Associate Professor Andrea Masini of HEC Paris

Andrea Masini

Age: 51

Associate Professor of Information Systems and Operations Mananagement

How long at HEC Paris: 13 years

Education: PhD Management – MSc Mechanical Engineering

List of EMBA courses you currently teach: i) Operations Management (core)  – ii) Renewable energies (specialization)

LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when…. I understood through my work I could have a real impact.  As a researcher, I can contribute to developing new ideas and pushing the frontiers of knowledge, while as a teacher I can share knowledge with highly talented and passionate students who will become our future leaders. Researching and teaching in a business school implies I can be closer to practice and see the impact of my work on organizations.

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it?

My current interests include sustainable operations and renewable energies. I am not sure I would call that a discovery, but my co-authors and I are trying to shed some light on the factors that accelerate or hamper the diffusion of environmental technologies and hopefully help develop a more sustainable world.    

If I weren’t a business school professor… I would be a mountain climber. I love outdoor adventure.

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? Maybe you should ask my students. I believe it is my passion for teaching and the fact that I encourage students to share their expertise and knowledge with one another. In my classes, I just provide a canvas and sketch a black-and-white drawing. It is my students who add colors and make the course exciting.

One word that describes my first time teaching: I need at least two words: excitement and fear.

Professor I most admire and why: Too many to cite just one. 

TEACHING

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? Perhaps the fact that they force you to travel the extra mile. They never take anything for granted and they force you to always consider the ‘so-what’ part of what you’re teaching.  

What is most challenging? The same elements that make the experience exciting. The fact that they do not accept simple or purely theoretical answers and force faculty to consider how what they teach is or could be applied to ‘in the real world’.

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: curious, engaged, willing to share what he/she knows with his/her colleagues. And with some sense of humour

LIFE OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? I love outdoor sports: climbing, mountaineering, and cycling. Traveling in the wilderness 

How will you spend your summer? I still have to decide. I am a pathological last-minute person

Favorite place(s) to vacation: The Alps

Favorite book(s): Uh, difficult choice. Maybe “The zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance”. And old classic “on the road” book, that includes some interesting reflections on quality (I am an ops management professor afterward). 

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? Didn’t have much time to go to the cinema recently.

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? I love rock bands and great guitar players from the late sixties and seventies and jazz (when I need to relax and concentrate).

REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… 

They should encourage cross-disciplinarity and enrich their curricula with courses and ideas from other disciplines. The recent attention to AI is just an example of how the boundaries between business and science are becoming blurred. They should also emphasize even more the importance of ethics. Business school graduates often end up in roles with a real impact. It is essential to prepare them for such responsibilities and remind them they must do well by doing good. We should also work harder on equal opportunities and facilitate access to education for students from underprivileged backgrounds.    

In my opinion, companies, and organizations today need to do a better job at…  

Balance short-term and long-term goals. 

I’m grateful for… the opportunity I had in my career to meet exceptional people, either as colleagues or students. You grow as a person when you are surrounded by people who are better than you and set the bar very high, in whatever they do.