Jones Journal - Fall 2015

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How Professor Utpal Dholakia’s research is transcending academia – PAGE 16

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The Multicultural Effect

From NFL to MBA

Recalling the Vietnam War, 50 years on

Assistant Professor Hajo Adam's unique background influences multiple streams of research

Former NFL Linebacker Kevin Bentley shares his transition from the field to the classroom

Four critically acclaimed authors discuss how the war shaped their lives, writing and careers

R I C E U N I V E R S I T Y, J O N E S G R A D U A T E S C H O O L o f B U S I N E S S

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The Starter

In this Issue 4 The Rundown 10 Pivot 12 Faculty Perspective

Dean and H. Joe Nelson III Professor of Management Bill Glick

30 The Health Care Gap 32 Jones’s Archives to Rice 36 Community

Executive Director Marketing and Communications Kathleen Clark Editor Weezie Mackey Associate Director Intellectual Capital Claudia Kolker

Features 16

Deciphering Desire and Decision-Making How Professor Utpal Dholakia’s research is transcending academia.

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The Multicultural Effect Assistant Professor Hajo Adam’s unique background influences multiple streams of research.

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From NFL to MBA Former NFL Linebacker Kevin Bentley shares his transition from the field to the classroom

Creative Director Kevin Palmer Graphic Designer Eduardo Martinez Web Specialist Michael Okullu Social Media Specialist Liana Lopez Marketing Coordinator Dolores Thacker Contributing Writers Jeff Falk Weezie Mackey Vikas Mittal Jeff Schmitt M. Yvonne Taylor Contributing Photographers Jeff Fitlow April Frazier ShauLin Photography Printing Chas. P. Young Co.

Jones Journal is published semiannually for alumni and friends by the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business. Current and back issues of the magazine are available online at business.rice.edu/JJ. Change of Address? New job?

Update the online directory with your new contact information at business.rice.edu/alumni.

Comments or Questions?

We’d love to hear your thoughts about the Jones Journal. Send an e-mail to Weezie Mackey, editor and associate director of communications at wmackey@rice.edu. business.rice.edu FALL 2015 JONES JOURNAL // 1

The Starter

From the Dean As the academic school year begins we welcome our largest enrollments ever. Consistent with our long term strategy, the incoming class has even stronger improved qualifications — with all-time highs for work experience, advanced degrees and average incoming salaries (averaging $221,000 for EMBA students and $93,000 for Professionals).

What a momentous way to start the year with three divergent influences on enrollment. First, oil prices plummeted. Second, improvements in our intellectual capital ranking contributed to our first top 25 ranking in Businessweek for the full-time MBA program, bumping up domestic applications and improving our overall applicant pool. And third, we redesigned our recruiting strategy and processes to more clearly focus on our brand and the value of a Rice MBA. When the dust settled, our local competitors dropped enrollments, while we enjoyed an historic admissions cycle.

We are also celebrating one of our best years for employment for our full-time graduates with 87 percent receiving an offer and 83 percent accepting offers by graduation. Three months after graduation, 93 percent of the seeking students had received offers. The average base salary for the class is up to $109,901 from $103,292 in 2014; signing bonus figures increased three percent from $25,237 to $25,969. Rice graduates continue to advance with top ten rankings in salary percentage increase and aims achieved three years post graduation.

Our alumni are also having a good year. AACSB International, the global accrediting body and membership association for business schools, announced recently their first 100 AACSB

Influential Leaders. Jim Turley ’78 and Subha Barry ’85 made that illustrious list, and we celebrate their recognition. Both Jim and Subha’s work exemplifies the innovative mindset and meaningful contributions to society that Jones School graduates display around the world every day — whether they operate within large corporations, small businesses or the nonprofit sector.

Capturing the momentum, internal and external, is our goal with this issue of the Jones Journal. We introduce new staff members, new appointments for faculty, refined operations and a bright outlook on the future. It’s an exciting time to be reporting from the Jones School.

Faculty research is making an impact and gaining recognition in peer-reviewed journals, the media and the classroom, as you’ll see in this issue. The feature articles on Utpal Dholakia and Hajo Adam highlight the scholarly pursuits of our faculty, and the alumni piece on Kevin Bentley explores the depth and breadth of students who are pursuing an MBA at Rice.

Articles on the health care initiative, the Rice Business Plan Competition, an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, the Jesse Jones archives finding a new home at Fondren Library and a recap of reunion round out the issue.

I invite you to read and reflect about the school, the students, your colleagues and professors. Come by campus for a sporting event or Jones Partners Thought Leadership lecture. Finally, drop me a note and let me know how you’re doing.

Bill Glick, Dean and H. Joe Nelson III Professor of Management

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The Starter

Notes from the Deans’ Suite APPOINTMENTS

FACULTY RECOGNITION Endowed Chairs Awarded Utpal Dholakia, George R. Brown Professor of Marketing Gustavo Grullon, Jesse H. Jones Professor of Finance Anthea Zhang, Fayez Sarofim Vanguard Professor of Management Promoted to Full Professor Scott Sonenshein, Professor of Management Emeritus Faculty Member George Kanatas, Jesse H. Jones Professor Emeritus of Finance

More changes in the deans’ suite have evolved over the summer. Jeff Fleming, Fayez Sarofim Vanguard Professor of Finance, has agreed to rejoin the deans’ suite as deputy dean. K. Ramesh, Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Accounting, has chosen to serve the Jones School as academic dean for special initiatives, leading two key university efforts emanating from the president’s and provost’s offices: digital education and enhanced connections between the Jones School and the Department of Economics, both important initiatives for the school.

President Leebron has appointed Yael Hochberg as head of the Rice Entrepreneurship Initiative.

She is also associate professor of finance, Ralph S. O'Connor Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship and academic director of Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship.

While continuing to be a faculty member at the business school, Yael will report to the provost as head of the university-wide entrepreneurship initiative.

Abby Larson joins Yael as director of the Rice Entrepreneurship Initiative. Most recently she was a post-doctoral research fellow at Social Science Research Council & the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Abby earned her Ph.D. in sociology from NYU, a master’s in sociology and bachelor’s in international relations both from Stanford University.

Head of the Energy Initiative Utpal Dholakia, George R. Brown Professor of Marketing Tenured Faculty Research Award Vikas Mittal, J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of Marketing Scott Sonenshein, Professor of Management

INNOVATORS Sue Oldham has been promoted to executive director, recruiting and admissions. This new position marks a strategy shift for the business school in which it will take a more active role recruiting the best and brightest for admission across the three MBA programs. Prior to her job at Rice, Sue had a 10-year career in information technology consulting spanning several companies and cities from Los Angeles to Charlotte to Dallas. She earned a B.A. in English at Rice and an MBA in marketing from Vanderbilt University. As a Rice alumna, Sue is also president of the Association of Rice Alumni.

Kathleen Clark, executive director of marketing and communications, comes to Jones School with a broad range of experience — from professional sports and top tier hospitals to Fortune 500 technology, media, energy and higher education.

An award-winning marketing executive with more than 20 years of experience, she is on board to lead our messaging and marketing strategy. Kathleen earned her MBA at Harvard Business School and B.A. in English at College of Holy Cross.

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The Rundown

A round-up of the most exciting news from the Jones School and beyond.

2 Poets & Quants Recognition

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Young students attend summer institute

Students on a field trip to underwriter Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Forty rising juniors and seniors from Houston high schools come to the Jones School for two weeks every year for the Rice Summer Business Institute (RSBI), which gives them first-hand exposure to the fundamentals of finance, energy and the world of business. In the classroom, these ambitious students from low and moderate income communities learn from Rice University and Jones School faculty about financial markets, sports management, business communications, managing their own career, stock analysis, leadership, marketing and ethics, among other business related fields. On field trips, students get to hear from high-level executives about what a company does, how to manage people and what different jobs roles look like — 2015 RSBI field trips included underwriter Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Gold Sponsor ConocoPhillips, and Silver Sponsor McNair Foundation/Houston Texans.

Through RSBI, the Jones School continues to sow seeds for developing diverse business leaders for Houston’s future.

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One Jones School faculty member and two students were recognized by Poets & Quants, a news website covering all that matters in the business school world.

Yael Hochberg was named a “Top 40 Under 40″ Best Business School Professors.” She is the Ralph S. O'Connor Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship, Associate Professor of Finance, Academic Director of Rice Alliance, Head of the Entrepreneurship Initiative at Rice, and Managing Director of the Seed Accelerator Rankings Project.

Professor Hochberg joins Hajo Adam, assistant professor of management, who was named in 2014.

Poets & Quants introduced a new series this year — the Top 50 MBAs from the Class of 2015. They reviewed nominations from domestic and international MBA programs. Both Kevin Bentley and Kyle Rojas were recognized.

Kevin, a former NFL football player and now senior consultant at Infosys, made it into the official Top 50, which was followed up with an in-depth article on their website. See an excerpt on p. 24.

Kyle, a former Airborne Persian Farsi Cryptologic Linguist with the U.S. Air Force and now an associate with the investment management division at Goldman Sachs, was announced as an “MBA to Watch in the Class of 2015.”

The Rundown

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Ph.D. 4 student publishes in prestigious journal

New student club hosts successful launch A year ago, several students came together with the idea to start a club.

“We thought the time was right,” said Himanshu Upadhyaya ’15, president of the new Rice Indo-American Business Club. “Who would’ve thought we’d have come this far.” The audience of students, alumni and business community members at Shell Auditorium heard from K. Ramesh, club sponsor; President Leebron; Ashok Rao, one of the Jones School’s Council of Overseers and the first Indian-American to take a company public on NASDAQ; and Prashant Kale, associate professor of strategic management and head of the Health Care Initiative.

The latter two gave keynotes on “The Indian Diaspora­— past, present and future” and “What can we learn from emerging markets like India?” respectively. The club’s mission is to connect the Indo-American business community with the faculty and students of Rice University. The club will provide a platform for sharing the intellectual capital of Rice faculty, inspirational journeys of business leaders of Indian origin, mentorship and networking opportunities for members and guidance on doing business with India.

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Wei Shi, a doctoral student in strategic management since 2011, is lead author in a paper published in Strategic Management Journal.

“Buying bad behavior: Tournament incentives and securities class action lawsuits,” was co-authored with Brian L. Connelly at Auburn University and Wm. Gerard Sanders, a former Jones School professor and now business school dean at University of Texas at San Antonio.

Shi’s research interests include corporate governance, strategic leadership, corporate strategy, and international business. He received a B.A. in English literature from Beijing Foreign Studies University and an MBA from Tulane University. Prior to pursuing a doctoral degree, he had worked as assistant to the CEO of a multinational Chinese chemical firm for four years.

Texas Business Hall of Fame recognizes scholarship recipient

Second-year full-time student Sophia Liaw was honored by the Texas Business Hall of Fame with a 2015 Douglas L. Foshee Scholarship. She was one of 28 scholarship recipients. The foundation’s goal is to acknowledge and help underwrite “the promise that is being demonstrated by Texas business students.” Sophia earned a B.B.A. in accounting at the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently a visiting student at the Frankfurt Institute of Finance and will return to complete her Rice MBA this spring.

