“I was born in Nashville, and I grew up watching my dad do business in Nashville. No matter where we went, we always ran into someone he knew and I would get to hear stories about what he did. I learned early that business is built around conversations.”
-Dr. Emily Lean
After spending time in the legal and insurance and securities industries, Emily went on to pursue her PhD in Management from the University of Arkansas with an emphasis in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management. In 2008, she co-founded Lean Management, bringing her expertise and vision to the company from its inception. She served as a professor of management at Union University for twelve years and has served as the Associate Dean at the Austin Peay State University College of Business since 2020.
As a tenured professor of management with over 15 years of experience in business, Dr. Lean offers both academic excellence and real-world expertise. She has published in A-ranked journals on topics such as ethical leadership, work-life balance, organizational commitment, DEAI, mission, and addressing sensitive issues like sexual harassment and intimate partner violence in the workplace. Dr. Lean has also presented her research at prestigious international conferences, including the Academy of Management and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She has spent nearly two decades equipping MBA students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. In addition to her academic achievements, she has partnered with leaders, trained employees, and developed continuing education programs for organizations ranging from local businesses to national nonprofits and international financial institutions. Most recently, Dr. Lean was invited to join the Societal Impact Advisory Board with Peregrine Global.
Emily and her husband, Jeff, have been married for over twenty years and founded Lean Management together. They are raising their two sons, Liam and Elliott, out in the country just north of Nashville where she grows all sorts of fruits and vegetables.
Dr. lean in the media
Nurturing workplace culture: Lessons in business from Nashville Soccer Club’s COO
Nashville Predators and APSU collab continues into the classroom
Tennessee Higher Education Commission Chairs of Excellence 2023 Annual Report
Nashville Business Journal Q&A: Austin Peay State University levels up with new MBA program
Nashville Business Journal Executive Insights: How an advanced degree can help you get ahead
Board of Trustees approves new APSU mission, vision and values during winter meeting
Organizational Behavior class presents to West TN Healthcare
Business professors publish 65 research articles in five-year span
dr. lean’s notable publications and presentations
Overcoming Faculty and Staff Woes, AACSB Associate Dean’s Meeting, Boston, MA. 2023
Why young employees don’t have the skills you’d expect, Better Business Bureau, 2022
Pull up Your Own Bootstraps: How PWE Influences Interpretations of Corporate Social Responsibility. Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, 2021
The dark side of work ethic: Is a healthy work-life balance the next global disruptive innovator? International Society of Business, Economics and Ethics World Congress, Bilbao, Spain. accepted but postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic. 2020
Symposia Leader for the Annual Conference of the International Society for MacIntyrean Inquiry at the University of Durham in Durham, England. Symposium topics were “Business Ethics” and “Ethics and Economics.” 2018
Transformational Teaching. International Association of Management, Spirituality, & Religion Conference, Fayetteville, Arkansas. 2017
Is there a common understanding of spiritual leader behaviors? Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Anaheim, California. 2016
How to express your Christian mission through online business courses: Fulfilling your Christian (and accreditation) duty. Society of Business Research International Conference, Orlando, Florida. 2015.
Disruptive Innovation, BBVA Compass New Associate Program, 2010
The Construct Development of Spiritual Leadership. Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Montreal, Canada-Quebec. 2010
Intimate partner violence among employed individuals: Do demographics really matter? Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Chicago, Illinois. 2009
Lightening the load or piling more on: The existence or absence of social support in the working lives of intimate partner violence victims. Annual Meeting of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, New York City, New York. 2007
Structuring Ethically Strong Organizational Work Teams: The Critical Role Leader Integrity Plays. Organizational Science Winter Conference. 2007
New directions in aggression research: Assessing the business costs of intimate partner violence. Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Honolulu, Hawaii. 2005