Constance Hadley

Constance Noonan Hadley is an organizational psychologist and the founder and chief scientist of the Institute for Life at Work. Her research addresses work relationships, team effectiveness, psychological safety and employee well-being. She is also a fellow at Boston University’s Institute for Leadership & Work and a former faculty member of its Questrom School of Business.

With Leslie A. Perlow and Eunice Eun, Hadley coauthored the 2017 Harvard Business Review article “Stop the Meeting Madness.” Drawing in part on interviews with executives, the authors argued that meeting overload cannot be solved solely by making individual meetings run more smoothly. Teams also need to examine how meetings collectively consume time and constrain meaningful work.

That distinction matters when leaders introduce new operating routines. A recurring meeting may improve coordination, but it also claims attention. Hadley’s work invites leaders to consider both the relationships a routine supports and the time it takes away from other work.