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The Rundown

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Shark infested waters

Paint and sip makes CNBC debut In June, co-founder and CEO of Pinot’s Palette Craig Ceccanti ’08 was interviewed on CNBC’s “On the Money” about the new franchise category of paint and sip, a business that ‘combines happy hour with an art class.’

Pinot’s Palette has grown since its launch in 2009 to 120 franchise locations in 33 states. Craig explains how his paint and sip concept became such a phenomenon and what franchisees get from the company. “It’s business in a box from the get go. When they sign up with us they get training out of the gate­ — to find the location, all the build out, marketing support, technology. We have the whole gamut of things they need to run their business.” A member of the Jones Graduate School Alumni Association, Craig is also a lecturer at the Jones School and teaches marketing for small business. He is also involved with JGSEO, supporting young entrepreneurs.

Learning to Lead

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Mikki Hebl, professor of psychology and management at Rice, was an energetic addition to full-time immersion this year. Her three sessions on teamwork, identity and implicit bias were all informed by her research on workplace discrimination and the barriers people face. Mikki’s interactive workshops were coupled with a presentation by actors from CSW Associates, a global consulting firm on diversity. Assistant Professor Hajo Adam and Associate Professor Erik Dane are enriching this conversation with a broader perspective in their organizational behavior core courses. Brent Smith, senior associate dean of executive education and associate professor of management and psychology, will join Mikki at an upcoming outreach event through executive education in November. They will facilitate a diversity forum with senior human resources leaders.

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During Houston’s first ever Shark Tank open casting call, 300+ entrepreneurs flocked to the Jones School to present a oneminute pitch to producers from the popular ABC reality show. Rice alumni and students were given a private casting call, followed by the rest of the contestants in groups of 100. The head of casting for Shark Tank spoke to the crowds. “Focus on the conversation. We don’t care about what you’re pitching as much as we care about how you pitch it. What’s going to get you on the show is your story.”

Contestants weren’t allowed to tell anyone if they made it to the next round until the new season airs.

The Rundown

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Support for Leaders of Tomorrow The annual National Black MBA Association’s (NBMBAA) Leaders of Tomorrow National Business Case Competition was held at McNair Hall, drawing over 100 high school students. Jesse Tyson, CEO of NBMBAA, a member of the Jones School’s Council of Overseers and 35-year Exxon veteran, chose Rice as the host campus because of the university’s commitment to diversity and student development.

Meaningful contributions by alumni 10 AACSB International, the global accrediting body and membership association for business schools, announced their first 100 AACSB Influential Leaders. Jim Turley ’78 and Subha Barry ’85 made that illustrious list. Both Jim and Subha’s work exemplifies the innovative mindset and meaningful contributions to society that Jones School graduates display around the world every day — whether operating within large corporations, small businesses or the nonprofit sector.

Jim was chairman and CEO of Ernst and Young from 2001-2013 and solidified the company’s commitment to being the most global, most diverse and most inclusive in the profession. Extending his commitment to gender equity, he served from 2009-2013 as chairman of the board of Catalyst, a nonprofit expanding opportunities for women and business through pioneering research. He is an emeritus member of the Rice University Board of Trustees and is a member of the Jones Graduate School of Business Council of Overseers.

Subha is vice president and general manager of Working Mother Media. During her early career, she built the multicultural and diversified business development group for Merrill Lynch, the first of its kind among the major brokerage houses. Her efforts delivered over $8 billion in assets and $45 million in revenues within three years.

Subha also served for years as managing director, global head of diversity at Merrill Lynch. She is a former trustee of Rice University and a current member of the Jones Graduate School of Business Council of Overseers.

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The Rundown

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EdGE-ing out the competition As part of the Jones Educational Global Experience (EdGE) initiatives, 10 Rice MBAs attended a one-week seminar at IPADE in Mexico City in March. The seminar, Doing Business in Mexico, provided over 200 MBAs from all over the world the opportunity to learn about the countries that are considered emerging markets, the role that they play in the actual globalized world and their impact in the world’s economy. Students earned course-credit for the seminar, which included five business-academic sessions, five guest speakers from different sectors and companies in Mexico, three site visits to leading companies in Mexico, team

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projects, and social and cultural events such as visiting the pyramids, museums and downtown. Because IPADE is one of our partnership universities, students attended tuition free. The Jones School also accepts exchange students each year from IPADE. This year’s intersession abroad will travel to Brazil, China and Panama. Full-time students attending: Jessica Neeley, Karen Cook, Shanique Farquharson, Marsha Fernandes, Jose Munoz, Karima Jivani and Erin Felton. EMBA students Paul Cannings and Carlos Sandoval joined along with professional student Elyssa Parvin.

Women and the workforce As one of the founding signatories, the Jones School joined 46 U.S. business schools, the Council on Women and Girls and the Council of Economic Advisers at the White House to sign an open letter expressing their commitment to ensure that students are trained to lead in the 21st century and to expand opportunities for women in business. The participants described the challenges business schools face in expanding opportunities and adapting to the changing workforce, as well as the many ways they are successfully addressing these challenges.

As chair of AACSB, the accrediting body and membership association for business schools, Dean Bill Glick was successful in transitioning this best practices initiative from a U.S. centric to a global initiative as the AACSB took over the initiative at the August announcement. “We are engaging business schools globally in a broader discussion of best practices for promoting gender equity,” the dean said.

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The Rundown

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Scholarship recipients announced Because competition for top-quality MBA students has increased, scholar programs help the Jones School attract and support these highly qualified candidates. Please welcome three new scholarship recipients to the Jones School.

The Crownover Scholars Program, named in honor of former Board of Trustees Chair and current Council of Overseers member, James Crownover ’65, announced its second recipient, Barton Taylor. He worked with Amegy Bank in energy banking and earned a B.B.A. in finance from The University of Texas at Austin. Barton was selected on the basis of strong academic credentials and traits that Mr. Crownover demonstrated at Rice and throughout his career, including aspirational leadership, dedicated community service and personal qualities such as respect for others and humility.

The McNair Scholar Program, established to recognize individuals with academic excellence and inspired leadership as exemplified

by Janice and Robert McNair, has named Iman Farrior as the second McNair Scholar. An attorney who worked at Vinson & Elkins and ExxonMobil, she earned a J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law and a B.S.M. in business law and management from Tulane, where Iman also received a full athletic scholarship and graduated cum laude.

As part of a greater initiative to recruit and support highly soughtafter military veterans, the Jones School launched the Military Scholars Program two years ago. This year’s recipient is Will Lyles, a Special Forces detachment commander in the U.S. Army who was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device, Bronze Star Medal and the Army Commendation Medal. Will earned a B.A. in psychology from the Virginia Military Institute.

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Outstanding paper awarded Three third-year finance Ph.D. students — Ioannis Spyridopoulos, Ron Ruoming Liu and Erik Mayer — each presented a solo-authored paper at the Eastern Finance Association annual meeting in April. All pieces were originally written for Professor of Finance Alex Butler’s Ph.D. course. Congratulations are in order for Mayer’s “Investor attention and stock prices: Evidence from a natural experiment,” which was named Outstanding Paper in Investments.

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Faculty Changing Perspectives

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tpal Dholakia, George R. Brown Professor of Marketing, won the 2015 Steenkamp award for long-term impact for his 2004 International Journal of Research in Marketing (IJRM) article, coauthored with Richard P. Bagozzi, who was a faculty member at the Jones School at the time, and Lisa Klein, “A social influence model of consumer participation in network- and small-groupbased virtual communities.” It was chosen by the IJRM editorial board as the IJRM article with the greatest impact in the past 10 years.

peer junior faculty members who have already established track records of productivity. Adam was one of seven junior faculty to present. Over 270 participants registered, making it the most popular organizational behavior workshop at the conference.

Senior executives at ExxonMobil and Schlumberger invited Anthea Zhang, Fayez Sarofim Vanguard Professor of Management, to give a talk on female corporate leadership in their companies after she presented her research findings during the Rice Women Executives Forum in June. The forum was an intimate discussion with 30 female executives discussing faculty research on how and why gender impacts C-suite outcomes. Both Anthea and Vikas Mittal, J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of Marketing, spoke at the Jones School event.

Karen Nelson, Harmon Whittington Professor of Accounting, published, “On the persistence and pricing of industry-wide and firm-specific earnings, cash flows, and accruals” in the Journal of Accounting & Economics.

Hajo Adam, assistant professor of management, was invited to present at The Productivity Process: Research Tips and Strategies from Prolific Junior Faculty workshop at the Academy of Management conference. Most professional development workshops use esteemed senior scholars as panelists. This prestigious invitation asked

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Jing Zhou, Houston Endowment Professor of Management and Psychology, has been busy this year with three publications forthcoming and a book published. See full story on p. 12.

K. Ramesh, Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Accounting and academic dean for special initiatives, published, “Do analyst stock recommendations piggyback on recent corporate news? An analysis of regular-hour and after-hours revisions” in the Journal of Accounting Research and “Priority dissemination of public disclosures” in The Accounting Review.

Yael Hochberg, Associate Professor of Finance and Ralph S. O'Connor Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship, published, “Intangible but bankable” and “Accelerators and ecosystems,” both in the Policy Forum for Science.

Jones School Professors Recognized with Teaching Honors 1

Six members of the Jones Graduate School of Business faculty were recognized for their excellence in teaching at the school’s May 15 investiture ceremony at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Honorees were chosen by the Rice MBA alumni group as well as by students from the Jones School’s three MBA programs.

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1. Brian Akins, assistant professor of accounting, Full-time Award

4. Vikas Mittal, the J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of Marketing, Professionals Weekend Award

2. Prashant Kale, associate professor of strategic management, Alumni Award

5. Sebastian Michenaud, assistant professor of finance, and 6. Karen Nelson, the Harmon Whittington Professor of Accounting, Professionals Evening Award

3. Brian Rountree, associate professor of accounting, Executives Award

BUSINESSWISDOM Rolling out Faculty Research Hub Interested in what research your professor publishes?

Wondering how faculty research studies might be able to support your company and influence how business is conducted?

A new online resource may be just what you need to discover the work of our academic scholars.

Business Wisdom at Rice Students and executives at top-tier business schools learn from renowned researchers who publish their findings in peer-reviewed academic journals. This emphasis on scholarly output positively impacts the educational experience, increasing a professor’s capability to deliver thoughtful classroom content and enhancing students’ critical thinking.

Rice business school faculty research productivity in highimpact journals is ranked 21st by Businessweek and many of our scholars earn international recognition for their work.

Business Wisdom at Rice features accessible synopses of our faculty’s research, and the articles provide insight into business challenges leaders face every day.

