Professors Share Their 2019 Resolutions

Make it public — that’s one way to help yourself stay committed to a resolution. By sharing your goals with your friends and community, you’re more likely to feel that people are supporting you and holding you accountable.

Here, six professors from various divisions share their resolutions for 2019. They include reading Proust, incorporating machine learning into teaching, and aspiring to “inbox zero.”

If you’re personally struggling to decide on your own New Year’s resolutions, you may find inspiration from the wide-ranging goals of these professors who are striving to excel in the classroom, on the dance floor, and across the tennis courts. 

ECONOMICS

Wouter Dessein, Eli Ginzberg Professor of Finance and Economics

• Bring my tennis doubles game to the next level.
• Hike the five-day Otter Trail in South Africa (or at least snap a 2020 reservation, as advance bookings are required one year in advance).
• Write a pathbreaking paper on social capital and information flows in organizations.
• Learn to meditate and be more mindful!
• Find a new dean for CBS.

FINANCE

Wei Jiang, Arthur F. Burns Professor of Free and Competitive Enterprise

• Incorporate machine learning in my teaching.
• Finish research project on institutional voting in proxy contests.
• Interact more with colleagues outside the Finance division.
• Cut down iPhone use by half. (My husband just commented that half is not enough but let’s start with something that is realistic.)
• Speak more Chinese at home with kids.

DECISION, RISK, AND OPERATIONS

Yash Kanoria, Sidney Taurel Associate Professor of Business

• Put an extra effort into teaching.
• Chase down a deep statistical physics/matching markets connection so that I can sleep soundly again.
• Dance salsa often and get good at it.
• Find a partner for salsa and more!
• Be mindful about wellness and go to sleep on time. 

MARKETING

Gita Johar, Meyer Feldberg Professor of Business

• Become a better cook.
• Exercise six days out of seven.
• Continue to learn French.
• Read Proust. (But not in the original, that would be unrealistic with low expectancies of success!)
• Accelerate my research on how to combat fake news.

MANAGEMENT

Dan Wang, David W. Zalaznick Associate Professor of Business

• Be more mindful of a nighttime sleep routine, which starts with no coffee after 1 p.m. (For an extreme example, see Arianna Huffington's TED Talk on sleep.)
• Interpret and codify my mom’s recipes, which involve measurement terms like “a fistful.”
• Teach our dog to clean up her toys.
• Engage in more “reverse mentoring” — becoming a more effective mentor by having a mentee teach me new skills and ideas.
• Aspire to inbox zero.

ACCOUNTING

Shivaram Rajgopal, Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing

• Work more on research that someone in practice or policy can use.
• Work out six out of seven times a week.
• Say “no” more often!