Modupe Akinola is a professor and researcher at Columbia Business School, and the director of the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership & Ethics. A former business consultant, Modupe is now an award-winning instructor in the MBA program at Columbia. Her research there focuses on why some people thrive under stress, while others succumb to the strain. Modupe’s work uses physiological responses, behavioral observation, and time measures to examine cognitive outcomes of stress.
Modupe also studies the strategies organizations can use to increase the diversity of their talent pool, and the biases that affect recruitment and retention of women and people of color. Her research has been published in many academic journals, as well as mainstream media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal. She is the host of the TED Business Podcast.
In this short talk, “Setbacks Can Spur Leaps Forward,” Modupe Akinola explains some surprising factors in fostering creativity in the modern economy.