HBS faculty comprises scholars and practitioners who bring leading-edge research, extensive experience, and deep insights into the classroom, to organizations, and to leaders across the globe. We asked new faculty at HBS about their background, their new roles, and their interests.
Quan Le, assistant professor, Strategy
What is your educational background?
I’m an economist by training. I earned my PhD from Princeton after working as a research assistant at Stanford and studying mathematics and economics as an undergraduate at the University of Toronto.
What’s your area of research and what led you to it?
My research is in industrial organization, with a focus on firms that sell information—like newspapers and digital platforms. Growing up in Vietnam, I often sought out foreign newspapers to see how the same stories were told from different angles. That habit became questions I still have today: How do political and regulatory environments shape the flow of information? How does the media operate and compete in such settings?
What will you be teaching?
I’m excited to be teaching Required Curriculum Strategy!
What would you be doing if you weren’t an academic?
For most of my childhood, I wanted to be a journalist. It still feels like a minor miracle that I now study the media for a living. I’m very grateful for that. I also nearly went to school for music composition and jazz guitar—until my music teacher gently talked me out of it after learning about my interest in economics.
Where are you from?
I grew up in Vietnam, then moved to Toronto at age 15 for school.
What is something you like to do outside of your academic work?
Music, film, and theatre are still a big part of my life. In Cambridge, I’ve been enjoying the Harvard Film Archive and live shows at the Sinclair and Paradise Rock Club. Recently I took up running. Much of it was inspired by the steady stream of runners along the Charles. It’s a great excuse to listen to music for long stretches of time.
What’s your favorite book, movie, or piece of art?
I go through phases. The Beatles were an early obsession. Then, music by Belle and Sebastian, Radiohead, and Joanna Newsom has been a constant companion since high school. Lately, I’ve been thinking about Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car. I like art about people trying to make things. There’s a song in Sunday called “Finishing the Hat,” in which a painter describes how he feels when he makes a hat. I think about that song every day. It’s not always comforting.