Take a sneak peek at the new Business Wisdom website: ricebusinesswisdom.com. And visit often. We’re still in development so articles will be added over time to showcase research from every faculty member in every academic area of the school. Please contact Claudia Kolker, associate director, intellectual capital, with any questions: kolker@rice.edu

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Faculty Perspective

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reativity, innovation and entrepreneurship are vital for organizations to successfully survive and thrive in today’s dynamic and competitive global marketplace, according to a new handbook co-edited by Jing Zhou, the Houston Endowment Professor of Management at Rice. The book is the first major volume to connect and integrate contemporary research in these areas with a multilevel approach.

“The Oxford Handbook of Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship” was published in May by Oxford University Press. The 560-page book contains 30 chapters written by leading international scholars who address the major topics within these research areas and examine linkages between them.

“Research-based investigations of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship have the potential to inform each other and enrich our knowledge of each of these areas, particularly with regard to the microfoundations of innovation and entrepreneurship and multilevel influences on the formation and implementation of creative ideas,” said Zhou, who is also director of Asian Management Research and Education at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business and whose research centers on creativity in the workplace. “Yet, while these research streams have increasingly received a great deal of attention, they have developed largely independently of one another. The goal of our handbook is to address the critical need to integrate these three interrelated literatures.”

The importance of this goal is supported by government and corporate studies. The book cites a 2005 report by the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, which concluded that U.S. firms could maintain or gain market leadership only through innovation. Also cited is a 2010 report by IBM finding that 60 percent of chief executives globally named creativity as a top priority for their organization.

Zhou co-authored the book with collaborators Christina Shalley, the Thomas R. Williams-Wells Fargo Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s 12 // JONES JOURNAL FALL 2015

Scheller College of Business, and Michael Hitt, a University Distinguished Professor and the Joe B. Foster Chair in Business Leadership at Texas A&M University.

The book examines the intersections of topics — ranging from leadership and creativity to institutional innovation and entrepreneurial identity — to synthesize contemporary research and provide direction and stimulation for further interdisciplinary investigations, Zhou said.

For practitioners and organizational leaders, the book’s various perspectives provide valuable insights in a time of technological advancement and disruptions, Zhou said. “The early years of the 21st century have been marked by significant turbulence fueled by economic and political problems, but also by ineffective strategic leadership (for example, characterized by extreme hubris and greed),” the authors wrote. “In this dynamic environment characterized by significant uncertainty, businesses that remain relatively static in terms of their products and services and the processes used to produce and provide them are likely in a ‘state of dying.’”

Zhou concluded: “To be innovative, firms must exercise creativity. And creativity and innovation are necessary for them to be entrepreneurial.”

For more information about Zhou’s creativity research, visit business.rice.edu/Creativity. ­­­ — By Jeff Falk

Faculty Perspective

Tweeting From The Classroom Over two days in September, Rice faculty were invited to observe other faculty as they taught their classes. The occasion was Faculty Owl Days, hosted by the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE). Steve Cox, chair of CTE Faculty Fellows and professor of computational and applied mathematics, said, “As we strive to improve our teaching, our small campus affords us the opportunity to learn from colleagues within and without our departments. Observing our peers, as they teach, has the capacity to both strengthen our faculty community and challenge our beliefs on how space, technology and presentation impact effective learning.”

Betsy Barre @elizabethabarre Day 2 of #RiceFODays. Beginning with an MBA finance class taught by James Weston, Faculty Senate President.

7:55 AM - 16 Sep 2015

Betsy Barre @elizabethabarre Have to admit, I never expected to hear this much laughter in a finance class. Weston is using humor to great effect! #RiceFODays 8:07 AM - 16 Sep 2015

Betsy Barre @elizabethabarre Name plates are allowing Weston to call on students by first names; remarkable to see the power of this to put students at ease. #RiceFODays 8:13 AM - 16 Sep 2015

Betsy Barre @elizabethabarre Weston is using famous “case method” pedagogical approach in business schools, and masterfully so. Worth *everyone* observing. #RiceFODays 8:21 AM - 16 Sep 2015

Betsy Barre @elizabethabarre Weston gets to a solution & pauses, says: “Let’s talk about that for a minute because I see lots of frowning faces.” So great! #RiceFODays 8:27 AM - 16 Sep 2015

@RiceMBA

The business school was represented by Alex Butler, teaching undergraduate financial management; Brian Rountree, teaching MBA core financial accounting; James Weston, teaching MBA core finance; and Anthea Zhang, teaching strategic issues in global business elective.

The following is a Twitter excerpt from Betsy Barre, adjunct assistant professor of religion, who sat in on James Weston’s finance class. To see Barre’s thread in its entirety, visit business.rice.edu/BarreTweets.

Betsy Barre @elizabethabarre Can’t underestimate the importance of what I just heard after a student worked through a problem: “Alex! Outstanding!” #RiceFODays 8:43 AM - 16 Sep 2015

Betsy Barre @elizabethabarre Oh my goodness … he just followed up by asking the rest of the 60 students to give Alex a round of applause. #RiceFODays #perfect 8:45 AM - 16 Sep 2015

Betsy Barre @elizabethabarre Weston knows students will be confused. So he feigns confusion, asks other students if that move is right. (+) #RiceFODays 8:57 AM - 16 Sep 2015

Betsy Barre @elizabethabarre We’re over an hour into this class and the students are STILL laughing and fully engaged. + #RiceFODays 9:10 AM - 16 Sep 2015

Betsy Barre @elizabethabarre Still reflecting on Weston’s class and the powerful role that humor played throughout the 90 minutes. + #RiceFODays 9:56 AM - 16 Sep 2015

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Faculty Perspective

Finding agreement between

­—

“FRENEMIES”

oil field services and integrated oil companies

these disagreements? How can they be addressed? Five systemic issues need to be sorted out to bring both sides into closer alignment.

Project versus product focus: Whereas the integrated oil company team is typically project-focused, the oilfield services supplier is generally product-focused. Thus, in most cases you have a sales lead or business development person from the supplier interfacing with members of a project team within an integrated oil company. The oil company team has few opportunities to fully understand the capabilities and partnering abilities of the supplier. The supplier team has few opportunities to immerse itself in the project. Thus, bidding on selective parts of the project precludes the supplier from creating true value, especially in complex projects requiring high levels of consulting and advice.

Customer value versus shareholder value:

By Vikas Mittal, J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of Marketing | Posted July 30, 2015 | Commentary reprinted from Fuel Fix with permission

ecently, I sat in on two meetings. One involved the executive vice president of a major integrated oil company and the top members of the sales/business-development team of an oilfield service company. The other involved the executive vice president of sales and marketing of an oilfield service company and more than 20 exploration managers of a major integrated oil company. The discussions were very revealing, especially in light of the recent dip in oil prices. A wide range of topics were discussed — pricing, technology, service, on-time delivery, procurement, safety and relationship management. Despite overtones of agreement over the needs and demands of the integrated oil companies versus those of the oilfield service companies and vice versa, these discussions had undertones of disagreement. What is the root of

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Suppliers want to create customer value through innovation, new products and total cost reductions over a long time period. Oil company project teams are more focused on creating shareholder value — which typically means maximizing the project’s net present value return, now. Thus, lowering costs — short and long term — becomes a driving factor in the decision process. Very quickly, the entire discussion becomes a race toward lower pricing rather than a race toward creating the best project that is viable for the long term. Even when suppliers have knowledge that will increase the long-term value of the project, they become focused on “winning a project” based on pricing.

Service before versus service after: Both sides recognize the importance and value of after-sales service in the form of consultation, advice, on-

Faculty Perspective

FRENEMIES: Oilfield Service Companies & Integrated Oil Companies Oilfield Service Companies

Integrated Oil Companies

Pricing

We can be flexible in pricing, as long as we can show good ROI for the client and our shareholders.

Yes, but … please check with procurement.

Technology Development

We must have the latest and most advanced technology to differentiate ourselves.

Please, no. We need a Honda, not a Ferrari.

Product

Product superiority allows us to differentiate.

We need something that is fit for purpose. Your competitor’s product is good enough.

Service

We have a great sales and business development team to service our client

How about after-sales service, consultation, and on-time delivery?

On-time Delivery

A little delay for a great product is acceptable.

Small delays add up to big cost overruns.

Procurement

Procurement is only based on lowest price, not total value we bring to the table.

Please check with procurement. Lowest price helps increase shareholder value?

Common Standards

Reduce total costs by aligning standards within a company, and across companies.

Good point. Let’s discuss.

Safety

Yes, of course

Indubitably, yes.

We should improve communication

We agree. We want to create value for our customers.

Agreed. We strive to create shareholder value.

time repair and so forth. Yet service resides within the sales and business development team at most suppliers. The team at the integrated oil company, on the other hand, may be looking for a service package that can outlast the team and span the entire project duration. Mechanisms that promote such a long-term service paradigm are needed. For vendors, it means closer cooperation among sales, operations and the after-markets team. For oil companies, it means understanding the importance of after-sales service and being willing to pay for it.

Standardization versus innovation: One way to lower industry cost is to standardize specs across projects and companies and within the whole industry. Might standardization force suppliers to become less innovative? Will the quest for standards root out the desire for differentiation and thus stifle innovation? The answer is not clear, but it cannot be either standardization or innovation. While some aspects of a project and a product could be standardized, others aspects need to be nonstandardized. Without a continual conversation among key team members and involvement and support from top management within an integrated oil company and the vendor, the right conversation will not happen or endure.

Relationships versus transactions: Despite the desire to have strong relationships, current industry processes promote a transactional approach, especially when each bid is large. The larger the bid, the more important the role of procurement. Even if the supplier has a key account management team, there isn’t a way to manage the interface with the entire project team within the oil company. Over time, suppliers develop some understanding of the projects and may even develop deep relationships with a few key people within the oil company; they do not get a deep, detailed, sustained and prolonged exposure to all aspects of a project. Thus, opportunities to truly collaborate and develop a sustained relationship with a project do not bear fruit. As the project team changes, it falls on the vendor to re-educate and acquaint the new members.

The energy, oil and gas industry has a major opportunity to embrace a new paradigm for closer cooperation between the integrated oil companies and their vendors. By gradually changing processes, the approach that people take to the relationship, and weaning themselves off the price panacea, frenemies can become true friends.

FALL 2015 JONES JOURNAL // 15

g n i k a m n o i s eci

D & e r i s e D 16 // JONES JOURNAL FALL 2015

By M. Yvonne Taylor

Consumer and manager decision-making expert Utpal Dholakia has climbed the rungs of academic success. Now he’s sharing his knowledge with you.

W

hen discussing Apple’s technological successes, one of the inevitable themes that emerges is the company’s astute recognition that technological innovation must be married to consumers’ desires. Steve Jobs was credited with understanding that people want to interact with technology that’s beautiful, even elegant — and that the user desires an experience that is personal, rather than simply functional. It’s this understanding, say pundits, that inspired Mac users not only to consume Apple products, but to love them too. That love engendered deep loyalty and repeat purchases, making Apple one of the most successful brands in history.

Jones School Professor Utpal Dholakia knows quite a bit about consumers’ desires as well. “When I was trained as a Ph.D. in marketing, I was taught to focus on one research theme,” he explains, “and I chose judgment and decisionmaking. I research how consumers and managers make decisions.” The professor earned his master’s in psychology and Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Michigan. He also holds a master’s in operations research from Ohio State University and a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from the University of Bombay.

