,” Shepherd said. “And all of that’s a good thing, because it creates innovation, so we’re really just pitching out a whole lot of different potential opportunities; some are going to fail, and that’s perfectly fine, but some are going to be successful, and those successful ones may actually lead to something very interesting.

“Crowdfunding was quite an innovation,” he said. “It came from a change in regulation that actually freed up a lot of little bits of money for little entrepreneurs who may actually become highly successful entrepreneurs.

“It could be one of the greatest innovations to allow for more everyday entrepreneurship, and future superstars may actually even come from some of those smaller programs and initiatives that get off the ground thanks to crowdfunding.”

People Use Crowdfunding to Show Compassion

By Daniel Butcher

The nonfinancial support that crowdfunding platforms such as GoFundMe provide via social media is crucial for raising awareness about charitable causes, entrepreneurial initiatives, and people who need help. For example, dozens of GoFundMe campaigns sprung up in the wake of a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day 2018.

Academy of Management Scholar Dean Shepherd of the University of Notre Dame said that crowdfunding has given the world a new way to help people whose lives have been upended by disasters and tragedies.

“Another part of crowdfunding in addition to raising money was more like a social movement focused on how we prevent these things from happening again in the future,” Shepherd said.

“So in some ways, the platform provides a basis for which communities can come together and display compassion, by which we mean trying to alleviate the suffering of other people, but perhaps also create these social movements to try and change the legislation, trying to change laws to try and improve life for people,” he said.

Hundreds of millions of people have donated more than $30 billion for mostly charitable causes through GoFundMe since it launched in 2010. Budding and would-be entrepreneurs have long used the platform to try to get funding for their business ideas, but using it in such as multifaceted way to process a tragedy was rare at the time of the Parkland shooting in 2018.

“It’s a unique way of using this crowdfunding,” Shepherd said. “It was an emotional outpouring of compassion for people shattered by a crisis demonstrating that crowdfunding can also be used for that purpose in addition to trying to fund new products and new services as well—that’s interesting.”