Coffee Chat Crumbs with Professor Loran Nordgren

By: Sammy Tartell, Staff Writer I’ll say it: pre-term is sacred. It bridges the gap between KWEST, a fever dream, and fall quarter (the beginning of the end). If you’re one of the lucky ones like me, you had Loran Nordgren as your professor for MORS 430 and, dare I say, got to experience one of the most beautifully executed classes of all time. Naturally, it would only make sense that I spotlight Professor Nordgren for The Kelloggian's first ever faculty feature.

Professor Loran Nordgren

In addition to being a Professor of Management and Organizations at Kellogg, Prof Nordgren is a lifetime behavioral scientist, joining the program after receiving his PhD in Experimental Psychology in 2008. His research has always been the foundation of his teachings, mainly exploring how our human nature can both propel and prevent necessary change from happening.

“Anyone who takes one of my classes has access to me for life.” This is Professor Nordgren’s promise to his students, offering himself as a resource long after class ends. Over his 17 years at Kellogg, thousands of students have taken him up on this offer, so I sat down with the professor to extract a few of the key themes of these chats to share with you.

1. Test > Predict

“There is no substitute for direct experience.”

We tend to overestimate our predictive capabilities, but even Kellogg students can’t see the future. If we spend less time thinking about what we’re passionate about and more time discovering our true differentiated strengths, we are much more likely to gain true knowledge. For Professor Nordgren, that just means taking every opportunity to test before leaping into decision making. So seize that shadowing opportunity, apply for that PE/VC lab, or even accept that internship keeping you up at night. It’ll work out.

2. Play to your strengths and the passion will follow

“Find the thing that is labor for others but for you feels like a deep obligation to be excellent. That thing that you’re excellent in is going to bring you purpose and meaning and recognition, and the thing you’re excellent in is the thing you will ultimately become passionate about.”

Professor Nordgren’s strongest piece of advice is to be crystal clear on what your strengths are and play to those strengths. He’s witnessed students struggle when they believe that they need to first find their passion and then find the right work. When you reverse the order and instead ask “what am I great at?”, you’re left with a much more tangible and approachable question. From there, you can back into your passion by asking yourself which industries and roles leverage your strength.

3. See people as your source of competitive advantage

“Take a moment to build relational value in the otherwise throw away moments. Connect, [and] share proactively, because most people do none of it. And or by the time they do, it's way too late. If you do it when you need something, it's done. Don't do it at all.”

Professor Nordgren encourages students to get excited about this. Not only is it an easily attainable differentiator, but its effects are compounded by the mere fact that no one does it. They’re too busy following convention to address the relational side of things. And the key is to move beyond generalities. Take a second to reach out to a former mentor or advocate and share the impact they had on you. Don’t put it on your to-do list: you should do it today. The moment your outreach is associated with a favor or request—what Professor Nordgren calls the “instrumental moment”—it loses all its value. It doesn’t appear genuine, even if it is. It appears transactional, and that’s where things go south.

4. Let people help you too

"Give first and give often. And give before you need anything in return. One trap I see is students not investing enough in relationships. But there’s another trap—one that relationship-focused people in particular fall into. They love helping others. But they won’t reach out for help.” 

It’s all too often where Professor Nordgren meets with students he could have helped if only he had known they needed his help. Taking can feel uncomfortable, especially when you’re so used to giving, but if you set up a relationship where you help others first, you owe it to yourself to make sure others know when they can help you too. Are you bringing it out into the world often? Are you making it easy for your network to help you? If yes, fantastic. If no, you’ve got some favors to cash in…  get to it!

Professor Nordgren and the Buckets: Last Day of Pre-Term