Bullish on Uncertainty

Alexandra Michel is assistant professor in the Department of Management and Organization at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. Before receiving a Ph.D. from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania and beginning her academic career, she worked as an investment banker in Goldman Sachs' mergers and acquisitions department, and she worked under Goldman's Chief of Staff, helping the firm implement a new approach to executive education, with topics that included leadership, banker development, and building client relationships. Her interdisciplinary publication record includes such journals as Administrative Science Quarterly, Theory and Psychology, and Learning Inquiry. Stanton Wortham is the Judy and Howard Berkowitz Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Learning Identity (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

• Foreword Kenneth J. Gergen; 1. Bullish on uncertainty; Part I. Work Practices: 2. Practices that reduced cognitive uncertainty at Individual Bank; 3. Practices that amplified cognitive uncertainty at Organization Bank; Part II. Psychological Transformation: 4. Recruiting; 5. Individual-centered transformation; 6. Organization-centered transformation; 7. An alternative approach to organizational and psychological transformation.

"Investment bankers and investment banks have long shrouded what they do under a veil of mystery that has made serious study of the people and institutions difficult if not impossible. This is unfortunate given their deep importance both to our culture and our economy. Bullish on Uncertainty makes a significant contribution to our understanding of what drives the success of the best of these organizations." --Jonathan A. Knee, Senior Managing Director, Evercore Partners