In this talk, I will share my research discoveries that shed light on how complex, contradictory, and challenging issues can be transformed into opportunities so that people and society can thrive. I will focus on my program of research on paradox mindset and career-motherhood enrichment. A paradox mindset emphasizes both/and thinking to help people recognize and embrace contradictions. To the extent that people feel comfortable and are even energized by tensions, they are more likely to recognize the enrichment potential in how pursuing one demand (e.g., work) can enable the pursuit of a seemingly opposing demand (e.g., motherhood). Seven studies recruited women from four countries (Singapore, Israel, the US, and the UK) who are at different stages of their life. Robust findings were observed across studies: When tensions are not extreme, women’s paradox mindset promotes their aspiration for or experience of career-motherhood enrichment and in turn, motivates their dual career-motherhood pursuits. Together, the research offers a novel understanding of how a paradox mindset can reframe personal and societal challenges to help individuals attain an enriching win-win situation.

Workplaces are becoming increasingly competitive, and interpersonal envy has become a salient phenomenon in this context. However, the implications of being envied in professional settings remain paradoxical. To reconcile these mixed findings, we present a dual-path model that empirically examines the nuanced dynamics of being envied and its effects on an individual’s public and private self-schemas. We also focus on the effects of being envied on creativity. On the one hand, being envied enhances an individual's private self-schema, as indicated by an elevated sense of psychological entitlement, thus leading to an enriched moral imagination. Concurrently, being envied prompts focal employees to perceive increased incivilities from colleagues—a manifestation of the envied individual’s public self-schema—ultimately impacting their sense of control appraisal. Two field studies conducted in China provide substantial support for our predictions. We also found that the ripple effects of being envied are influenced by the immediate supervisor's empowering leadership. Notably, being envied enhances moral imagination via increased psychological entitlement when employees work with a highly empowering leader. Overall, thus study introduces a conceptual model that contributes to a deeper understanding of interpersonal dynamics and provides practical guidelines for organizations that aim to foster positive workplace environments and to enhance creative outcomes among their employees.

With growing social activism and changing regulations, stakeholders are urging boards to better reflect their firms’ diverse customers. Given the pivotal role banks play in home ownership and wealth accumulation, we study the impact of African American directors on banks’ mortgage rejection rates of African American applicants. We document that banks that have at least one African American director are typically larger, have larger boards, a higher percentage of female directors, and more African American executives within the headquarter state - all compared to their counterparts without African American directors. Significantly, we find that banks with at least one African American director have lower rejection rates for African American mortgage applicants. We establish this relationship using three methods: 2SLS, two matching methods, and by examining the effects of appointing a new African American director to the board. We also find lower rejection rates for White and other racial minority mortgage applicants. In terms of potential mechanisms, we show that the vast majority of African American directors are in a position to influence the board by serving on key board committees. Finally, we find no evidence that having African American directors comes at a cost to the banks’ shareholders.