As part of my series about “the five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap” I had the pleasure of interviewing Jacqueline Coyle-Shapiro.

Jacqueline Coyle-Shapiro is a member of the Innovation Co-Creation Lab and the Radical Innovation,Team Processes and Leadership project. Prior to joining LSE, she was a Lecturer at the School of Management, University of Oxford.

Professor Coyle-Shapiro has published in such journals as the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior and the Journal of Vocational Behavior. She is currently Senior Editor at the Journal of Organizational Behavior and was previously a Consulting Editor for Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. She is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Journal of Management and the Journal of Managerial Psychology.

Professor Coyle-Shapiro’s most recent book The Employee-Organization Relationship (Applications for the 21st Century) was published in 2012 by Routledge.

Dr Jacqueline Coyle-Shapiro has been elected as President of the Academy of Management (AOM). Professor Coyle-Shapiro will begin her five year term on 10 August 2016 as Vice President-Elect and Program Chair-Elect. In 2019, she will become the 75th President of the Academy, the first time in the history of the AOM that a UK-based academic has been elected to the role.

I quickly realized everyone, even the so-called industry leaders, start their careers from humble beginnings. I learned this shortly after joining the Academy of Management (AOM) in 1998, which is one of the world’s largest professional associations for scholars of management and organizations with over 20,000 academic scholar members who collectively publish research. The research informs important business, workplace and organizational topics that help the world’s organizations operate smarter, more equitably and more productively. Over 22 years later, I currently serve as President of the association.

Joining AOM in 1998, I’ll never forget how senior scholar members who were big names in their fields were humble, nice human beings. In the late 1990s, I presented a paper at an AOM conference and before I presented my paper, the prior presenter made a comment to the audience and said “Denise, I would be interested to hear your views.” I thought, “no, it couldn’t be, no way would she be attending my small presentation.” And so, I eliminated that possibility, calmed my nerves and delivered that presentation.

After the presentation, there was a tap on my shoulder.

Professor Denise Rousseau, the current Heinz III Chair in Organizational Behavior and Public Policy of Heinz College and Tepper School of Business at the Carnegie Mellon University, surprisingly sat through my session. She very kindly made positive comments. That innocent encounter reinforced how humility and thoughtfulness are core attributes for all to endear, even those who may have reached the top of a profession. One never knows the impact a small gesture can have on another’s life or career.

From that point onward, I discovered that these big name scholars or industry leaders in academia were human too, and were nice, helpful, cooperative and genuine people interested in pushing and advancing knowledge forward. I strived to emulate that disposition moving forward. Being nice pays off. I promise.