Organizational Psychologist · Rotman School of Management · University of Toronto
How do people and organizations navigate competing motivations?
Be compassionate — or candid?
Rachel L. Ruttan is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. She studies compassion, shared experience, and what we say — and don't say — in emotionally charged conversations.
Rachel L. Ruttan, Rotman School of Management
Highlights
Research in the public conversation
Harvard Business Review
Are Your Job Postings Driving Away Creative Talent?
Why "genius" language backfires — evidence from 10,000 job postings. With G. Newman and G. Agarwal.
The New York Times
The Funny Thing About Adversity
Why having "been there" can make us harder on those still going through it.
Harvard Business Review
It's Harder to Empathize with People If You've Been in Their Shoes
Republished in the HBR Emotional Intelligence series (Empathy).
The Wall Street Journal
People Like Their Mentors to Be Cheerleaders. That May Be a Mistake
On choosing advisors for positivity over expertise.
NPR
Do We Have Less Sympathy for People Facing Things We've Overcome?
The compassion paradox of shared experience.
Rotman Insights Hub
The Hidden Risk of Staying Neutral
Why declining to take a side can cost as much as taking the wrong one.
The Happiness Lab
Hulking Out: Why You Change When You're Angry
In conversation with Dr. Laurie Santos on the Pushkin podcast.
Selected publications
Peer-reviewed research
Indifferent or impartial? Explaining moral evaluations of the neutral self versus the neutral other
The head, heart, and soul: Lay theories of decision conflict and the role of the true self
Relational attributions for one's own resilience predict compassion for others
Beliefs about linear social progress
Collective transcendence beliefs shape the sacredness of cultural objects
A matter of transition: Authenticity judgments and attracting employees to hybridized organizations
The (bounded) role of stated–lived values and authenticity in employee evaluations of organizations
Making utilitarian choices but giving deontological advice
Instrumental use erodes sacred values
The unexpected power of positivity: Beliefs versus decisions about advisor selection
Having "been there" doesn't mean I care: When prior experience reduces compassion for emotional distress
Speaking & teaching
Talks, workshops, and the classroom
Speaking
Rachel has appeared on popular podcasts like The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos and Attribution on PBS, and has given keynotes and invited lectures at top universities around the world.
Rachel gives talks and workshops on the science of compassion, conversation, and values to all types of audiences. Her data suggests that our ability to navigate emotionally charged social situations can be improved, and she loves to help organizations build more humane and socially connected workplaces.
Teaching
Organizational Behaviour, Negotiations, and Leading Diverse Teams at the undergraduate, MBA, and executive levels.
- Rotman Excellence in Teaching Award · 2019, 2020, 2021
- Poets & Quants, 50 Best Undergraduate Business Professors · 2023
- Consistent instructor ratings of 4.8+/5 · across courses
About
Rachel L. Ruttan
I study the psychology of competing motivations — how people and organizations navigate tensions between compassion and candor, profit and purpose, conviction and neutrality, and how observers evaluate those who face them.
I'm fascinated by the many situations in which our intuitions feel right in the moment, but backfire: reaching for a silver lining when sympathizing, staying neutral to keep the peace, and making the business case for good causes. My work is multi-method, involving lab and field experiments, archival data, and machine-learning approaches to large conversational datasets.
I hold a PhD in Management & Organizations from the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University), an MS in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, and a BAH in Psychology from Queen's University.
Contact
For research collaborations, speaking engagements, media inquiries, or prospective doctoral students — I'd like to hear from you.
Email Rachel