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Caleb Phillips

PhD candidate in Organisational Behaviour
Department of Management

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About

About

Caleb studies how leaders and organisations unlock performance, innovation, and wellbeing, with particular attention to populations more vulnerable to harm.

A PhD candidate in Organisational Behaviour at the London School of Economics, his research explores two distinct but overlapping streams: how leaders shape the wellbeing, creativity, and behaviour of those they lead; and the experiences of employees whose differences are concealable rather than visible, such as neurodivergent people and those living with mental illness. Studying leadership through these lenses (e.g., neurodiversity, mental illness, narcissism) exposes patterns that majority perspectives often leave hidden. In turn, these two streams coalesce in his dissertation, which explores leader and employee cognitive differences, the mechanisms through which their ways of working and thinking align or harmonize, and the performance and wellbeing outcomes that follow when they do. It is through understanding these underlying mechanisms that we can find solutions that better recognize and account for the complex and challenging relational realities of work.

His research is motivated in large part by his time in industry: for nearly a decade before his doctorate, he built systems companies used to analyse and predict employee performance – building and leading a people analytics function at a US unicorn start-up and running global talent acquisition analytics at Snap Inc. in London. In building those systems, he saw meaningful differences in how people experience work, who is enabled to thrive and who is left behind, and how directly leadership shapes those divides. That is what drew him back to academia: to develop and contribute to theories that explain these phenomena in practice and, in turn, to design better interventions. It also shapes how he conducts his research: Caleb uses a variety of quantitative (e.g., field studies, experience sampling, and laboratory experiments) and qualitative methods, and has developed research collaborations with organisations, not only to ground his research in real workplaces, but so the findings can directly return to and inform practice.

Beyond his research, Caleb cares deeply about teaching and service. Prior to joining LSE, Caleb served as adjunct faculty for an MBA programme in the United States. During his time at the LSE, his teaching in the classroom was recognised with the Department of Management’s Highly Commended Class Teacher Award in both 2025 and 2026. He is also an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, reflecting his commitment to evidence-based and inclusive teaching. Beyond the classroom, he serves on the Executive Committee of the Academy of Management’s Managerial and Organizational Cognition division. In London, he has contributed to the intellectual life of the community by planning and leading the OB Research Day and convening LSE’s OB/HR Paper Club – venues where colleagues are able to test early ideas and receive critical constructive feedback to advance their work.

Caleb’s scholarship has been recognised with the Lim Kim San Fellowship at Singapore Management University and the Rechter Fellowship in Positive Leadership at the University of Louisville, and his research has been featured in Inc., the Financial Times, LSE Business Review, and more.

Publications

  • Dobrow, S., Phillips, C., & Rosado-Solomon, E. H. (2025) The nature of narcissism: a review and expansion of research on narcissism in the workplace. In: Rosado-Solomon, Emily H., (ed.) Mental Health Challenges and Work: Advanced Topics and Future Research Directions. Routledge Studies in Management, Organizations and Society. Routledge, New York, NY, 25 - 42. ISBN 9781032789200
  • Ji, Y., Huang, Q., Liu, H., & Phillips, C. (2021). Weight Bias 2.0: The Effect of Perceived Weight Change on Performance Evaluation and the Moderating Role of Anti-Fat Bias. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 679802. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.679802.

Manuscripts under review

  • Steed, L., Dust, S., Phillips, C., & Liu, H. Helping You Helps Me: The Impact of Helping on Recovery through Need Fulfillment. 3rd R&R: Journal of Vocational Behavior
  • Phillips, C., Alaaldin, T., & Stillwell, E. Superpower of Kryptonite? Exploring Neurodiversity Narratives and their Implications for the Self and Others at Work. 1st R&R: Academy of Management Discoveries
  • Phillips, C., Ji, Y., Guo, H., Liu, H., Liu, S. When Emotions (Mis)Lead: How Leader Narcissism and Emotional Displays Impact Team Creativity. 1st R&R: Journal of Organizational Behavior

Manuscripts in preparation

  • Rosado-Solomon, E. H., Dobrow, S., Phillips, C., & Thatcher, S. M. B. Mental illness and job design.
  • Phillips, C. Leadership and cognitive differences. (Nominee: Academy of Management 2026 Phillips and Nadkarni Award for Outstanding Paper on Diversity and Cognition, MOC Division)
  • Janardhanan, N., Phillips, C., & Nandkeolyar, A. Leadership and innovation in teams.
  • Phillips, C., Alaaldin, T., & Stillwell, E. Leader curiosity and employee wellbeing.
  • Alaaldin, T., Phillips, C., Stillwell, E., & Thomassen, A. Supervisor social support.

Impact articles

Expertise

Leaders, well-being, emotions, data, analytics, narcissism