Research
I study what determines who rises to leadership—and the hidden costs of getting there.
The Leadership Potential–Sustainability Gap
The incentive systems that help identify high-potential talent may undermine the very qualities those leaders need to lead effectively. My research investigates this paradox from two sides—what predicts executive success, and what the path to success may quietly cost.
Executive Selection & Leadership Potential
As the inaugural Ph.D. Research Fellow at ghSMART, I've analyzed a subset of 30,000+ executive assessments across private equity and corporate contexts. This work identifies behavioral traits that consistently distinguish CEOs from other senior executives—and reveals that the same core profile predicts CEO selection across vastly different organizational environments.
The same traits predict CEO selection across PE and corporate contexts—challenging the assumption that different environments require fundamentally different leaders.
Solo Positioning & The Self-Sufficiency Trap
Competition makes people nearly twice as likely to stand alone—becoming the only operations lead on a leadership team, or the only engineer in a strategy group. I call this solo positioning: the strategic choice to become the sole representative of one's identity group in competitive settings.
Over a career, this positioning can create what I term a self-sufficiency trap: the independence that drives early success may come to conflict with the relational demands of senior leadership.
My research suggests that the employees most drawn to competition may also be most susceptible to its costs—building independence that serves them early but may limit relational leadership over time.
My dissertation examines solo positioning across nine preregistered studies (N = 8,614) and 477 executive career assessments. I find that competition roughly doubles the likelihood that people adopt solo positions—and that those who appraise competition as a challenge are most likely to do so. Over time, I find this positioning can compound into a self-sufficiency trap: the independence that enables early career success may need to be unlearned to lead effectively through others.
Competitive bonuses and promotions—relative to non-competitive reward structures—roughly double the likelihood that people adopt solo positions. This effect is driven by beliefs that being unique increases one's distinct value and reduces opportunities for upward social comparison. Importantly, competition promotes solo positioning even while heightening feelings of threat that otherwise discourage it, and this tendency is amplified under up-or-out incentives.
I then examine what happens when solo positioning is a structural condition rather than a strategic choice. Executives from first-generation and low-income (FGLI) backgrounds provide a natural case: in elite professional settings, they are often structurally solo. Drawing on 477 leadership assessments and 8 in-depth interviews, I find that FGLI executives face a sponsorship gap rather than a mentorship gap. In response, they substitute individual excellence for relational capital through interconnected compensatory strategies. These adaptations are associated with advancement to equivalent senior positions; however, sustained solo positioning is also associated with persistent guardedness, diminished belonging, and a self-sufficiency trap in which the self-reliance that enables upward mobility can ultimately undermine the relational demands of senior leadership.
Together, these findings clarify when and why people seek—or are compelled—to stand alone, how incentive systems shape that strategy, and the psychological, relational, and career tradeoffs that accumulate over time.
Publications
Hellauer, Samantha, Wang, Dina; Smith, Heidi, and Smith, Samantha N. From Corporate Leader to Private Equity CEO: What it Takes to Succeed. Harvard Business Review [July/August 2026 edition].
Smith, Samantha N., Pink, Sophia L., Kirgios, Erika L., Chang, Edward H., and Milkman, Katherine L. (2026). Which Group Should I Join? Competition Drives Group Selection Away from Like-Minded Others. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 122, 104841.
Haygood, Tamara M., Smith, Samantha N., and Sun, Jia. (2018). Memory Bias in Observer Performance Literature. Journal of Medical Imaging, 5(3), Article 031412.
Work in Progress
Smith, Samantha N., "Flying Solo: A Theory of Compensatory Career Strategies Among First-Generation and Low-Income Executives"
Preparing for submission to ASQSmith, Samantha N., "Challenge Accepted: How and Why Competition Alters Group Affiliation Preferences"
Preparing for submission to SPPSResearch Agenda
System-Level Interventions
System-Level Interventions
Redesigning promotion processes, bonus structures, and performance reviews to preserve belonging alongside differentiation—cohort-based advancement, team-based rewards, structured peer networks.
Individual Differences
Individual Differences
Measuring who is most vulnerable to solo positioning's costs and who develops resilience—examining social class background, identity centrality, and early career experiences.
Belonging-Preserving Practices
Belonging-Preserving Practices
Helping professionals maintain connections while standing out—sourcing sponsorship, identity-affirming feedback, and cross-identity collaboration structures.
My approach combines experimental and archival analyses to develop practical tools that guide talent reviews, succession planning, and leadership assessment.
Select Presentations & Interviews
Smith, Samantha N. (2026, April). Influence Without a Blueprint: Standing Out, Moving Up, and Belonging at Work. Invited fireside chat at Alliant Insurance Services, Inc., Virtual.
Smith, Samantha N. (2026, April). Democratizing Access to Opportunity: How to Move from Intention to Infrastructure. Invited speaker at Amono+Lead, United Nations, New York City, NY.
Brown, Ashley R. and Smith, Samantha N. (2026, March). Leading with Authenticity in Rooms that Matter. Invited presentation for ghSMART at Harvard Black Law Student Association Spring Conference 2026, Boston, MA.
Smith, Samantha N. (2026, March). Flying Solo: A Theory of Compensatory Strategies Among First-Generation and Low-Income Executives. Invited presentation at Relationships Across Differences (RADS), Fontainebleau, France.
Smith, Heidi, Hellauer, Samantha, Paul, Reshmi, and Smith, Samantha N. (2026, January). Products and Measures for Identifying High Potential Talent. Invited presentation at ghSMART Team-Wide Meeting, Virtual.
Smith, Samantha N. (2025, July). The Data-Driven Workforce: Transforming Human Capital into Competitive Advantage. Moderated conversation with Matthew Breitfelder at Apollo Global Management, New York City, NY.
Catoe, Jamel, +Blocker, Victor E., Smith, Samantha N., +Holmes IV, Oscar, Carter, James T., Johnson, Tiffany D., Ruggs, Enrica N., Gonzalez, Jorge A., Muzanenhamo, Penelope, Chico, Robert, Garcia, Alexandria L., De La Haye, DC, Reddick, Joanna, Rivera Piedra, Daniela, Simon, Angel, Thomas, Syreeta A., Turner, Sarah R. (2025, July). Expanding DEI Horizons: Broader Approaches to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Management Research. Co-organized PDW at AOM Annual Meeting, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Smith, Samantha N., Kirgios, Erika L., Chang, Edward H., and Milkman, Katherine L. (2022, November). Which Group Should I Join? Competition Drives Group Selection Away from Like-Minded Others. Oral presentation at SJDM Conference, San Diego, CA.
Smith, Samantha N., Kirgios, Erika L., Chang, Edward H., and Milkman, Katherine L. (2022, November). Which Group Should I Join? Oral presentation at Rising Scholars Conference at Chicago Booth, Virtual.
Smith, Samantha N., Kirgios, Erika L., Chang, Edward H., and Milkman, Katherine L. (2022, August). Which Group Should I Join? Organized presenter symposium and presented at AOM Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA.
Smith, Samantha N. (2021, October). In Conversation with Linda Hill, Ph.D. Rising Scholars Conference at Harvard Business School, Boston, MA.
+ Presented by co-author(s)