Teaching

My goals and approach as a teacher

Business leaders and entrepreneurs have the potential to make a positive impact in society. By providing them with the right tools, I believe that we, teachers, can contribute to making that difference. My goal for my students is to provide them with both theoretical and practical knowledge, deeply rooted in scientific evidence. I think that my experience as an academic, combined with my industry experience in both the private and public sectors serves me well for this purpose. Before pursuing a career in academia, I worked as a tax advisor in two of the top law firms in Spain for 5 years and as an economist for the World Bank and the Inter-American Development bank for 7 years.

As a teacher, I strive to instill a learning mindset in my students, making the classroom a safe space where they are encouraged to experiment, challenge their assumptions, and engage in discussions. I am an enthusiastic presenter, and an equally enthusiastic teacher. I listen carefully, and I strive to be inclusive and sensitive to the diverse array of experiences and circumstances they come from, and that may affect how they think, behave, and communicate.

Teaching experience

I have taught negotiations for two consecutive terms, as a sole instructor, to the weekend MBA students at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan (i.e., WMBA612 Bargain and Influence Skills). My approach for this class has been to provide students with tools to make them more effective and comfortable when negotiating. I use a practical approach, soundly based on evidence, building the class upon negotiation cases, through which I encourage the students to discuss and think. I deeply enjoy interacting with the students, making them engage strategically through the negotiation cases, and watching them learn and develop critical thinking.

Although this was my very first experience teaching in an academic setting, my competence, passion, and commitment to my students, showed in the teaching evaluations from both terms. I got a median overall rating of 4.8/5 in the Fall of 2022, my first time teaching, and a median overall rating of 4.9/5 in the Spring/Summer of 2023, my second time teaching. My students have described me as passionate, knowledgeable, engaging, and caring , and evaluated me as well prepared for the classes (4.9/5), clear at explaining materials (4.9/5), inclusive of a diverse array of perspectives (4.9.5), respectful (5/5) and fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion in the classroom (4.9/5). (Full evaluations are available upon request). I carefully prepare my classes, I love the discussions with the students, and I deeply enjoy sharing my academic knowledge and my insights from the industry with them.

Beyond academic teaching, I have ample experience mentoring junior colleagues and students. I trained junior staff while working at the corporate law firm Cuatrecasas, and I have been mentoring graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Michigan. I have been a mentor for the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, and trained graduate research assistants to conduct experiments in the lab. My passion for mentoring and teaching others shows in an array of domains. When I was living in Washington, D.C., I was a volunteer teacher of Spanish for the parish of St. Patrick’s, and while I was doing my Ph.D. in London, I founded a ballet society at the student accommodation where I lived, where in addition to other activities, I taught weekly ballet classes for absolute beginners.

Courses I am well suited to teach

With my academic background combining Organizational Behavior, Economics, and Public Policy, and my experience in the industry, I am suited to teach a range of courses, including Negotiations, Organizational Behavior, Managerial Decision-making, Behavioral Economics, DEI, Leadership &Team Dynamics (see below for a description). I would also welcome the opportunity to teach courses beyond this list. 

Negotiations

Thanks to my experience teaching negotiations for two consecutive terms to executive MBA students, with an excellent teaching record, I am well prepared to continue to teach this course using a variety of tools that included evidence-based negotiation frameworks and strategies, simulation cases, and the facilitation of engaging discussions.  

Organizational Behavior

Given my doctoral training in Organizational Behavior, I am well-suited to teach core courses focused on key organizational behavior topics, including leadership, team dynamics & social networks, power & status, motivation, job crafting, and diversity, equity and inclusion at the workplace.

Leadership and Team Dynamics

My doctoral training and research expertise, has prepared me well to teach leadership and team dynamics courses, covering a variety of topics such as organizational problems diagnosis, influence, effective decision-making, conflict management, and building and utilizing social capital. Thanks to my involvement with the Center for Positive Organizations during my postdoctoral position at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, I am also well prepared to teach leadership courses under the principles of positive organizing.

Evidence-Based Management/Managerial Decision-Making

This is a course I would be eager to develop and teach. For leaders and managers to make good decisions, it is paramount that they are critical of the information at their disposal, whether scientific literature, internal data, professional expertise, best practices, or simply their intuition. Although it may not always be possible or desirable for managers to base their decisions on scientific evidence, it is important for them to be very aware of the type of evidence they are relying on, and on its advantages and limitations.