Samuel Bacharach
Samuel B. Bacharach is the Emeritus McKelvey-Grant Professor of Labor-Management Relations and the Director of the Smithers Institute at the ILR School. He is the author or editor of over 100 academic articles and more than 20 books.
As director of Smithers, Bacharach has been the principal investigator on numerous research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and other organizations. Over the last twenty-five years, he has led research that focused on how the work context and periods of transition impact emotional wellbeing across different jobs and occupations. As the director of the Smithers Institute, he successfully developed inter-university collaborations that have been instrumental in enhancing the grant-getting capacity of the Smithers Institute. Among the books published stemming from the research of the Smithers Institute include Member Assistance Programs in the Workplace (Cornell Press/ILR Press, 2021); Member Assistance Programs in the Workplace (with Peter Bamberger and William Sonnenstuhl; Cornell Press/ILR Press, 1994); and Retirement and Hidden Epidemic (with Peter Bamberger; Oxford University Press, 2014).
Bacharach always had an interest in the practical, behavioral skills of leadership, specifically, around the theme of moving ideas through structurally complex organizations. His popular books in this area include: The Agenda Mover: When Your Good Idea Is Not Enough (Cornell University Press, 2016) and Transforming the Clunky Organization: Pragmatic Leadership Skills for Breaking Inertia (Cornell University Press, 2018). Previously, he published Get Them on Your Side: Win Support, Convert Skeptics, Get Results (Adams Media, 2004) and Keep Them on Your Side: Leading and Managing for Momentum (Adams Media, 2006). He has also authored 150 columns for Inc.com related to leadership challenges in complex settings.
In the context of his concern with the practical behavioral skills of leadership, Bacharach, an early collaborator of eCornell, and over the years, has authored a number eCornell courses on leading for creativity and innovation, leading for change, the leader as negotiator, and leading through coaching and engagement. These eCornell courses have been used by hundreds of organizations.
In recent years, with his colleagues at the Bacharach Leadership Group, he has trained high-potential leaders in private and public organizations, including many universities.
Using the leadership model that Bacharach developed with his colleagues, which emphasizes the discovery of new ideas and moving those ideas through complex organizations and with its unique behavioral approach, the program has been implemented to train Cornell’s high potentials. To date, Bacharach and his colleagues have trained over 300 high-potential leaders at Cornell, many of whom have assumed greater roles at the University. In recognition of his contributions, in 2019, the program was renamed The Samuel Bacharach Leading Cornell Program.