First Mays Lifetime Achievement Award given to Mike Hitt

Mays Business School’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for Research and Scholarship was awarded to Michael A. Hitt, a University Distinguished and Joe B. Foster ’56 Chair in Business Leadership.

During the recognition program for Hitt, Mays Dean Jerry Strawser said, “We are starting a new tradition in a place that’s full of traditions. We wanted to bring in pioneers and thought leaders in the field.”

Hitt entered the management field 40 years ago, and he spoke on the day of his award about the numerous changes in the field over time. “A lot of the work we do is important on even a broader scale,” he said, adding that the study of management is now global.

Data for research is much more available now than it used to be, but he said basic scientific research is still the basis of all reputable research.

Hitt said the important questions of academia are: What is the impact of your work? And how do you measure it? Strawser said Hitt’s research findings “direct the work of other scholars and the course of future study in the academic profession.” In addition, he said, Hitt “studies relevant issues that affect the business world and impact economic development.”

When Hitt’s impact on audiences – both within his field and outside of academia – is measured by any scale, it always ranks highly. An article in the Academy of Management Perspectives named him as one of the 10 most-cited authors in management over a 25-year period. The Times Higher Education in 2010 listed him among the top scholars in economics, finance and management, and he was first among management scholars (tied), with the largest number of highly cited articles.

Hitt targeted the younger audience members when he spoke to a group of colleagues and students at the award program, offering this checklist of advice:

• Whatever you do, do it well.
• Think long-term.
• Do work for which you have a passion.
• You’re going to have pressure to do it all well.
• There are no short cuts.

About Mays Business School

Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School educates more than 5,000 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students in accounting, finance, management, management information systems, marketing and supply chain management. Mays consistently ranks among the top public business schools in the country for its undergraduate and MBA programs, and for faculty research. The mission of Mays Business School is creating knowledge and developing ethical leaders for a global society.