Prof Michelle Xue Zheng makes P&Q’s Best 40 under 40

With more than three dozen nominations, Michelle Xue Zheng was one of Poets & Quants’ most highly nominated professors this year. Professor Zheng teaches Organisational Behaviour, Leadership Journey, and Managerial Decision Making across Boundaries at CEIBS in Shanghai.

Prof. Zheng is not only an incredibly popular and well-respected teacher in the MBA programme at CEIBS; her recent research shows business school professors can and do contribute to greater societal good. Her research has been featured in publications like Forbes, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic.

When I was very young, I already knew I wanted to be a business school professor. My mother was an award-winning Chinese literature elementary school teacher. My father earned a master’s degree in finance from a Chinese business school in the 1980s, which was very rare at that time in China. My parents inspired me to pursue a Ph.D. and become a professor. But I became even more certain about becoming a business school professor when I watched my Ph.D. supervisor Jayanth Narayanan teach negotiations and decision-making. I saw that professors don’t have to be studious and serious; teaching can be highly interactive and experiential for students!

Recently, my co-authors and I examined whether mindfulness can neutralize the negative impact of COVID-19 stressors on employees’ sleep duration and work engagement. We conducted a field experiment in Wuhan, China, during the lockdown in 2020, in which we induced a state of mindfulness by asking participants to practice mindfulness continuously for ten days. The results show that the sleep duration of participants in the mindfulness condition, compared with the control condition, was less impacted by COVID-19 stressors (e.g., the increase of infections in the community). We found similar results in a 10-day daily diary study in the United Kingdom. These findings suggest that mindfulness is an evidence-based practice that can effectively neutralize the negative effects of COVID-19 stressors on sleep and work outcomes. I hope this research can help those who have suffered from the COVID-19 crisis.

Since I am so passionate about analysing people, I would probably be in a related profession such as a criminal profiler, psychiatrist, or linguistics expert.

I am very approachable. To my students, I am down-to-earth and authentic, just like an average next-door neighbour. Meanwhile, I can connect with a wide range of people because I am a professor with many dimensions such as expertise in managing social relationships and hardship, rich personal experience, and a global background. My students, whether they are Chinese or international, can easily feel connected to me.

Surreal. I taught 120 Executive MBA students from all over the world for my very first time teaching at CEIBS. An incredibly exciting and humbling experience.

Being a good teacher and researcher requires a great deal of self-control and persistence. However, to achieve a healthy life, you should also strike a balance between “control” and “letting things go”. There is an aphorism I like to share with students when I teach resilience: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

To those amazing professors who have mentored, supported, and inspired me greatly on my journey to becoming a B-school professor – thank you! This is not a complete list, but special thanks to Jayanth Narayanan, Marius van Dijke, David De Cremer, Larry Farh, Katherine Xin, Sebastian Schuh, and Richard Carney.

I enjoy presenting evidence-based knowledge about managing one’s self, others, and organisations to help my students make better informed managerial decisions. Importantly, I do not simply lecture such knowledge; I use experiential learning techniques so the ideas stick with students beyond the classroom.

When students sit in my class and listen to what I have to say, they are entrusting me with a portion of their precious time. I feel a responsibility to make every student feel there are valuable lessons they can use when they walk out of my classroom. But it can be challenging for me to fulfill every student’s needs.

Open-minded.

Privileged.

Constructive and fair.

Having lived in five different countries and travelled in more than 30, I still love traveling around the world with my husband Richard, people watching, and trying different local cuisines. I also love reading fashion blogs and enjoy mixing and matching outfits of the day (OOTD). I also practice mindfulness and meditation, as I teach in class.

Finding a good family resort to keep my 3-year-old daughter happy and squeezing in some time for my research.

Villefranche in Southern France, Lake Wynonah in Pennsylvania where my parents-in-law own a beautiful lake house, and Singapore where I love to eat Chilli Crab and Laksa.

Waiting Is Not Easy! by Mo Willems. I love how the author presents a stunning starry sky at the end of the book as a reward for the elephant’s anxious waiting. It is a great book for teaching children, like my 3-year-old daughter, about delaying gratification.

I like watching psychological thrillers because I love understanding people’s behaviours. But, my favourite movie is La La Land because Ryan Gosling is my favourite actor, LOL. Kidding aside, for me, La La Land is not about Mia and Sebastian’s romance. The real charm of the movie is the shimmer of dreams and not giving up in pursuing those dreams. I see myself in Mia – an ambitious girl who goes to the big city to pursue her dreams without giving in to other temptations. It is very touching to see her eventually grow into an independent woman standing on her own two feet.

I became a fan of French chansons after studying in Paris. I like EDM because I lived in Rotterdam for three years. And because my favourite singer-songwriter is Jay Chou, I also like R&B and rock music.

Given that AI is reshaping the future workplace by handling more analytical tasks, the future of human-centred work is moving towards the “feeling economy”. Unique features that AI cannot and should not replace include people’s ability to be empathetic and emotional. Thus, the business school of the future should place more emphasis on developing students’ emotional intelligence, communication skills, empathy, and acumen about interpersonal relationships.

They need to do a better job at meeting employees’ expectations. Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic have changed employees’ expectations about organisations. It is increasingly challenging to keep employees committed, engaged, and productive. In order to “MEET” the challenges of today’s changing workplace, I often mention a MEET framework for organisations: Mindfulness and other stress reduction programmes, Empathetic leadership, Equality in the workplace, and Trust in remote workers.

I am grateful for all the experiences (ups and downs) I have had and all the people I have met so far. I am grateful for all the nurturing workplaces I have worked in, unconditional family support, mentors, colleagues, friends, and for my own capacity to work through difficult times. My favourite poem, by Stephen King, illustrates the very essence of being mindful and grateful: “We did not ask for this room or this music. We were invited in. Therefore, because the dark surrounds us, let us turn our faces to the light. Let us endure hardship to be grateful for plenty. We have been given pain to be astounded by joy. We have been given life to deny death. We did not ask for this room or this music. But because we are here, let us dance.”