Associate Professor of Management & Organizations, University of Michigan
Justin Berg is an award-winning researcher and teacher on the science of creativity and innovation. He holds a PhD in management and organizational behavior from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. After spending a decade on the faculty at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, he realized his longtime dream of returning to the University of Michigan – his undergraduate alma mater – as a tenured professor at the Ross School of Business. His groundbreaking research reveals how we can identify our own and others’ most promising ideas, and what differentiates “one-hit wonders” who struggle to repeat their initial success from “hitmakers” who are able to consistently produce successful innovations.
Justin has studied and consulted for a wide range of organizations and industries, uncovering how to unleash originality in Hollywood films, songs, and circus acts, as well as in Fortune 50 technology companies and manufacturing firms. He has been invited to discuss his pioneering work on top podcasts, including Hidden Brain and Freakonomics, and his insights have been featured in BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and Harvard Business Review. Prior to graduate school, Justin was an R&D Consultant for the Center for Positive Organizations at Michigan Ross. During this time, he led the invention of the Job Crafting™ Exercise (along with Jane Dutton and Amy Wrzesniewski), which is a tool that helps people creatively redesign their jobs to be more engaging and fulfilling.
