MEET JEFF! He received a B.A. in Marketing from UT Tyler, an MBA in Management from UNT, and Ph.D. in Management from Texas Tech University. He is currently working as an Assistant Professor of Business Strategy at Western Kentucky University.
We asked Jeff some questions, advice for current students, and how UNT helped him to succeed and SOAR BEYOND!
When you started at UNT, what were your plans after graduation? How have these plans changed (if at all)? When I started at UNT, I was very fortunate that I knew I wanted to pursue my education in a Ph.D. program. Fortunately for me, these plans have not changed and I am currently an Assistant Professor working in academia.
What advice do you have for prospective or current students as they decide what they want their next steps to be (internships/careers/etc.)? My biggest piece of advice for prospective or current students would be to really think through and understand what career you want after you graduate. If you have a clear idea before coming into or early on in the program, this helps as you immensely as can use the program as a launching pad into the career you want.
How did you find your current role? In academia, we have an international conference that hosts a career fair. I met and interviewed with my current employer at that conference.
Tell us a bit about the article you recently had published. I was recently fortunate enough to publish an article in the Strategic Management Journal that analyzed how humble CEOs influenced their companies’ stock market success. In this study, we found that more humble CEOs benefit their companies’ stock market performance because they are consistently underestimated by financial analysts. More specifically, we found that financial analysts tend to significantly underestimate the earnings potential (i.e. expectations of performance) of firms lead by humble CEOs, allowing them to more easily meet or beat those expectations which are rewarded by the stock market. In doing so, we found a rather counterintuitive finding: humble CEOs benefit their companies’ stock market performance because they are discounted by financial analysts. We were lucky enough to have the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, and other outlets write about the study.
How did the Career Center help you? Looking back on my time at UNT, I was very lucky to be hired by the Career Center and spend so much great time. I learned a lot of valuable lessons, such as time management, communication skills, analytical techniques, that have benefited me throughout my career.
Would you like to be featured in our Soaring Beyond Success Series? Email Jeanette Hickl. We’d love to share your story!