“I started my career as an engineer, but I didn’t enjoy it and went to graduate school. One of my professors at Michigan did a lot of consulting work for car companies, in particular, GM and Ford. I did a lot of projects for him, and I enjoyed the work and made a career change,” he says.

Dholakia says that despite the fact that he didn’t pursue a career as an engineer, his engineering background has been very helpful in developing a framework for the research process. Academic research is a painstakingly slow, precise endeavor, necessitating meticulous attention to both process and detail, all traits that are only too familiar to engineers. And yet Dholakia is prolific.

His research has been published widely in prestigious academic journals, such as the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Marketing Science and Management Science.

“An engineering degree is a good undergraduate degree. It provides a clear step-by-step structure for formulating how to approach an issue. It’s been very useful for me in how I approach a problem and find a solution in my research.”

A Love for Research Since his career change, Dholakia has made studying consumer and managerial behavior and decision-making his life’s work. Fascinated by new technologies and trends, he uses a psychological framework to study how consumers and managers interact with and respond to new technologies, as well as the effect of those interactions on decision-making, purchasing, pricing and more.

His research transcends the infamous “silos” of traditional academic research as well. “The Jones School philosophy allows for a lot of interaction across academic areas.

For example, I’ve written papers with Scott Sonenshein [professor in organizational behavior], and we are working on another one now.” He explains the rationale for this cross-disciplinary approach: “Any business research starts with a problem and we want to find an answer to that problem. But the problem isn’t classified in one particular area — there are multiple dimensions to it. It may have to do with consumer behavior, statistical modeling, economic research or marketing.”

“I love this type of mixed-methods research,” he adds.

Dholakia’s love of teaching and research hasn’t gone unnoticed. His reputation as a professor and scholar led to his latest promotion last summer, from full professor to a chaired professorship, the George R. Brown Professor of Marketing at the Jones School.

FALL 2015 JONES JOURNAL // 17

But academic prestige and accolades aside, Dholakia is motivated to teach and to publish research in journals meant for academic audiences. “While in graduate school, I was also taught to focus on a topic managers are interested in. So I try to research topics that are important to both academics and to managers.”

Examples of past research include a study examining the effectiveness of Facebook marketing, published in the Harvard Business Review. Another paper explored the effect of online community participation on risky financial behavior. In that paper, published in the Journal of Marketing Research, Dholakia and his team found that online communities do in fact foster risky behavior, and what’s worse, the more a consumer participated in the online community, the riskier his or her behavior became. The increase in risky behavior was due to the participant’s increased sense of safety and trust in the social ties developed within the online community.

The researchers suggest that consumers be wary of their perceived “safe havens” and that managers of firms that host online communities develop strategies that keep vulnerable consumers safe.

Dholakia is not only interested in consumer spending decision-making. He’s also begun examining consumer saving behavior as well. In the U.S., saving money regularly is a challenge for many people. Popular methods to convince people to save more money have typically used future-oriented goal-setting strategies. This linear orientation to time lulls people into believing that “time is on their side” and encourages an optimistic belief that they will one day be able to make up for what they didn’t do in the past.

Dholakia and co-author Leona Tam hypothesized that a cyclical time orientation, whereby people conceive of time as a recurrence of cycles, like the seasons, might induce people to focus on making immediate savings

are more successful for consumers than the goal-setting approach more commonly used.

The second paper, “Know thyself financially,” explores the impact of financial literacy on individuals. The research team, which includes Jones School Ph.D. candidates Nivriti Chowdbry and Jihye Jung, explores the idea that because financial literacy is complex and multifaceted, increased overall financial literacy is far more effective at improving a person’s financial health when the person is knowledgeable about his or her own personal financial situation.

Both upcoming papers showcase work Dholakia is doing with graduate students, at the University of WisconsinMadison and at Rice. “I’m excited about projects that I’m working on with doctoral students,” says Dholakia. “Our Ph.D. program is relatively new, so it’s new to me to be able to work with graduate students on research.”

Expanding His Reach Nearly everything Dholakia chooses to focus his lasersharp attention on has practical application for managers and consumers. However the glacial pace of information flow from academic research to publication to possible practical application is exceedingly inefficient.

“There’s a big disconnect between how things work in academia and how things work in the business world.

It takes about seven years to publish an article in an academic journal, and that’s too long a process for the work to have managerial impact,” he says. “I’m trying to seek out a middle ground. There will be no more promotions in my career, so my goal now is to focus on the impact that my work can have on managers and consumers and to make my work available in ways that normal consumers can find it and make use of it.”

“There’s a big disconnect between how things work in academia and how things work in the business world.

It takes about seven years to publish an article in an academic journal, and that’s too long a process for the work to have managerial impact” decisions that would become a recurrent behavioral pattern, allowing them to reap the rewards of habitual savings. The hypothesis proved true. According to the paper, published in Psychological Science, “getting people to think of saving money in cyclical terms significantly increases the amount of money … they actually save.”

Two upcoming papers extend research on the topic of consumer saving. In “Understanding personal saving orientation of consumers,” Dholakia and a team of researchers show how a personal savings orientation, one that focuses on forming and maintaining sustainable savings habits akin to maintaining a healthy lifestyle,

18 // JONES JOURNAL FALL 2015

To that end, Dholakia has begun blogging about topics of interest for managers and consumers. “I’m excited about my blog,” he says. “Where a paper may start with a question and analyze it, in my blog I look at a particular issue and evaluate it, and I don’t just focus on my own research.”

Dholakia has developed relationships with both the Harvard Business Review (HBR) and Psychology Today.

The HBR posts feature his analysis of current topics of interest for managers. For example, “What to do when satisfied B2B customers refuse to recommend you” gives managers real strategies for building highly valuable “word-of-mouth” references from happy clients. Several

“my goal now is to focus on the impact that my work can have on managers and consumers and to make my work available in ways that normal consumers can find it and make use of it.” of his recent articles warn managers and marketers not to rely too heavily on the conveniences of technology. For example, while technology can make changing prices much easier than in the past, applying strategy to price changes is still important. The irreplaceable importance of the human touch is also a theme in “The perils of algorithm-based marketing.” [See sidebar for an excerpt of this blog.]

His Psychology Today blog is called The Science Behind Behavior. In posts written not only for psychologists and marketing professionals, but also for the average consumer, Dholakia tackles topics such as whether shoppers benefit from buying with subscriptions. (The short answer: the downsides outweigh the benefits — it’s like the flipside of developing a savings habit discussed earlier.) A recent post also addressed the potential damage done to a brand like Subway based on the horrific behavior of its popular spokesman, Jared.

Although Dholakia is committed to sharing his knowledge, insights and analyses with audiences who may never have occasion to read an academic journal or the opportunity to take his courses, the blogs still serve as a teaching tool for those who are fortunate enough to call him their professor. “I can use the posts for my classes,” he explains. “For example, if I’m blogging about pricing issues and teaching a class on pricing, I can refer students to the blog posts.”

Attuned to What’s Next New trends and technologies genuinely excite Dholakia, and he says that’s why marketing appeals to him. “I enjoy studying new things. And marketing is constantly innovating.”

When asked what new thing on the horizon interests him now, he jumps right in. “Have you heard of 3D printing?

We are working on a paper that looks at what impact it has on consumers, consumer behaviors, well-being and financial output. 3D printing is going to emerge into something really big in the next three to five years.”

Excerpted from HBR.org

The Perils of Algorithm-Based Marketing Utpal M. Dholakia

If I told you this article was written by an algorithm (and you believed me), chances are you’d be creeped-out, suspicious of the content, and unable to muster much if any emotional response to it.

That’s a natural response. Yet companies don’t seem to be able to see algorithms from the consumer’s point of view. They think nothing of deploying algorithms as marketing tools. Instead, they should be looking for ways to inject humanity — and, yes, actual humans — into their efforts to reach out to customers.

I’ll explain why.

Originating in computer science, algorithms are simply sets of “if–then” rules. But a number of factors — easyto-use predictive analytics and data-visualization tools, the proliferation of mobile devices, and companies’ ability to track and measure customer behaviors — have helped companies find an astonishing variety of ways to use algorithms, particularly in marketing.

Algorithms help marketers utilize customer-specific knowledge — demographics, previous behavior, fellow customers’ choices — to craft customized offers and deliver them, often in real time. They help companies track customers, cross-sell to them, and promote products. Banks use algorithms to suggest new products to customers, online retailers deploy them to set and change prices, and media companies rely on them to recommend and deliver streaming content and ads.

But despite the broad adoption and growth of algorithm marketing, companies should be cautious about it, for four reasons.

1.

Algorithms aren’t sensitive enough to context.

2.

They arouse suspicion and can easily backfire.

3.

They encourage complacency.

4.

They stifle customers’ emotional responses to marketing offers.

How should marketers solve these problems? By injecting a strong dose of human into their customer interactions.

Reprinted with permission from HBR.org. To read the full article, head over to business.rice.edu/HBRperils.

His enthusiasm is palpable.

To find out what Dholakia is researching, studying and blogging about now, head over to dholakia.web.rice.edu or connect with him on LinkedIn. FALL 2015 JONES JOURNAL // 19

Cultural Diversity Influences Research Diversity

By M. Yvonne Taylor

20 // JONES JOURNAL FALL 2015

n the opening scene of the

everyday

remote African village and

with a cultural artifact (the bottle); and

movie, The Gods Must Be

Crazy, a plane flies over a

the pilot carelessly discards

an empty Coca Cola bottle out of its

window. The tossed bottle falls from

the sky and the villagers, never having

seen such a thing before, assume that bottle must be a gift from the gods.

Without

preconceived

notions

of

the object’s purpose, the villagers

experiences.

The

movie

portrays two very different cultures

meeting; it depicts people’s interaction

because the villagers take an object

and devise novel and useful purposes

for it, it’s a vivid portrayal of the very

definition of creativity.

Last year, Poet & Quants magazine

recognized Adam as one of the world’s

40 best business school professors

under the age of 40. At the time,

“I enjoy studying multiculturalism as well as cultural differences as they affect decision-making, identity and creativity …

I see myself as a culture researcher.”

the popular study of decision-making

and creativity, but he’s making a name

for himself by studying them through

the lens of culture. “I enjoy studying

multiculturalism as well as cultural

differences as they affect decisionmaking,

identity

and

creativity;

the social influence of emotions on

negotiating; and the impact of cultural

artifacts

on

task

performance,”

he explains. “I see myself as a

culture researcher.”

While he may sound like a sociologist, it should come as no surprise that

the influence of culture on decision-

making and creativity is a salient topic for business. Says Adam, “Cultural

differences and how they shape

thinking are increasingly relevant

for business because of the forces of

globalization.” And studying culture

is a natural fit for Adam as well. He

comes from a unique multicultural devise new uses for it. Blowing over

its narrow opening, they make music.

Using its smooth cylindrical body, they roll dough and cure animal skin. Its flat base is perfect for pounding out grain.

