Nicholas A. Pearce
Clinical Professor of Management & Organizations
Dr. Nicholas A. Pearce is a Chicago native and vocational multi-hyphenate committed to creating social impact at the intersection of the academy, the marketplace, and the church. An award-winning organizational behaviorist, trusted executive adviser, and respected faith leader, Dr. Pearce serves as a Clinical Professor of Management & Organizations at the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management and is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Vocati Group, a boutique global management consultancy. He is a celebrated TEDx speaker and the author of the bestselling book, The Purpose Path: A Guide to Pursuing Your Authentic Life’s Work.
Dr. Pearce is an acclaimed public scholar, keynote speaker, and management educator with expertise in purpose-driven leadership, organizational culture, negotiation strategy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Through his work at Northwestern-Kellogg and The Vocati Group, Dr. Pearce has been privileged to serve leaders in over 200 of the world’s most prolific corporations, social impact organizations, communities of faith, educational institutions, and government agencies. He and his work have been consistently featured in notable global media outlets including ABC News, BBC, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, CBS Evening News, Christianity Today, CNN, Crain’s Chicago Business, ESPN, Forbes, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, NBC News, New York Times, NPR, Univision, UrbanFaith.com, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.
Blessed with a shepherd’s heart and a scholar’s mind, Dr. Pearce is also an internationally sought-after Christian minister. A gifted communicator and thoughtful expositor of the Scriptures, Dr. Pearce is frequently called upon to minister across cultural, generational, and denominational boundaries. Through his global work as an evangelist, conference speaker, and leadership trainer, as well as his previous work as a staff pastor for Chicago’s Apostolic Church of God and Apostolic Faith Church, Dr. Pearce has been honored to serve and encourage tens of thousands of people.
Committed to community impact and service, Dr. Pearce serves as a trustee of the Chicago Children’s Museum, the Field Foundation, Fuller Theological Seminary, and McCormick Theological Seminary. Previously, he served on the boards of Access Community Health Network, Chicago Community Trust African American Legacy Fund, Harvey Fellows Program, and Seminary Co-Op Bookstores.
Celebrated for his leadership and scholarship, Dr. Pearce is a 2021 recipient of The Aspen Institute’s Ideas Worth Teaching Award and has been a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow since 2015. He has also been named Kellogg’s MSMS Professor of the Year, a Galbraith Scholar by Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, a Public Voices Fellow by The OpEd Project, a Harvey Fellow by the Mustard Seed Foundation, a Fitzhugh Fellow by the National Black MBA Association, one of Chicago’s 40 Game Changers (under 40) by WVON/Ariel Investments, and one of Today’s Joshuas by The Christian Outlook.
Dr. Pearce holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Management & Organizations from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and the S.B. in Chemical Engineering & Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a concentration in Religious Studies earned in conjunction with Harvard Divinity School.
Learn more about Dr. Pearce and his work at www.nicholaspearce.org and connect with him on social media @napphd.
- Leadership in organizationsMorality & values-driven leadershipBuilding healthy organizational culturesDiversity
- inclusion
- and belongingExecutive succession
- Leadership & change in organizationsPurpose for leaders & organizationsBuilding healthy organizational culturesDiversity
- inclusion
- and belongingExecutive successionMission-driven & religious organizationsLeading intergenerational organizationsNegotiation strategies
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M.A., Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary
Ph.D, Management & Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
M.S., Management & Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
S.B., Chemical Engineering and Management, Concentration in Religious Studies, School of Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology -
Clinical Professor of Management & Organizations, Management & Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2020-present
Clinical Associate Professor of Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2016-2020
Clinical Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2013-2016
Visiting Assistant Professor of Management & Organizations, Management & Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2012-2013 -
Associate Pastor, Apostolic Faith Church, 2023-present
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, The Vocati Group, 2017-present
Aon Hewitt Global Diversity and Inclusion Consulting Practice, 2012
Northwestern University Center for Leadership, 2011-2012
Research Associate, MIT Sloan School of Management, 2005-2007
Deloitte Consulting, LLP, 2004-2005 -
Arthur M. Brazier Award for Church & Community Advancement, The EZRA Project
Ideas Worth Teaching Award, Aspen Institute
Sidney J. Levy Award for Excellence in Teaching, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Kellogg Chairs' Core Course Teaching Award, Kellogg School of Management
Named one of Chicago's 40 Game Changers Under 40, Ariel Investments/WVON
Professor of the Year Award, Russell Fellows Program, Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management
Fellow, Leadership Greater Chicago
Chicago Black History Maker
Northwestern Public Voices Faculty Fellow, The OpEd Project
H. Naylor Fitzhugh PhD Fellowship Award, National Black MBA Association
Harvey Fellow, Mustard Seed Foundation
John Kenneth Galbraith Scholar, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
Advanced Marketing Management
For executives navigating an ever-changing marketing landscape, this program gives participants practical knowledge of marketing management tools and how to implement them into a successful strategy across multi-level teams.
