Michelle A. Barton, PhD is an Associate Professor of Practice in the Management & Organization Group at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, with expertise in organizational and team resilience, managing uncertainty, and interpersonal effectiveness during adversity.

Michelle’s research often draws from ‘extreme’ environments (e.g., wildland firefighting, expedition racing) to understand how groups make sense of ambiguous situations, how they coordinate, learn, and share knowledge in the midst of confusion and how they mitigate and recover from adversity. She is especially focused on the relational dynamics that enable these practices. Michelle’s work has appeared in both academic and practitioner journals and several edited volumes. She has presented her research in a wide range of professional venues from NASA to the Children’s Hospital Association and leads workshops on cultivating organizational and team resilience.

At the Carey Business School, Michelle teaches MBA and Executive Education courses on leadership and organizational behavior including topics such as leading in times of uncertainty, power and influence, and leading change. Before her academic career, Michelle spent ten years with Harvard Business Publishing, where she was a co-founder of their eLearning business and the global Product Director for Leadership and Management Development programs. While there, she helped produce over 20 interactive learning programs for managers. Prior to that, she was an Associate at the Boston Consulting Group. Michelle earned her PhD in management and organizations from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and a BA in psychology from Pomona College.

Favorite SFS Memories: So many special memories! Walking down the trail from the cabins in the early dawn, watching the mist rise over the forest and the little Silver-eyes puffed up in the cold like fluffy tennis balls in the branches.

Finding ways to make cheese, cucumber and tomato sandwiches somehow different after three months of the same lunch (cumin? vegemite?).

The dawn chorus like nowhere else in the world – a cacophony of cats, rifle shots, falling bombs. And most of all, the friends – many of whom are still in my life almost 35 years later. Together we swam in the waterfalls, grappled with giant rats, hacked through forest and loved each other from day one.