It’s a uniquely apt illustration of

several

concepts

organizational

behavior assistant professor Hajo

Adam both teaches and studies — also demonstrating how he finds inspiration

for

his

research

in

background. A quarter Korean, a

Adam had not yet reached 30. But

quarter Japanese, a quarter French,

professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg

Germany, and he had lived in 10 cities

accolades for this rising star academic

were not new. As a visiting assistant

School of Management, he’d already

received the Faculty Impact Award for teaching excellence.

His teaching has been lauded as both

successful and unconventional. His

research interests can be described

similarly. He’s not only fascinated by

and a quarter German, Adam was

raised by his East Asian mom in

across four countries by the time he

started at Rice. “My own experiences

have definitely been an influence on

my research,” he says. “I can see the

benefits and disadvantages of living

abroad as well as not living in my own

country for a decade.”

FALL 2015 JONES JOURNAL // 21

CREATIVITY For example, his experience living

abroad led to the ideas behind research published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, titled “When in

Rome … Learn why the Romans do what

can transfer that concept to his life and

to

creative

problem-solving,

which is a highly valuable skill in the business world.

IDENTITY

This

year,

organizational

Adam,

Jones

behavior

School

assistant

professor Otilia Obodaru, and Galinsky

collaborated on additional research

that explores identity and decision-

making. “Who you are is where you

are: Antecedents and consequences

they do: How muliticultural learning

Adam also has noted the benefits of living

Professor William Maddux of Insead,

people’s sense of self-clarity and self-

Behavior

confident about who they are, they feel

has significant implications for how

abroad on one’s sense of identity. “Often

of locating the self in the brain or the

where Adam received his Ph.D., and

complexity. For example, if people

Processes. The research determined

research, which suggested that living

less complexity within their personality,”

experiences facilitate creativity.” In that paper, Adam, along with Associate

Professor Adam Galinsky of Columbia

Business School, looked at previous in and adapting to foreign cultures

there’s an inverse relationship between have a clear idea of themselves and are

says Adam. “And if they feel that they are

further

complex, they tend to have less clarity

that increased creativity. Simply living

of self and complexity, as one discovers

facilitates

creativity.

They

investigated the idea that “multicultural

learning” was a critical component in

abroad and being exposed to another

culture are not enough to increase

creativity. People must actually learn: they must be open to and acquire

new skills, and they must reflect on

and integrate them in order for their

creativity to be enhanced.

Adam uses his own experiences to

illustrate. “Creativity is demonstrated

by devising new uses for the same

object or seeing different meanings for the same action. For example, in

He gives an example from his own

culture helped increase clarity in his self-

cultures. Integrating that knowledge is

“I can adapt and behave differently in

research, is key to enhanced creativity.

complexity. “You can see in that self-

different meanings within the different

an example of multicultural learning, and that learning, according to his

A person who has learned that the same

experience can have multiple meanings

22 // JONES JOURNAL FALL 2015

they make important decisions. The

research showed that although people

generally tend to locate their sense

significantly stronger for people with an independent self-construal — a sense

from others and a valuing of their own

The research says, “If you wear a white coat that you believe belongs to a doctor, your ability to pay attention increases sharply. But if you wear the same white coat believing it belongs to a painter, you will show no such improvement.” — The New York Times

had enough.” In the example, the same

action, leaving food on a plate, has

that where people locate their “selves”

of self is characterized by separateness

of that culture that people here use my

a sign of respect, as it means you’ve

Decision

many aspects to one’s personality.

says, can boost both clarity of one’s sense

you didn’t enjoy what you were being served. But in China, leaving food is

Human

about their identity.” Living abroad, he

experience: “People are always punctual

is considered rude. It can imply that

and

of self in the brain, this preference is

Western culture, if you leave food that a host has served you on your plate, it

heart,” was published in Organizational

in Germany. People in the U.S. are less

so. I didn’t realize until I moved outside

punctuality as something that actually

personal goals over the goals of the group.

People with an interdependent self-

construal, one that links connectedness

to others with one's self-concept, tend toward finding the self within the heart.

defines me.” Living outside of his home

“Our findings demonstrate not only that

of his multicultural learning experiences,

systematically depends on a person’s

identity as culturally German. But because

the preference for the brain versus

the heart as the location of the self

self-construal, but also that the location

different contexts, at least better than

of the self has important implications

differentiating experience, the increased

contributions,” says Adam. The study’s

I used to,” which is an example of self-

self-complexity and the self-clarity.”

for people’s opinions on contentious

medical issues as well as prosocial

findings suggest that leadership speeches,

entrepreneurial pitches or marketing materials that invoke the

of wearing them.” The research, which has been tracked and

NEGOTIATIONS

has resulted in multiple radio and television appearances. For

heart or the brain could be differentially persuasive, depending

on the recipient’s perceived location of the self.

Adam is particularly interested in examining cultural differences

in decision-making and the social influence of emotions in

negotiating. For example, past research showed that anger typically elicits greater cooperation from counterparts in

negotiations. In 2013, Adam and Aiwa Shirako published “Not

all anger is created equal: The impact of the expresser’s culture

on the social effects of anger in negotiations” in the Journal of

Applied Psychology. Although previous research had focused on

the cultural background of the perceiver of emotion expressions,

Adam’s research was the first to investigate how the cultural background of the expresser influenced negotiation outcomes.

The researchers theorized that because East Asians are

measured by Altmetric.com and has one of the highest scores

of all time, also caught the attention of the popular press and example, a story in the New York Times explained to readers that “If you wear a white coat that you believe belongs to a

doctor, your ability to pay attention increases sharply. But if you

wear the same white coat believing it belongs to a painter, you will show no such improvement.”

The findings resonated with the general public and lawmakers pertaining to particular current issues. Says Adam, “This

research has been covered extensively by the media, and I still

receive emails about it. A person from Florida called me out of

the blue. He wanted to make the case in his city council that

police officers should not be issued equipment and uniforms

that are given to the military, as they’d be more likely to act like soldiers. And according to the research, it is a reasonable

stereotyped as being emotionally inexpressive and European

assumption to make.” Adam said that a legislator in New

threatening and would elicit larger concessions in negotiations.

themselves not as helpers, but as soldiers at war.

Americans are stereotyped as more expressive, East Asians who express anger would be perceived as tougher and more

Through several studies, their theory held true. Interestingly, the researchers also found that only when negotiators hold the

stereotype of East Asians as being emotionally inexpressive and European Americans as being emotionally expressive do the East Asian negotiators gain larger concessions.

The paper showed that the effects of emotional displays of anger are more variable than previously thought, and that the cultural background of the person expressing anger significantly shapes

the effects of that expression in negotiations.

CULTURAL ARTIFACTS

Another research stream that Adam investigates is the effect of cultural artifacts on task performance. Cultural artifacts can be

described broadly as symbols or markers of a culture. One of

Adam’s frequently cited papers examined clothing as one such cultural artifact. “Enclothed cognition” is both the name of the

paper that Adam and research collaborator Galinksy published in 2012 in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and

the term they introduced to the field. It describes the systematic influence that clothes have on the wearer’s psychological

processes. The paper contributed “a unifying framework to

integrate past findings and capture the diverse impact that

Hampshire called him to discuss a similar idea, that officers

using military gear may be more prone to aggression and see

Adam says a potential follow up study on enclothed cognition may take on “casual Fridays” and try to determine whether the

practice helps or hinders performance in the workplace.

PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE AND BROAD APPEAL

Obodaru, who studied with him in graduate school and

collaborated with him on the self-location research, says of

Adam’s research, “You can immediately see how the findings can be used and have real impact in the real world. He focuses

on finding out things that can be useful to practitioners. This also makes it very easy to bring his research findings into

the classroom. His research also looks at topics with very broad appeal: most people are interested in learning about

cultural differences, most people are interested in being better negotiators, most people are interested in whether the clothes

we wear affect us, and these are precisely the kinds of topics

that Hajo studies. I think his research will stand the test of time because he combines the best of two worlds: the scientific

rigor of the academic world with the practical mindset of the business world.”

clothes can have on the wearer.” Enclothed cognition involves

“the symbolic meaning of the clothes and the physical experience

FALL 2015 JONES JOURNAL // 23

FROM NFL TO MBA

By Jeff Schmitt

evin Bentley ’15 never intended to play in the NFL. Growing up, he didn’t dream of touchdowns and endorsements. Instead, he imagined himself as a business person, decked out in a threepiece suit, running the show and helping others. For Bentley, football was a means to get into college. In fact, you could call him an accidental athlete whose pro career was a detour from his destiny.

It wasn’t an easy path, though. “I was brought up very rough in a gang neighborhood,” Bentley tells Poets & Quants. “I lost my brother when I was a junior in high school to gang violence. He was the brother right above me and he was one of my closest friends. But through the grace of God and people who were close to me, I found a way out of a situation that most people say you shouldn’t make it out of.”

24 // JONES JOURNAL FALL 2015

And Bentley capitalized on what little he was given. In high school, he carried a GPA higher than 4.0 and earned a scholarship to Northwestern University. There, he made the Big 10’s All Academic team for four years, maintaining a 3.5 GPA as he majored in communication. On the field, he was the undisputed leader on defense, once named a finalist for the Butkus Award given to the nation’s top linebacker. Despite the accolades, Bentley had to grow up fast. In 2001, his best friend and roommate, Rashidi Wheeler, died running a drill, an event that placed a national spotlight on amateur practice regimens and safety. He wore Wheeler’s number 30 in his honor as a senior.

Bentley played for five teams during his 10-year NFL career, which culminated in a Super Bowl XL appearance with Seattle, a defense that included fellow MBAs Isaiah Kacyvenski (Harvard ’11) and

back into the academic flow as he evaluated what he wanted in an MBA program. At the same time, he taught snowboarding in Vail, a passion that grew out of his love for skateboarding as a child. After 13 campus visits, he eventually chose Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business due to the caliber of people he met there.

In August, he joined Infosys as a senior consultant. He was recently named among Poets & Quants’ Best-and Brightest MBAs in the Class of 2015.

Kevin’s Story: I was born and raised in the heart of Los Angeles. I come from the family of nine children. There are five boys and four girls and I’m the third oldest. I bounced around the city for elementary and junior high before moving to the San Fernando Valley for high school.

Bryce Fisher (Booth ’11). In a league where the average career lasts just 3.3 years, Bentley persevered through a Spartan training regimen that included yoga, acupuncture, massages and hyperbaric chamber visits. In the off-season, he would bike up to 500 miles a week. And he was so nutrition-conscious that he had meals prepared and shipped to him from San Diego.

He applied this same level of commitment to his MBA studies. After retiring in 2012, he completed the NFL’s custom executive education program at Harvard, getting

A pivotal point early on was going from first to second grade. I was bored in public school — they wanted me to skip a grade.

Instead, we opted for Ambler Magnet School. I went from being top in all the assignments to being average because there were so many smart individuals at the magnet school. That really pushed and challenged me early on. It was also an interesting dynamic because I lived in the inner city and was bused 45 minutes away. I didn’t fit in either side. The magnet school was a predominately white school, where there were only two other African Americans in my class. When I came home, I didn’t fit in because I didn’t speak slang and all that. I had to find my way.