Beyond Diversity
Individual. Interpersonal. Institutional. Intentionally designed to be in-person, this program empowers you as DEI Leaders to take proven concepts and translate them into bold actions, creating meaningful change for yourself, your employees, and your organization.
Driving Organizational Change
Use your own real-life challenges as a platform for putting the latest theories and tools for organizational change management into practice. Learn how to build business agility and organizational resilience — the cornerstones of driving ongoing change.
Leading for Impact within Family Enterprise
As an aspiring leader within family enterprise, you’ll discover how to establish your credibility and authority in the business community, among family shareholders, with the board and management team. As an established leader, you’ll explore the complexities of mentoring the next generation and of managing succession and letting-go. For all, the program can enable you to better manage the nuanced paradoxes that are characteristic of family business leadership.
Leading Into the Future
As the world of business changes at breakneck speed, executives must stay at the forefront of management thinking and practice. This program delivers a wealth of new knowledge and insights for managing change with confidence in the 21st century.
Leading Into the Future: Managing in a Changing World
As the world of business changes at breakneck speed, executives must stay at the forefront of management thinking and practice. This program delivers a wealth of new knowledge and insights for managing change with confidence in the in 21 st century.
Negotiation Strategies (MORSX-470-0)
Negotiation Strategies teaches the art and science of achieving objectives in interdependent relationships, both inside and outside the company. Students practice cross-cultural negotiation, dispute resolution, coalition formation and multiparty negotiations, extremely competitive negotiations, and negotiating via information technology.
Beyond Diversity: The Fundamentals of Inclusive Leadership (MORSX-462-0)
Today's global marketplace is more diverse than ever before - on multiple dimensions. Leaders need specific tools & techniques to effectively understand, lead, and leverage others in these increasingly complex, more diverse organizations and markets. This course blends theoretical and practical, evidence-based insights to provide you with proven strategies & frameworks to successfully harness the power of diversity in organizations and markets.
Negotiations Fundamentals (MORSM-472-5)
This course is designed to provide the fundamentals of negotiation strategy and to improve students' skills in all phases of negotiation. The course provides an understanding of prescriptive and descriptive negotiation theory as it applies to two party negotiations, team negotiations, resolution of disputes, agents and ethics, and management of integrative and distributive aspects of the negotiation process. The course is based on a series of simulated negotiations in a variety of contexts. Attendance at every class meeting is mandatory.
Beyond Diversity: The Fundamentals of Inclusive Leadership (MORS-462-5)
Modern leaders find themselves at a critical moment in human history in which our workplaces, marketplaces, and communities are rapidly becoming evermore diverse - on multiple dimensions. Though this reality is often met with fear, anxiety, and confusion, the fact remains that diversity is here to stay. Knowing why and how to harness the power of human difference to facilitate human flourishing is a critical competency for leaders. This five-week course introduces students to the challenges and opportunities of diversity and provides evidence-based insights and practical strategies for how to accelerate full inclusion & belonging as a pathway to sustainability and competitive advantage. By engaging students in intense discussion-based and experiential learning, this survey course equips students with fundamental insights and tools for successfully building and leading organizations that are diverse, equitable, inclusive, and just.
Leadership in Organizations (MORS-430-0)
This course provides students with the social science tools needed to solve organizational problems and influence the actions of individuals, groups and organizations. It prepares managers to understand how to best organize and motivate the human capital of the firm, manage social networks and alliances, and execute strategic change. This is accomplished through knowledge of competitive decision making, reward system design, team building, strategic negotiation, political dynamics, corporate culture and strategic organizational design.
