Peter Harms has spent his career studying what drives people, especially in complex, high-stakes environments. Now, that work has earned the Culverhouse College of Business professor one of the University of Alabama’s highest honors, the Distinguished Research Professor designation.
Bestowed by the UA Board of Trustees, the designation recognizes faculty whose scholarship has brought distinction to the University through their sustained excellence in their discipline.
For Harms, the honor is less about one big achievement. “It is about sustained, big picture impact,” he said. “It’s not for a single paper or something like that, more about the entire body of work. It’s a nice acknowledgment of prior efforts. The work I’ve done has received plenty of honors and accolades external to the university… but I’m grateful to have my work recognized by the people I work with on a day-to-day basis as well.”
That “prior effort” covers a lot of ground. His research focuses on leadership, personality, and resilience, often in settings where the stakes are especially high. Over the years, he has worked with organizations such as the U.S. Army and NASA, studying everything from leadership in combat zones to mental health on deep space missions.
At the core of it all is a simple goal. “I try to do research that matters, research that has an impact,” he said. “At the end of your career… who really cares if you got a whole bunch of publications? I want to be able to say that the work I did made a difference in people’s lives.”
That mindset shows up in his current work. One of his biggest ongoing projects is a study tracking 6,500 small business owners displaced by the war in Ukraine. “It’s probably the first longitudinal study of people in a war zone where they’re still there in the combat area and facing mortal risks,” he said. The project aims to better understand how people rebuild their lives while enduring, and surviving, extraordinary hardship over time.
Harms is also working on a leadership textbook set to come out in 2027 and a new popular press book about how CEO derailment. He’s also helping launch a CEO research center in Montréal, recently supported by a $3 million gift.
With all his projects, Harms keeps coming back to the same idea of making a difference. His work has also tackled tough topics like suicide prevention, substance abuse, and sexual harassment, issues he sees as difficult but deeply consequential. “If we can prevent those things, that’s far more meaningful than a handful of citations,” he said. “I can’t say that the work I do has always been enjoyable. Much of it tends to be about understanding the worst parts of human nature and behavior. It can really wear on the soul. But looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.”