Academian - Prof. Gita V. Johar

Vice Dean For Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Meyer Feldberg Professor Of Business, Columbia Business School

I: Ma’am, how have the skills learned both inside and outside the classroom has translated in your professional life?

Ms. Johar: I would like to talk about a couple of things. One is sitting on the tyre or the jetty. I have memories of sitting there late at night and having endless debates with endless cups of teas. I remember when the tea was finished in the canteen, they would mix tea and coffee--just like they mixed daal and sambhar-- and we would still drink it. That was one of the things that kept us going, “our tea-coffee mix.” And then we indulged in deep philosophical talks, and sometimes less philosophical chatter. As I mentioned in my speech, I also met my husband, Hardeep, here in Joka. That was, and remains, memorable!

Interviewer: Let’s start with some Joka stories. Any memorable experiences you would like to recount during your stay.

GJ: As an academic now, I really reflect back on everything I learnt. Before coming to IIM, I went to college in Bombay and did a B.com where the system pushed you to cram everything at the end of the year to do well on the final exams. It was all about memorization and some luck. Here the system was really different. All the projects and the semester system opened up my mind and it kept me interested in learning. IIM Cal taught me to learn for learning’s sake. I also really enjoyed my summer internship where I got to apply many of the classroom learnings and also learned how to work with a team. I think I benefited from the environment here at IIMC immensely. It motivated me to get a PhD and has kept me curious to this day. I constantly try to learn new things in the arts and sciences, even if they are outside my own field of marketing and consumer behavior.

I: You have done commendable research in Consumer Psychology. Which aspect of it you think is very difficult to contemplate?

GJ: So my older daughter is studying Physics. She wants to get a Phd in Theoretical Physics. Her story is that marketing and psychology are soft sciences, but I let her get away with it. The reality is that soft science is the really hard science to contemplate. I think understanding human beings and human behavior is incredibly difficult, so we try to figure things out experimentally, building on prior research. So many impulses, so many things we do, are shaped not only by conscious desires but also by cues in the environment. It is really hard to be able to predict with any certainty what anyone will do at any point of time and even why people do what they do. So a lot of my research tries to figure why people do certain things. I am interested in how consumer’s identities affect their decisions, motivations and behaviors. One very topical research stream is focused on understanding why people share. This could be applied to sharing your possessions on Airbnb or sharing fake news. Two current research projects uncover the motivations for these behaviors. I am working with PhD students on both projects and working with young scholars is something that really motivates me!

I: Yes, you also worked on deceptive advertising before.

GJ: Yes. That was my PhD dissertation research but it’s also an ongoing fascination of mine. Why people hold false beliefs and how to correct for them. There is a big role for motivated reasoning, meaning you want to believe things that are consistent with your prior beliefs or how you see the world. So you access and interpret incoming. information in a way to hold or strengthen these prior beliefs. I’ve recently published a paper looking at why people don’t fact check news when it is ambiguous, meaning it is equally likely to be right or wrong on the surface. I find that people relax their guard in the mere presence of others, such as when they are on social media, and they are less likely to fact check in these situation.

I: Where do you think IIM Calcutta needs to improve as compares to other reputed B-schools in the world?

GJ: It’s great that IIM Calcutta got the recognition it deserved this year in terms of the rankings. One thing I would say is that faculty thought leadership is what sets top universities apart. Business schools and universities in India need to focus on faculty research and facilitating top notch scholarship. On the teaching front, experiential learning is really the way forward pedagogically. From a content standpoint, curricula need to evolve with the times. For example, at Columbia Business School, we constantly update our core and elective MBA curriculum. A current focus is on creating courses around data analytics for business. We are also creating interdisciplinary courses, working with other schools on campus, and teaching interdisciplinary teams of students. For example, I am co-teaching an Innovation using Design Thinking class with 50% MBA students and 50% Engineering students. It will be exciting to see the ideas and prototypes coming from this diverse group.

I: You have said that creativity is and acquired trait. What parameters do you think are most important in inculcating the same?

GJ: I think curiosity is a big component in cultivating creativity, as is openness to experience. I also talked during my speech about a growth mindset, the belief that your traits are not fixed but can grow over time. So, you have to believe that you can change your personality, whether it is intelligence or self-control or creativity, with practice. In fact, research shows that one can come up with creative outputs such as ads or products by following systematic rules and applying what you might call “templates.”

I: Marketing nowadays is related to an art of myth making. What are your views about it?

GJ: If you take it to political domain, I am sure that there is lot of myth making going on. (laughs). At its essence, marketing is about understanding consumer needs and delivering value. Branding is an important element of marketing and it is about creating awareness and associations. It’s about creating a narrative and the associations are about brand personality as much as about functional attributes. So in that sense, one could say marketing is myth making.

I: So coming back to Joka, what part did you like the most in Joka family?

GJ: When we left in 1985, there was no social media, so my batchmates were close during our time here but did not stay in touch as a family. Twenty years later we all came together on Whatsapp and the group is pretty active. It’s really amazing when we meet that the time flies by. Paradoxically for a marketing professor, I’m a very private person with a negligible social media presence, so I’m not very active on social channels. But there is something about two years you spend here that creates a bond for life. The family is batchmates but also the faculty, staff, and employees at IIMC that make it a memorable, and beautiful, place.

I: Any message you would like to leave for us?

GJ: IIM Cal is a special place. From my perspective, it was not very curated, it let me thrive and let me be entrepreneurial. I think all of us are lucky to be part of this IIM Cal family. As I said in my speech, we start with opportunity and the fact that you are in this “temple to learning” speaks to the tremendous opportunity you have been given. Now it’s time to release the three magic powers I talked about in my speech—the power of setting ambitious goals, the power of being and surrounding yourself with good people, and the power of a growth mindset. Good luck on your journey.

I: Thank you so much, Ma’am!