Interview with Dr. Maury Peiperl

What brings you to Korea? Have you been here before? 

One of the main reasons is that I've never been to Korea. I've been to many parts of Asia but not Korea. I'm really enjoying Songdo so far. It's fresh, clean, and spacious. This area is also very much growing, which is reflective of Mason. 

What do you consider the core strengths of Mason's School of Business and Mason as a whole? 

Our core strength is our very practical orientation. We are not so much about status or prestige as we are about high functioning connection across all kinds of boundaries. I think our job is to be a bridge. Something we're getting better at and an area I want to help more with is our being a "University for the World." You don't have to do a business degree to have a benefit from the school of business. You can take business courses, do a business minor, do business research connected with science, arts, engineering, policy, law and our job is to help those disciplines become more effective at making a difference in the world of practice. 

Do you have any plans to collaborate with Mason Korea? 

Mason Korea is the poster child for a global campus. This includes the fact that it is part of a wider campus of other universities that bring their own assets. I see Mason Korea as a role model for how we should connect. Especially in a time with so many conflicts between countries and governments, I think it's the role of business to be a bridge across cultures, countries, and areas in conflict. This is why I'm also glad we have the school of conflict analysis here. We also just launched the Business for a Better World Center last week and I think it will expand to Korea. They're doing programs in Colombia already. 

You majored in electrical engineering and computer science at Princeton. What made you switch gears to business? (Dr. Peiperl obtained an MBA followed by a Masters in Psychology and a PhD in Organizational Behavior)

I don't think of it as switching gears. If you asked me what I wanted to be when I was ten years old, I would've said I want to be a Renaissance man. I like doing lots of different things and making the connections between them. I always loved engineering and electronics, which is why I studied computer engineering for my first degree. I eventually chose to do an MBA because I always wanted to find out more about the business world. I think scientists and engineers who want to see their work make a bigger difference in the world have to understand how business works. After getting my MBA, I worked in strategic consulting and saw that companies have more human and organizational challenges than strategy challenges. This is why I went to do my PhD in Organizational Behavior. 

You mentioned in your talk earlier that you also did music. Was it professionally or as a hobby? 

Mostly a hobby. I really enjoy it. I play piano, keep one in my office. I've done a bit of conducting too. When I was at Harvard Business School, I was the conductor of the Harvard Business School Student Show and Music Director for two years. But I was also the publisher of the student newspaper. So it was a mix of activities.  

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast" is a common phrase. Going back to organizational behavior, how do you inspire people to have the analytical, productive, and results-driven orientation that helps drive strategy at an organization? What does the organization have to do and what do the people have to do? 

You can't. If a consultant offers to sell you a project to change your culture, run screaming in the opposite direction. You can evolve things little by little with actions, not by planning. You can't make a culture plan. So, how do you develop people with certain capabilities? I think you select the team that has that mix of capabilities. You can't expect the same thing from everyone, but you can expect everyone to believe in the mission and be willing to go the extra mile for the good of the organization and the customer. Customer is always first. And if the leadership team and other members set examples in their actions and the organization rewards and showcases those, that's how you evolve a culture. You do it by showing, not telling. Execution, not planning.