Jen Overbeck

Associate Professor of Management

I worked in the US private education industry before returning to school for my PhD. I was inspired by working for venture capitalists who didn’t seem to recognize that a company can only succeed when its human beings are treated well and given the chance to flourish. My doctoral research was further inspired by the civil unrest following the Rodney King verdict in Los Angeles, which illustrated how gaps in power can lead to wildly different–and often problematic–responses. My current aims are to help people discover their own capacity for influence, how others try to influence them, and how to work together with more intelligence and mutual support.