Member Spotlight: Nikita Mikhailov

Name
Nikita Mikhailov

Position/Employer
Cofounder and Director of Goodness of Psychology Ltd., Cofounder of PsyPub community

How long have you been a SIOP member?
3 years

What roles have you had within SIOP?
Did stand-up comedy show in Seattle, thank you everyone who attended and made it so memorable. Was very lucky to co-organize with Destinee Prete the first ever SIOP Annual Conference talent show in Chicago! Thank you to all the brilliant performers and everyone who attended; it was brilliant to see that SIOP Got Talent beyond I-O psych.

Interest area(s)
Lots. Well I am pretty obsessed by personality psychology, I profiled my wife to be with two assessments before proposing; you can't rely only on one assessment for high consequence selection decisions if you ask me. Also was very fortunate to get into an argument with Georgi Yankov on LinkedIn once, and I always try to have a call with someone I disagree with online, somehow the conversation is more productive. A few years later, we published a book together: Personality: A User's Guide.

What sparked your interest in I-O psychology?
A lecture at my Psychology undergrad by the brilliant Professor Rhona Flin. It was on how we can use psychology and human factors to make working on oil rigs in the North Sea a safer endeavor. It was the first time ever that I have seen how the application of psychology can make people's lives better in the workplace.

What role do you see I-O psychology playing in the future of work?
I am really excited to see what role I-O psychology can play in helping people adopt a more environmentally sustainable, prosocial way of working. Zimbardo said about Milgram's study, "All evil begins with 15 volts.” Maybe "All good in the world starts with the smallest prosocial/environmental behavior," and who is better to find this out in a work context than an I-O?

What work trends are you seeing and hearing about and how can I-O psychology practitioners, educators, and students impact these trends?
We as I-O psychologists put the wonderful world of psychology into the context of organizations. What I am really interested in is how we can work closer together with other branches of psychology, say clinical, educational, sport, to bring more value and goodness of psychology into people’s lives at work and outside of work.

What advice would you give to students or those early in their career?
It's OK not to know what you want to do next. The field of I-O psychology is wide and fascinating, and sometimes can feel a bit disorientating, especially if you think that you now need to pick what you will do for the REST OF YOUR LIFE! But really you don't need to make this decision, your career in I-O will be unique to you, so what you could focus on as far as the first/next role, is what you want to do next, be it psychometrics, AI, recruitment, coaching, et cetera. And do that for a couple of years and see what you want to do next; you might want to continue doing what you are doing or try something new, and all of this will just add to your knowledge and experience

What is one of your favorite SIOP Annual Conference memories/highlights?
That we had nine acts performing at the 2024 SIOP Annual Conference Talent Show. We had dance, music, stand-up comedy, prose, and lots more interesting creative expression. Just having the ability to connect with people on love of art, music, as well as I-O was a brilliant opportunity. The fact that SIOP supported us in doing this is simply amazing.

Please share one non-I-O-related bit of information about yourself.
I enjoy doing stand-up comedy about personality psychology because maybe if we take ourselves a little bit less seriously, some interesting things can happen.

Is there anything else you would like to add?
I am happy to say that I will be the subcommittee lead for Conference Engagement for the upcoming SIOP Annual Conference in Denver in April 2025. If you have any cool ideas for events and how we can make it the best SIOP conference it can be for you, I would love to hear from you. You can just reach out to me on LinkedIn.

Also, I’m always open to connect with fellow colleagues, have discussions, have productive disagreements, and learn from each other; we have a fantastic profession and a brilliant community.

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