Reflecting on SMS2025: Insights, Gratitude, and Inspiration

I recently had the privilege of presenting my paper “Bonded Only to Avoid Losses: When CEO Wealth Sensitivity Shapes Competitive Behavior” at the 2025 The Strategic Management Society's Annual Conference. This research explores how CEO compensation structures—specifically wealth sensitivity to stock price (delta) and stock return volatility (vega)—shape a firm’s competitive response to rival aggression. I’m deeply grateful for the thoughtful feedback and engaging discussions that followed—your insights are helping refine the next steps of this work.

A special thank you to SMS for organizing the Strategic Leadership & Governance Paper Development Workshop. I’m especially appreciative of Dr. Jeffrey Lovelace for his insightful feedback on my ongoing projects around CEO overconfidence and CEO nonconformity. The roundtable format and the “Iron Chef” paper development exercise were both intellectually stimulating and creatively energizing.

I also had the opportunity to attend a powerful session led by Frank T. Rothaermel, SMS’s 2025 Educational Impact Awardee and author of Strategic Management (McGraw Hill). His exploration of how AI is transforming strategy education and practice—highlighted by NVIDIA’s rise under Jensen Huang—offered actionable ideas for integrating generative AI into the classroom. I’m excited to bring these tools back to my students to help them navigate the evolving strategic landscape.

Another highlight was the Long Range Planning journal session, which spotlighted bold and forward-looking research under leadership of Thomas C. Lawton. The discussions around upcoming special issues—on AI and strategic paradoxes, sustainable business model innovation, and diversification in the digital age—were incredibly inspiring. As a reviewer for LRP, I’m proud to support work that challenges assumptions and contributes to the long-term evolution of strategy scholarship.

I’m also grateful for the SMS Fellows Luncheon, a unique opportunity to connect with prominent scholars in the field. Special thanks to Dr. Rajshree Agarwal for her thoughtful recommendation on growing from a specialist entry strategy into a generalist—an insight that will guide my academic journey moving forward.

And of course, a heartfelt thank you to the SMS leadership for hosting such a memorable social at Exploratorium. The stunning views of the Bay, the interactive exhibits, and the vibrant conversations made for a quintessential San Francisco experience. It was the perfect setting to connect with colleagues and celebrate our shared passion for strategy research.

Thank you to the SMS community for fostering such a developmental and collaborative environment. Looking forward to continuing these conversations and building on the momentum from SMS2025!

Per aspera ad astra

#SMS2025 #StrategicManagement