In high school … I came to learn that I was pretty good at sports. There was a guy that I played against in my neighborhood, Carlease Clark, who told me, ‘It would be awesome to play with each other instead of against each other.’ So I started to go to the private school where he was, Montclair Prep, at the end of my sophomore year.

One of my biggest influences during this time was Cheryl and Francis Power. I was introduced to their family by their daughter, who was a friend (and is now like a sister to me). I came from a really

impoverished neighborhood. And this family took me into their home. It was refreshing for me because, at that point, I started to see what real love was like.

They have been married for a little over 40 years and they put three kids through college. I actually call them my second mom and dad. I’m not sure I’d be where I am today without them. They supported me throughout. They never missed a high school game. They never missed a college game, whether it was in-person or taping them. I flew them out to at least a game a year in the pros. They’ve just been a huge part of my life, my kids’ life and my family’s life. There were times when they’d send their daughter to school with extra lunch for me. It was the little things they did. They embraced me as a son. I still have a room in their house. That’s where my family and I stay when I go out to California to visit. It’s crazy the amount of blessings I’ve had and opportunities based on other people.

My interest in Northwestern started out purely academic … I didn’t start playing football until ninth grade. When I moved to private school, I realized that I actually had a shot of going to college. Coming from a family of nine, you can imagine that we couldn’t afford college. That was my end goal … to get a scholarship to a fouryear school.

I was pretty much set to go to Berkeley, but Northwestern asked me to visit before I made a decision … the school was phenomenal and the professors were awesome. I clicked and bonded with the team [immediately]. It felt like I’d been with those guys forever. I had a gut feeling that this was the place to be … It was the best decision I could’ve made for myself.

I graduated in three years and a quarter … I took summer school every year and a full load during the school year. (Plus, I had credits transfer over from my AP courses in high school.) I remember one time when we had an away game the professor would not let me reschedule a test or take it early. The plane had to sit and wait for me to finish an exam before we could take off. I bring that up because people think it was easy playing ball. It wasn’t because … we had to compete just as hard

FALL 2015 JONES JOURNAL // 25

in the classroom and then we had an extracurricular activity that dominated the rest of our time. There were occasions where I actually had to take the exam on the plane (with an academic advisor present) while we were headed to an away game because the professor wanted the exam taken at a certain time.

I was fortunate enough to be drafted by the Cleveland Browns.

Although I finished [my degree] early, the NFL has a rule that you can’t report until your school graduates. I was one of the last ones to report because [Northwestern] didn’t finish until mid-June. On my first day there, one of the coaches said to me, “Damn son, it’s about time you got here. Where have you been all this time?” I said, “Coach, I had to graduate. I was getting my degree.” And his exact words were, “What the hell do you need that for?” And I looked him in the face [and said], “So when you decide to cut me, I can go get a job.” You have to realize, I didn’t grow up with this childhood dream of being a professional athlete. Football wasn’t my identity. It was just a part of who I am. I felt comfortable saying that, coming out of a prestigious university, knowing I could get a job with no problem. That set the tone and mindset for me coming in.

I played three years for the Browns. I became a starter in my second year and had a pretty good year. I really learned a lot about myself. I realized that, while I love ball, I only wanted to play three to four years. I started to read a lot of business books just gearing up for grad school. I was fortunate enough to play 10 years, however (with Cleveland, Seattle, Houston, Jacksonville and Indianapolis). I still don’t know how. I tell people that I was never the biggest, fastest or strongest. I was smart enough to learn multiple positions. It was a huge accomplishment. I loved playing and made some life-long friends. We stay in contact with each other and are very active in each other’s lives.

Around year eight in Houston … My body was still in great shape, and I had no serious injuries. But I was starting to wear down mentally. And that’s about the time I started researching business schools and what an MBA would do for me in the business world.

At the same time, my personal life was changing. My fiancé (Chris) and I had our first child in October 2007. It was an awesome blessing. Her name is Kayden and she keeps me super busy. I’m always running somewhere with her like gymnastics [and other sports] … We took a little break after I started to wind down my

career and was figuring out what my next steps were. Then, we had Kendal in October 2012. (He and Chris married in August.)

[After the 2011 season], I took a year off for myself to mentally and physically recharge. In the back end of my career, I was teaching snowboarding at Vail in the offseason. So I decided to use that year to get all my certifications for snowboarding. I also used it to visit business schools, to see the campuses and talk to recruiters and students so I could figure out where I wanted to land. I visited 13 business schools that year, including Rice, Columbia, the University of Washington and Booth.

Ultimately, I came to Rice [which offered me a scholarship] …

[The decision] was really about the people, the connection I had with staff, professors and students there. Everyone was so willing to lend a hand, giving me all the information to make the best decision for me.

I also wanted to have an intimate class experience where I could actually get to know all the students versus going to one of these mega schools where there are 1,000 students and you only get to know a handful of them. Actually, Rice felt a lot like Northwestern from that standpoint, a smaller school with a beautiful campus.

I knew that I could accomplish everything I wanted to accomplish by going to Rice.

I knew that I could accomplish everything I wanted to accomplish by going to Rice.

[My experience at Rice] was crazy. I was 10 years removed from school — and I wasn’t doing anything from a corporate function in terms of finance and marketing or writing papers [during that time]. The first three months for me were brutal hell. I was a bit rusty … studying 12-13 hours a day just to catch up on the material and get back into those study habits. It’s also tough because you’re interviewing for internships and trying to network as you’re getting your school work done. There was a lot going on and it was like drinking from a fire hose.

The good thing is, they put us on teams. Everyone had different types of experiences and weaknesses so we could actually bond and help each other.

Our team was phenomenal. We had a lawyer and two finance guys. From a finance standpoint, they really helped me understand the numbers at a deeper level.

Moving into the second semester, I had a few internship offers and was mainly focusing on networking to meet people as

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opposed to networking because I needed a job. It really slowed down for me in terms of grasping the material and doing the things that were expected of me. I made great friends that first year. You really get to know what people are made of and what you can overcome because we were all challenged in some capacity.

People had given up their jobs to become full-time students, and they were putting all their eggs in this basket. We had some tough times, but we were all able to help each other do it.

[Last summer], I interned at Johnson & Johnson, doing brand management for the baby team. It was interesting because I had limited corporate experience. The first year, I took more classes than I needed to because I wanted to be exposed to the material that would be pertinent to the work I’d be doing with my internship — marketing, finance and strategy classes.

I had a great internship, made some good friends and learned how corporate operates (and the level of work involved). I realized that I really enjoyed marketing — and a lot of my skills were transferrable.

While I hadn’t done traditional work, a lot of the things I’d been applying — character, hard work, discipline — were soft skills that transferred over to the corporate world. In the end, I learned that I could do the work and my project came out really well.

Going into the second year, I went through the interview process again, trying to figure out where I wanted to be. I had a few offers. School was pretty much finance-based as I was finishing up my concentration in finance … I was in a groove. I knew how to study and where I needed to place my time. So I had a chance to hang out with my classmates more and enjoy being in school. In December, I realized that I had enough credits to graduate. It came down to me putting my head down and grinding. I wanted to be exposed to as much as possible. I finished school a semester early. My family and I went to Vail, where I got 107 days on the hill and taught snowboarding all winter.

In my family, I am the first to graduate from high school and the first to graduate from college. Now, I am the first to get my

master’s. It’s a huge accomplishment. I had 15 family members fly in from out-of-state for graduation. We had a great weekend.

Seeing the tears coming off my family’s face, my mom’s face, and my kids cheering like crazy — it was just an overwhelming experience. It was important for me to have my children see me walk across the stage. Now, the foundation is set. I also had a chance to catch up with classmates.

At that point, I realized how much I was going to miss being in school — and the relationships I’d built and the people who were so phenomenal and influential.

Ten years from now, I would like to be either a CEO or a C-level-type executive, leading teams and helping a company grow. I have not let go of my childhood dream of a three piece suit and a corner office. That’s been my driving force this entire time.

Reprinted with permission from Poets & Quants. To see the article in its entirety, business.rice.edu/NFLtoMBA.

I started at Infosys August 31. I came in as a senior consultant on the change management side. We go in and build SAP services and technology to help companies run more efficiently by implementing certain technology capabilities. My job will be to get upper management onboard and put together training for the new technology to make the transition as seamless as possible for the company. I enrolled in six sigma this summer to help with that.

FALL 2015 JONES JOURNAL // 27

KiLife Tech from Brigham Young University won the 2015 Rice Business Plan Competition. Pictured, left to right, are Jordan Baczuk, chief technical officer, Jeff Hall, chief marketing officer, Zack Oates, vice president of business development, and Spencer Behrend, founder and CEO. Photo courtesy of ShauLin Photography.

KiLife Tech from BYU wins 2015 Rice Business Plan Competition KiLife Tech from Brigham Young University emerged as the top startup company in the Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC) Saturday at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business.

The annual event is the world’s richest and largest graduate student startup competition.

by more than 20,000 people who voted for their favorite team via a Facebook survey.

Selected by 275 judges from the investment sector as representing the best investment opportunity and taking home $500,000 in cash and prizes, KiLife Tech bested 41 other competitors hailing from some of the world’s top universities. KiLife Tech developed the Kiband, a smartband for parents concerned about keeping track of young children in crowded public spaces.

This year’s competitors were the most diverse in the history of the competition and came from top universities around the globe. The teams were chosen from more than 720 entrants to compete in four categories: life sciences; information technology/Web/mobile; energy/clean technology/sustainability; and other. Each team made its case in 15-minute investment pitches and a rapid-fire 60-second elevator-pitch contest on the first night of the competition.

MyHelpster from University of Manchester won the new $5,000 online People’s Choice Competition. The winner was determined

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The prizes were presented at a banquet at the Omni Houston Hotel that concluded the three-day event, which began April 16.

Since the RBPC’s inception in 2001, when nine teams competed for $10,000, more than 155 former competitors have gone on to successfully launch their ventures and are still in business today; another 15 have successfully sold their ventures. Past competitors have raised in excess of $1.3 billion in funding and created more than 2,000 new jobs.

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The 15th annual RBPC was hosted by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and the Jones School.

The top six finalists based on the judges’ overall score in the 2015 RBPC are listed below, along with the total amount the team won in prizes:

KiLife Tech, Brigham Young University — Grand Prize with a total value of $588,000 KiLife Tech developed the Kiband, a smartband for parents concerned about keeping track of young children in crowded public spaces.

Inscope Medical Solutions, University of Louisville — $73,000 awarded by one of the sponsors of the first RBPC in 2001, Finger Interests.

Leveraging 35 years of combined experience in the health care industry, Inscope Medical developed an innovative laryngoscope that integrates several devices into one to improve patient outcomes for airway intubation.

The Grand Prize Includes: •

$250,000+ Investment Prize from The GOOSE Society of Texas.

•

$250,000+ OWL Investment Prize.

