Chia-Jung Tsay

How can we attract—and retain—the talent we say we want in our organizations? According to Chia-Jung Tsay, a psychologist who specializes in judgement bias, it’s by understanding that we are not necessarily privy to our preferences. Recently named one of the best 40 professors under 40 by Poets & Quants, Tsay reveals that a lot of our decision-making is influenced by non-conscious beliefs, which in turn affects how we hire, invest, and negotiate. Her gripping, absorbing talks, lifts the veil to show us how we can overcome preconceived notions, make decisions based on real value, and develop mindfulness when it comes to building our organizations.

Chia-Jung Tsay is a tenured Associate Professor with the UCL School of Management and an Associate Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. She examines the psychology behind decision-making, especially when it comes to selecting (and evaluating) candidates. One of her streams of research revealed a counterintuitive result: that while we think we prefer those who work hard to achieve success (“strivers”), we actually prefer people with in-born abilities (“naturals”). “Challenging our broad, explicit admiration of hard work in American society, my research shows that people are subject to a hidden naturalness bias, a phenomenon I define as the premium people place on apparent natural ability and talent, as opposed to the same achievements obtained through striving and deliberate motivation,” explains Tsay. “My co-authors and I are continuing to investigate the implications of the naturalness bias for a range of issues, including racial and gender inequality, discrimination against vulnerable populations in need of healthcare, and education and learning outcomes.” As Tsay discusses in her fascinating talks, understanding our biases can help us when it comes to tasks like recruiting new employees. Her work provides the skills and knowledge to not only attract talent, but retain them once they’ve come onboard.

Tsay’s work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, The Economist, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Nature, Scientific American, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, WIRED, and on ABC, BBC, NPR, and many others. Tsay graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an A.B. in Psychology and an A.M. in History of Science from Harvard. As a classical pianist, Tsay has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the U.S. Embassy. She holds degrees from the Juilliard School and the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where she later served as faculty. Tsay received a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Psychology with a secondary Ph.D. field in Music from Harvard University, and has previously taught at Oxford, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.