Steven Zhou

Leadership | Psychometrics | Education

Op-Eds & Public Writing

I believe in the importance of public-facing writing to help communicate our science to a broader audience. Below is a selection of op-eds and popular press works that I have published. Interested in writing op-eds as an academic? Click here for an ongoing compilation of resources that I’ve found useful!

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Chiefs of staff play an overlooked role in strategic leadership
London School of Economics Business Review (August 12, 2024)

We commonly hear of chiefs of staff in military and government contexts, but rarely as part of corporations. There’s no comprehensive investigation of what corporate Chiefs of Staff do and who they are — until now. In this feature post based on our peer-reviewed journal article, we argue that even though chiefs of staff are not usually considered members of the top management team, they hold sway over the company’s chief executive, exercising strategic leadership influence far beyond what might be expected from a behind-the-scenes position.

Three Roadblocks in Academia That Limit Science Communication
Heterodox: The Blog (August 11, 2022)

Academia needs to bridge the gap between scientific research and the people it is meant to help. However, science communication is limited by the academic infrastructure — that is, the structures, systems, and incentives that scholars and faculty work within…

Pursuing A Research PhD Is Like Launching Your Own Start-Up Business
PhD Stories with ThePhDPlace (June 6, 2022)

I worked in a start-up business before beginning my PhD in a research-intensive psychology program, and I have found there are overlapping skills and mindsets between being successful in a PhD and in launching a start-up. I share these in the hope that they help other students find their own “success”, whatever that may look like, and perhaps prepare future students for some of the unexpected challenges they may face when starting a PhD.

The Academic Bait-And-Switch: Do Professors Make Good Administrators?
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal (February 25, 2022)

Academics sometimes have a bit of an unfortunate reputation of being big picture thinkers, with our heads in the clouds (or ivory tower) and disconnected from the realities of everyday life… Why, then, do we expect people who excel at being an academic to turn around later in their careers and lead the “business” side of the institution?

Failure Isn’t Really Failure: What Academia Can Learn From Start-Up Culture
Heterodox: The Blog (November 16, 2021)

I’d like to propose one way academia can address the barrier of publishing incentives found in the academic system. Drawing from my experience working in a start-up, I believe that we in academia — from graduate students to early career scholars, to late-career tenured faculty — can learn to adopt a start-up and entrepreneurial culture and attitude toward research…

3 Warning Signs to Consider Before Using a Personality Test
Fast Company (June 7, 2021)

It seems like we bring up personality at work all the time… Sadly, what most people don’t realize is that the science of personality is incredibly complex and faces ongoing debate, even in the academic literature. Even worse, the vast majority of the personality tests used in business settings are flawed and lack scientific evidence.

From 2020-2021, I was a staff writer for the George Mason University newspaper: the Fourth Estate. You can find my collection of op-eds here.