In the Loop: The HDO Blog
Every Transformation Is a Negotiation
Paige Vurpillat, MA, HDO Class of 2015 Early in my career, I believed digital transformation was mostly a technical problem. Choose the right platform, build a credible roadmap, secure the budget, and execute. Many initiatives later, I see it differently. Technology...
Simple, Not Easy: Why We’re Doubling Down on Human Intelligence
What if your next coffee break wasn’t just a complaint session, a replay of what went wrong, or another round of “can you believe this happened?”What if it became something more useful? A bold, gritty, real exchange you could actually act on today. That is the spirit...
Spotlight on Leadership: A Q&A with Dr. Mary Rose
Dr. Mary Rose, Director of the Human Dimensions of Organizations (HDO) program at The University of Texas at Austin, was recently spotlighted by the Law & Society Association (LSA) for her 32 years of membership, her work on various LSA committees, and her...
Not Only Boomers in the Building: Optimizing Multigenerational Workplaces
The Tragic Stakes of Leadership Transition Imagine an 80-year-old founding CEO with three heirs. Two are Millennials and one is Gen-Z. He created his organization as a passion project and now wishes to step into an advisory mode. One of the Millennial heirs is...
How do Lessons from Clausewitz’ On War Translate to the Workplace?
Exploring Leadership Through HDO Jeremi Suri, Betty Johnson, and Bex Vasquez bring a range of academic and professional perspectives to the study of leadership within the Human Dimensions of Organizations master’s program at The University of Texas at Austin. Suri, a...
Change, From the Inside Out: What My Capstone Taught Me About Putting People at the Center of Organizational Transformation
If you work in any organization for any period of time, you’ll experience change. A new leader. A reorganization. A system rollout. A return-to-office policy. A benefits change. Some changes land well and are implemented smoothly. Others feel chaotic, stressful, or...
Learning to Trust What I Was Already Sensing: How HDO Shaped My Work
Entering HDO: A Shift in How I Understood Change When I applied to the Human Dimensions of Organizations program, I did not believe I was leaving the world of organizations. At the time, my career had been rooted in working with companies, teams, and systems, and I...
From Capstone to Global Stage: How HDO Helped Me Turn Curiosity Into Thought Leadership
When I decided to apply to the Human Dimensions of Organizations (HDO) Master’s program at the University of Texas at Austin, I was not entirely sure what I was seeking. I had a gut feeling that work, as I had experienced it, could be better, but I lacked the...
How My HDO Degree Shows Up Every Day
How my HDO Degree Shapes my Work “When does your Human Dimensions of Organizations (HDO) degree apply to your work?” This is a question I sometimes get asked. My answer is simple: I use it every single day. My work lives at the intersection of strategy, culture, and...
The Cost of Looking at Art for Only 30 Seconds: Innovation
What if the secret to your next breakthrough idea isn’t in the data you’re collecting, but in the connections you’re missing? We’ve all been there: sprinting through a famous museum, eager to get to the next masterpiece. We snap a photo, give the painting a quick...