•

$50,000 from TMCx Accelerator.

•

$25,000 Technology Award from Opportunity Houston and Greater Houston Partnership.

•

Marketing and design services provided by BrandExtract and The Padgett Group ($25,000).

•

Website development and hosting services for one year provided by ContentActive ($30,000).

•

Treasury services provided by Bank of America ($5,000).

•

Business Plan software provided

by Palo Alto Software.

•

Opportunity to ring the closing bell at the NASDAQ Stock Market in New York.

•

In addition, the team will receive more than $150,000 in services.

Hyliion, Carnegie Mellon University — $162,500 Hyliion is creating an add-on hybrid module for tractor trailers that can reduce fuel costs by over 30 percent. Its product is intended to improve the driver’s quality of life as well as reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

Veritas Medical, University of Utah — $137,000 Veritas Medical is a medical device company that has developed a groundbreaking technology using light to sterilize medical devices and prevent hospital-acquired infections.

DexMat, Rice University — $64,000 DexMat manufactures high-performance carbon nanotube fibers as a stronger, more flexible and lightweight replacement for old-fashioned metal wires that are currently being used in aerospace cables.

Aerox, Thammasat University — $31,000

For more information about the RBPC, visit alliance.rice.edu/rbpc.

Aerox manufactures A-Shield Silica Aerogel, a NASA-grade insulation at only 10 percent of the cost. According to Aerox, their product unlocks an opportunity in building material worth $37 billion.

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The Health Care Gap: Connecting, Debating and Discussing

What is the health care gap and how is the medical community closing it? As home to the world's largest medical center, Houston has the opportunity to be at the forefront in addressing those questions — and answering them. On May 12, four speakers enthusiastic about innovation shared perspectives and innovative solutions in their respective fields during the symposium, Closing the Health Care Gap: Innovating. Redesigning. Inventing, sponsored by the Jones Graduate School of Business' Health Care Initiative.

Prashant Kale, associate professor of strategic management and head of the health care initiative, added, "These events build a rich and vibrant environment and are a component of the initiative with high touch outcomes for audiences, speakers and the school. We are trying to engage with the community and create a platform to connect, debate and discuss."

Precision Medicine "When I give talks about innovation," said Dr. Donald Berry, professor in the Department of Biostatistics at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, "usually I'm talking to cancer researchers about therapeutic advances.

Radical stuff." Berry has designed and supervised breast cancer trials. A principal focus of his research is the use of biomarkers to learn which patients benefit from which therapies.

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"Biology is moving like lightening, but clinical trials are mired in the past." And — as co-owner of Berry Consultants, a company that helps design clinical trials — he would know.

In the meantime, the demand to bring clinical trials into the future has begun and Berry's work is front and center.

Real-time Analytics Emma Fauss, a Rice MBA '13, Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering, and CEO of Medical Informatics Corp, declared, “The current gaps in health care are technological.”

From work flow, care team communications, patient surveillance and tracking to analytics capabilities and decision support, the technological gaps can mean life or death. "Medical Informatics wanted to come in and fill that gap," Fauss said. The company's case study with Texas

The current gaps in health care are technological.

Children's Hospital tackled alarm management for 36 beds in the ICU. "There is a constant onslaught of alarms, creating alarm fatigue. The software tool helped medical staff assess the alarm's frequency, what its purpose was and how to adjust it." At TCH they were able to reduce alarms over six months. "Innovation in health care is not easy," Fauss said.

"Advanced patient-specific analytics is the logical next step.

Taking the data that's already there and helping to improve patient outcomes."

Innovation in Global Research As vice president and general manager of Healthcare Global Research at GE with a Ph.D. in functional imaging, Kelly Piacsek oversees clinical evidence generation, the adoption of innovative health care technologies, new product introductions, and safe and effective product use. When a person like Piacsek, who holds 16 patents, says, "We have a need for health care innovation," audiences listen.

GE spends almost $1 billion on research and development.

"We are very product focused," Piacsek said. "Our goal has been to evolve into a solutions company."

GE is transitioning to a reverse innovation company.

"We're doing it because that's what the world needs from us."

Physicians Embracing Innovation Kirsten Ostherr, a Rice University professor of English and media scholar specializing in health and medical visualizations, posed this question: how do you inspire physicians to embrace innovation? As director of Medical Futures Lab, a collaborative center linking Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine and UT Health to train the medical media innovators of the future, Ostherr brings together creative minds for hands-on critical thinking and design.

She presented examples of how x-rays, 16mm film, television and the Internet have trained both physicians and patients to see and understand health and disease. Innovation has often been met with deep skepticism, but Ostherr's working on that and other key issues of translation and culture.

Defining the health care gap is different for different communities. Binata Mukherjee, director of the health care initiative, said the health care symposia schedule — three a year — "allows the school to showcase not only its commitment to the medical community and the health care space but to our students and their futures." The health care initiative at the Jones School is taking discussions about health care to the next level.

To learn more about the health care initiative at the Jones School, visit business.rice.edu/healthcare.

FALL 2015 JONES JOURNAL // 31

to Rice

Jesse Jones (far left) and President Woodrow Wilson march down Fifth Avenue in New York City on May 18, 1918, in the immense American Red Cross fundraising parade during World War I.

More than 150 large boxes filled with private letters, rare photographs, revealing contracts and copies of speeches nationally broadcast during the Great Depression and World War II recently arrived at Rice University’s Woodson Research Center. Houston Endowment, a philanthropic foundation established in 1937 by Jesse and Mary Gibbs Jones, donated the historic records produced by its founders and their family to provide access to those interested in discovering more about one of the nation’s most powerful appointed officials and Houston’s preeminent developer during the first half of the twentieth century.

Among its many treasures, the vast collection includes deeds, contracts, corporate records and photographs of major buildings and early subdivisions built and owned by Jesse Jones. Documents about land purchases, building construction and the operation of early skyscrapers, theaters, apartments and hotels in Houston, New York City 32 // JONES JOURNAL FALL 2015

and Fort Worth are available for review, including Jones’s request to Captain James Baker to add his signature to his on any revisions made to the 1914 Rice Hotel, which was built by Jones and largely financed by Rice Institute under Baker’s leadership. The papers filed under Block 58 also show Jones bought part of that downtown block from Baker for his 1908 Houston Chronicle Building. Taken together, just these documents alone reveal intriguing aspects of the emerging relationship between Jones and Baker, as well as the connection between Rice Institute and the city’s development; insights into Jones’s business practices; and facts about local buildings where many people enjoyed life and formed lasting memories.

The archive goes beyond early Houston and encompasses national events that offer perspective. For instance, in the past, U.S. Presidents had no pension or ready access to wealth. Jones, who revered Woodrow Wilson and served in

Although it was a bold and risky venture at the time, in 1914 Jesse Jones built the 18-story luxurious Rice Hotel just before the opening of the Houston Ship Channel.

his administration, established an annuity for the President after he left office. The exceptional contract is part of the collection, and its associated documents also reveal Jones’s close relationship with Stockton Axson — Wilson’s brotherin-law and an original Rice Institute English professor.

Jones was a prominent Democrat and captured the 1928 Democratic National Convention for Houston. It was the first major political convention held in the south since before the Civil War and one of the first to be widely received over radio.

The event put Houston on the map and Jones in the spotlight.

Photographs, tickets, programs, the finance committee’s canceled checks and the convention hall floor plan (with a space designated for “Colored” delegates) are part of the collection. The documents show that unlike today the entire effort, including selecting the city and constructing a building large enough to hold 25,000 visiting delegates, took six months from start to finish and cost a pittance to stage,

even though the objective of selecting candidates to run for national office remains the same.

During the Great Depression and World War II, next to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jesse Jones, as chairman of the federal government’s Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), was considered to be the most powerful person in the nation.

The speeches, publicity, correspondence and photographs in the collection verify this astonishing claim and show how during the nation’s most devastating economic catastrophe, the federal government, through the RFC, simultaneously salvaged the economy, helped millions of citizens and made money for the U.S. Treasury. The recent Troubled Asset Relief Program, also known as TARP, was modeled on Jones’s 1933 Bank Repair Program. Like TARP, Jones’s RFC program saved the United States banking system and made money for the federal treasury, a feat worthy of examination now.

FALL 2015 JONES JOURNAL // 33

Jesse Jones’s construction of the Houston Chronicle Building in 1908 brought him a half interest in the growing newspaper. Jones bought the other half of the paper in 1926 from publisher M.E. Foster because of disputes over Foster’s endorsement of “Ma” Ferguson for Texas governor.

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In the late 1930s, as war spread through Europe and as the public and Congress dithered over intervention, Jones and FDR converted the RFC’s focus from domestic economics to global defense and militarized industry. The collection’s black and white pictures and its perfectly typed documents, painstakingly produced on manual typewriters, reveal influential and unappreciated accomplishments from that critical period. For example, the RFC developed synthetic rubber, moving from lab experiments to mass production only months before the attacks on Pearl Harbor. First and foremost, the federal government’s investment in this nascent industry enabled the Allied Forces to mobilize its equipment and weaponry; furthermore it also eliminated reliance on a vital foreign commodity, enlarged the Gulf Coast economy, and in the end, made money for the United States government.

The Joneses moved to Washington, D.C., in 1932, and returned to Houston in 1947. Interesting minutiae found among the documents from their move home show that a Spruce Goose model given by Howard Hughes to Jesse Jones had a propeller with a missing blade. Property and building records show how Houston had changed during the Joneses’ absence: To accommodate the flood of cars coming into the booming central business district, Jones for the first time included parking garages in his new buildings, a practice still followed by others.

Other contracts and correspondence include Jones’s plans to demolish his first Houston skyscraper — the 10-floor Bristol Hotel (1907) — and to replace it with his last skyscraper­ — the 18-floor Houston Club Building (1954), which was recently demolished.

Jesse Jones is sworn in as Secretary of Commerce on September 19, 1940, by Associate Supreme Court Justice Stanley Reed, with President Franklin Roosevelt attending. The U.S. Senate unanimously exempted Jones, who was Federal Loan Administrator, from federal laws prohibiting one person from holding two government jobs.

Like most everything represented in the collection, the Bristol Hotel and the Houston Club Building are gone, but their associated photographs and documents testify to their existence, establish their context, recount the singular accomplishments of a unique figure in Houston and U.S. history and offer future possibilities by preserving successes from the past.

— by Steven Fenberg

Howard Hughes and Jesse Jones leave the State Department building on July 21, 1938, after Hughes met with Secretary of State Cordell Hull to thank him for the State Department’s assistance with his record-breaking around-the-world flight.

Steven Fenberg and architectural historian Barrie Scardino assembled the Jesse Jones archive for Houston Endowment. Fenberg was executive producer and writer of the Emmy Award-winning documentary “Brother, Can You Spare a Billion? The Story of Jesse H. Jones,” which was narrated

by Walter Cronkite and broadcast nationally on PBS. Fenberg also wrote the biography “Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism and the Common Good,” which was published by Texas A&M University Press. For more information, see jessejonesthebook.com.

