Welcome back to our Professor Profiles! In this series, we spotlight two standout professors from each of the M7 business schools, exploring their research, careers, and the ideas that define their work.
In this article, we’re taking a look at two professors from Stanford GSB: Jennifer Aaker and Brian Lowery.
Jennifer Aaker 
Jennifer Aaker is the General Atlantic Professor at Stanford GSB. She is a behavioral scientist, and a pioneering one at that, focusing on meaning, connection, perception, happiness, and storytelling.
At Stanford, Jennifer teaches classes such as “Humor: Serious Business,” “Sustainable Human Behavior,” “Designing for AI to Cultivate Human Well-Being,” “Rethinking Purpose,” “Power of Story” and “New Type of Leader.”
She has a PhD in Marketing and a PhD Minor in Psychology from GSB, and a Psychology BA from Berkeley. She has served as General Atlantic Chair since 2005, has been General Atlantic Professor at Stanford GSB since the same year, and has previously served as Xerox Distinguished Professor and Thomas W. Tusher Professor at Berkeley Haas. She has been awarded the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award, the MBA Professor of the Year Award, and the Paul D. Converse Award. Her research has been featured in The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and Science. Her books, which are award-winning bestsellers, include Humor, Seriously, and The Dragonfly Effect.
Jennifer’s work balances technology and humanity, “designing an AI-powered future that fuels human flourishing.” Her research empowers leaders to increase human well-being through their leadership and business.
You can watch her TED talk, an exploration of why and how leaders should take humor seriously, here.
Jennifer Aaker can be found on the following social platforms:
Jennifer’s trailblazing nature extends beyond the professional. In her home life, she has adopted a sort of “family sabbatical” model, whereby she moves her family to the far corners of the world — with the aim of cultivating global citizenship.
Brian Lowery 
Brian Lowery is The Walter Kenneth Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford GSB. He holds a doctorate in social psychology from UCLA, and an MA from the same. He joined Stanford’s faculty in 2002 and studies the nature of human relationships: who people are, who they can become, and how they find meaning in their lives. Brian is the co-director of The Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies, an institute with the mission “produce cutting-edge research and solutions to realize racial justice.”
Brian’s research explores these human relationships from two angles. The first considers perspectives of inequality, and how these shape attitudes; the second examines the result of a society where personalities are collaboratively created, where “others shape our selves and we shape theirs.” Once again, this exploration — traversing social identities such as gender and racial identities — comes down to the ways in which we find meaning in our lives. Brian’s research has been published in various major scholarly journals, and resulted in a book, “Selfless.”
His Stanford GSB-based initiative, Leadership for Society, supports and considers leadership within a diverse society.
Brian’s expertise on behavior and social psychology extend into the classroom. His teaching style results in experiential, self-reflective classes that prompt students to analyze their own behavior and actions.
Brian Lowery can be found on LinkedIn and X, and you can access his “Know What You See” podcast here.
If you’re on the hunt for a fun fact about Brian Lowery, you won’t have to search for long. As a professor dedicated to constructing an interesting life, his time outside of research is filled with quirky hobbies — shoemaking, for example, or motorcycle riding.
