Joel Marc Podolny is an American sociologist. Formerly the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the

Yale School of Management The Yale School of Management (also known as Yale SOM) is the graduate business school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. The school awards the Master of Business Administration (MBA), MBA for Executiv ...

, he is currently an executive at

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

, where he is the dean of

Apple University Apple University is a training facility of Apple Inc., located in Cupertino, California. This corporate university was designed to instruct personnel employed by Apple in the various aspects of Apple's technology and corporate culture. History ...

(the in-house corporate training center for Apple employees) and a vice president of the firm. Previously, he was vice president for human resources.

Education

Podolny is a 1982 graduate of St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati. He earned his B.A. (''magna cum laude''), M.A. and PhD degrees from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

Career

Podolny was on the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business for 11 years, as senior associate dean during the latter part of his tenure. He was later a professor and director of research at Harvard Business School, where he taught courses in

business strategy In the field of management, strategic management involves the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by an organization's managers on behalf of stakeholders, based on consideration of resources and an assessmen ...

, organizational behavior and global management. He also taught that the HBS only invited to speak hugely successful alumni, not those who simply managed their work-life balance. Podolny arrived at the

in 2005. The next year, Podolny led a major restructuring of the Yale MBA curriculum in response to the increasingly complex and cross-functional global environment in which businesses and their executives operate. On November 1, 2008, Podolny stepped down as dean to be replaced by Sharon Oster and, in early 2009, assumed the position of senior vice president of human resources, and dean of

's new venture, Apple University. Subsequently, Podolny stepped down from this position but continues as dean of Apple University and as a vice president at the firm.Podolny leads an annual symposium on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an event he cites as his passion project. Podolny's lectures on the topic have been canonized as the standard for all MLK Studies.

Research

Podolny has developed a

sociological Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...

theory of

market competition In economics, competition is a scenario where different Economic agent, economic firmsThis article follows the general economic convention of referring to all actors as firms; examples in include individuals and brands or divisions within the sa ...

based on status dynamics. To do so, he has examined a variety of industries including

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...

, semiconductors, and investment banking. Podolny has also conducted research on the role of

social networks A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for a ...

in mobility and information transfer within organizations. He is the author of ''Status Signals: A Sociological Study of Market Competition'' and co-author (with Garth Saloner and Andrea Shepard) of the textbook ''Strategic Management''.

References

External links

Dean profile: Joel Podolny of Yale (Source: Financial Times)
Apple Inc. executives Yale School of Management faculty Yale University faculty American sociologists Harvard Business School faculty Harvard University alumni Stanford University Graduate School of Business faculty St. Xavier High School (Ohio) alumni Living people Scientists from Cincinnati Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-sociologist-stub