FALL 2015 JONES JOURNAL // 35

Community

Recalling the Vietnam War, 50 years on A panel discussion at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business Sept. 9 commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War by featuring four critically acclaimed writers who served in the war. The authors — Philip Caputo, Larry Heinemann, Tim O’Brien and Tobias Wolff — did not hold back in discussing their war experiences and how these often harrowing and emotionally complex tours of duty shaped their lives, writing and careers as authors.

Co-hosted by the Baker Institute for Public Policy’s young professionals group and the Rice Veterans in Business Association at the Jones School, the event spotlighted the growing presence of military veterans from the recent wars of the post-9/11 era at Rice.

“We thought (the panel) would be a nonsentimental way of honoring the Vietnam (War) veterans for their service as the war turned 50, while also exploring the human cost of foreign policy and what it’s like to go to war as a soldier,” said Rice MBA alumnus Mike Freedman ‘14, one of the event’s main organizers. He served in the U.S. Army Special Forces as a Green Beret.

“This is why we decided to invite four literary fiction writers … to help us better connect to the experience of being an infantryman or in

the Special Forces … and the legacy that that has on the individual who experiences it.”

Caputo, whose memoir “A Rumor of War” has been published in 15 languages and sold more than 2 million copies, recalled his 16-month tour of duty in Vietnam as a U.S. Marines infantry officer, which included time as a casualty reporting officer for his battalion. “In that capacity, what I did was to take reports from the field of marines who had been killed or wounded and, in addition, I kept track of what was then known as the ‘body count’ of the number of enemy that we had killed,” he said.

“Then I would take how many we had lost to how many they had lost and I would compute what was called the ‘kill ratio.’”

The job of identifying the unrecognizable dead bodies had a more profound emotional and psychological impact on Caputo than leading men in combat, he said. “The worst part of this job that I had was … when I had to identify the body and take the report of my best friend from officers’ basic school at Quantico, Va., an officer named Lt. Walt Levy,” Caputo said.

“His death affected me very deeply and does to this day. Not too long ago I was at a reunion in Washington (D.C.), and I went to the (Vietnam Veterans Memorial) wall,

and I saw Walt’s name there, and 40-some years after the event, I just started bawling like a child.”

For Heinemann, whose works “Close Quarters” and “Paco’s Story” draw on his combat experiences while on tour in Vietnam as an infantryman, the war was a source of anger. “Maybe the only thing that you need to know about me as a writer (is that) I was a draftee,” he said. “Being in the Army was the last thing on my mind. If you don’t mind the language, I’ll put it this way: I was pissed off to be drafted. I was pissed to be in the Army. I was pissed off the day I went overseas, and I was really pissed off when I got home. I was so pissed off that I didn’t know who to be pissed off at, so I was pissed off at everybody.”

This anger turned out to be abundant fuel for Heinemann’s career as an author. “The other thing that you need to know is that it is a remarkable irony that I became a writer,” he said. “It’s a remarkable irony of the war. If it hadn’t been for the war, for my war year, I’d be driving a bus like my old man. This irony is something that I share with a number of other Vietnam veterans who came home and wrote about that. The Vietnamese veterans that I know, many of them say the same. So the writing turns out to be a product of an odd ambivalence.”

O’Brien received the 1979 National Book Award in fiction for his novel “Going After Cacciato,” which follows an AWOL soldier’s journey as he walks from Vietnam to France. O’Brien anchored his presentation by reading a poignant excerpt from “The Things They Carried,” his Vietnam War novel published in 1990: “When she was 9, my daughter Kathleen asked if I had ever killed anyone. She knew about the war; she knew I’d been a soldier. ‘You keep writing these war stories,’ she said, ‘so I guess you must’ve

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Community

A reception before the reading was held at Baker Institute’s Doré Commons.

killed someone.’ It was a hard moment, but I did what I thought was right, which was to say, ‘Of course not,’ and then to take her onto my lap and just hold her for a while.

Someday, I hope, she’ll ask again. But here I want to pretend she’s a grown-up. I want to tell her exactly what happened, or what I remember happening, and then I want to say to her that as a little girl she was absolutely right. This is why I keep telling war stories.”

Indeed, the book’s protagonist had killed, as O’Brien read on: “He was a short, slender young man of about 20. I was afraid of him — afraid of something — and as he passed me on the trail I threw a grenade that landed at his feet and killed him.”

Wolff, whose books include the memoirs “This Boy’s Life” and “In Pharaoh’s Army: Memories of the Lost War,” addressed the power of the event in his remarks. “I’m not nostalgic at all for my days in uniform, but the one thing that kind of gave it to me was to be in the company of these people and

to share that sense of dark absurdity, which is a special kind of gift of those who have been where they’ve been and done what they’ve done.”

A member of the Army Special Forces, Wolff had been an adviser to a Vietnamese unit in the Mekong Delta, a time captured in an excerpt he read from “In Pharaoh’s Army.” In the excerpt, Wolff muses on his struggle with coming to terms with the knowledge that he eluded death while others were killed in his place: “All around you people are killed: soldiers on both sides, farmers, teachers, mothers, fathers, schoolgirls, nurses, your friends — but not you. They have been killed instead of you. This observation is unavoidable. So, in time, is the corollary, implicit in the word instead: in place of.”

panel in the Jones School’s Shell Auditorium and spoke to the impact veterans have on campus. “We have been able to see that once the veterans got here, they made a difference at Rice,” Glick said. “Veterans have taken on tremendous leadership roles within the student body and have gone on to be highly valued graduates.

They enrich Rice and the broader Houston community. We’re very grateful to have them.

— By Jeff Falk

For more information on the Veterans in Business Association (VIBA) and the Military Scholars Program, visit business. rice.edu/viba and business.rice.edu/msp.

Jones School Dean Bill Glick, the H. Joe Nelson III Professor of Management, and Baker Institute Director Edward Djerejian, a military veteran himself, welcomed the more than 400 attendees to the evening FALL 2015 JONES JOURNAL // 37

Community

Reconnect, Refresh, Reunion

In April, the Jones School Alumni Reunion celebrated their two-day reunion weekend. Dinners and happy hours for alumni in milestone reunion-years — classes of 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2014 — were held at venues around Houston. On the Saturday morning of reunion, 65 alumni participated in an Executive Education Session that featured four faculty presentations: •

How Can Firms Create Value Through Their Financial Decisions? Gustavo Grullon, Jesse H. Jones Professor of Finance

•

Managing Political Risk in Global Businesses.

Anthea Zhang, Fayez Sarofim Vanguard Professor of Management

•

Mindfulness and Safety: Outwitting the Gorilla.

Erik Dane, Associate Professor of Management

•

Strategic Decision Making and Critical Thinking — Human Aspects. Vikas Mittal, J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of Marketing

Later in the afternoon, more than 1,000 alumni and their guests joined staff and faculty for the reunion Partio. Along with the perfect weather, alumni and their families enjoyed a menu of Mexican food, margaritas, piña coladas, face painting, a bouncy house and train rides.

The reunion Partio experienced a 70 percent increase over last year in number of attendees, and the class happy hour and dinner events more than doubled in number of participants by event.

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“Safety failures aren’t only outcomes rather they’re inputs to performance improvement.”

Overheard at Erik Dane’s mindfulness session.

Save the Date Next year’s alumni reunion will be held April 8-9, 2016.

Alumni from all classes are invited, with special recognition to those in milestone reunion years — the classes of 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2015.

Alumni relations is currently seeking alumni volunteers to serve on the reunion host committee to promote reunion weekend to their classmates, encourage reunion giving among classmates and help plan their class party. If you are interested in serving on the reunion committee or would like to know more about reunion, contact Alaina Schuster, associate director for alumni relations and development, at 713-348-3710 or Alaina.D.Schuster@rice.edu.

Community

Jones Partners 2015-2016 Schedule of Events August 27

October 29

M arch 2

Welcome Reception

Thought Leadership Series

Roundtable Series

6-8 PM

Marie Lynn Miranda, Provost, Rice University

6-8:30 PM

"Innovation for the Bottom of the Pyramid: In China for China and for the World"

October 7 6-8:30 PM

Speaker: Xiangli Chen, Ph.D., Vice President, GE; Vice President & Chief Technology Officer of GE China; President, GE China Technology Center

11:30 AM-1 PM

"Co-creation and Competition: Exploring the Commonalities" Amit Pazgal, Professor of Marketing and Operations Management

Faculty: Dr. Haiyang Li, Professor of Strategic Management & Innovation

Thought Leadership Series

March 24

Dave Stover, Chairman, President & CEO, Noble Energy, Inc.

6-8:30 PM

Thought Leadership Series

Oc to be r 2 1

February 17

"What?! You Want to Retire? The CEO Succession Opportunity/ Conundrum for Boards"

Roundtable Series

Thought Leadership Series

Speaker: Tom Simmons, Global Energy Practice Leader, Spencer Stuart

James Weston, Professor of Finance

Robert C. Robbins, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Texas Medical Center

6-7:30 PM

"Advances in Behavioral Finance"

6-8:30 PM

Faculty: Anthea Zhang, Fayez Sarofim Vanguard Professor of Management

Schedule subject to change. Visit business.rice.edu/JonesPartners_Events for updates.

Resources

JGSB Online

business.rice.edu

facebook.com/ricemba twitter.com/ricemba

Check out the detailed bios of all the Jones Graduate School Alumni Association (JGSAA) 2015-16 officers and board members, including President Phillip Brown ’08 and President-Elect Lynn Lednicky ’91. business.rice.edu/jgsaa_board

Did you know? You can find every elective available, register for Exec Ed classes, search for alumni and check for upcoming Jones School events online. business.rice.edu

The Jones Corporate Investors provide corporations with many ways to become involved with the Jones School, tailoring each contribution to be the most productive and mutually rewarding for both the school and the investor. business.rice.edu/corporate_investors

Jones Partners open doors to partnership among Houston business leaders and Jones School communities. They also present a compelling speaker series, pairing JGSB professors with business leaders, including David L. Stover, chairman, president and CEO, Noble Energy, Inc.; Xiangli Chen, Ph.D., VP, GE; VP and chief technology officer of GE China; president, GE China Technology Center; Robert C. Robbins, M.D., president and CEO, Texas Medical Center; and Tom Simmons, global energy practice leader, Spencer Stuart. business.rice.edu/jonespartners

The Rice MBA admissions blog has program information, admissions tips, Jones School news, as well as student and alumni bloggers sharing their experiences at the Jones School. riceMBAadmissions.com

From integrated course offerings to faculty research, student and alumni stories, the homepage hosts a fresh rotation of articles each month. Click on News and Noteworthy to see what you’ve missed in the archives. business.rice.edu

Looking for Class Notes? We’ve moved them to our Facebook page! Join the alumni group, and check out the Class Notes Album to see up-to-the-minute alumni news, including all the baby photos you can handle. business.rice.edu/alumnifb

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Opportunities and Challenges in a Volatile Price Environment friday, November 6, 2015 Jones Graduate School of Business, McNair Hall Rice University

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