Ashley Hardin
“Ashley is one of Olin’s most thoughtful, dynamic, and engaging professors. She blends a dedicated focus on the student experience with tremendous charisma and pedagogical mastery to expertly deliver a course that significantly impacts every student with the good fortune of taking it with her.” Michael Roytburd, MBA 2024
Ashley Hardin joined Washington University as an assistant professor of organizational behavior in 2017. Before joining Olin, Ashley received her PhD from the University of Michigan, where she began her research career. Ashley’s research centers around personal knowledge (i.e., information about the nonwork lives of colleagues) within organizations, advancing our understanding of how individuals manage their work-life boundaries and the impact that has on interpersonal relationships within the workplace. Although her research agenda preceded the pandemic, its importance has been magnified with work-life boundaries becoming increasingly blurred due to the rise of working from home and the increased difficulty in cultivating close colleague connections due to greater social distancing. Her work has been cited in the New York Times DealBook, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and The WorkLife Podcast.
Ashley taught our undergraduate students core OB course in the classroom and our executive, total- and professional- MBA students Power and Politics. At the school, Ashley frequently draws upon her professional experience as a consultant at both Bain & Company and the Bridgespan Group.
“Prof Hardin’s class is one of the highlights of my Spring semester because of her engaging teaching style and because mastering how to wield power and navigate politics is an important life skill. I love how she uses a combination of relevant case studies and social psychology research to equip us with the right skills and mindset to use power and politics to advance our careers and uplift others. This is a tricky subject to teach, but Prof Hardin manages to drive home the point in an entertaining, enlightening, and energizing way.” Stacy Alcantara-Garcia, MBA 2025
Ashley spends time with her husband, John, baby Auggie (9 months), and dog Brisket when she isn’t doing research or teaching. She frequently walks/hikes around St Louis, pushes Auggie on a swing, does puzzles, or enjoys game nights with fellow Olin faculty.
