Founder, R3ciprocity Project · Associate Professor of Innovation and Strategy
David Maslach studies how people and organizations learn, make decisions, and innovate through failure. He created R3ciprocity to help researchers find support, develop their ideas, and keep going—and to make the opportunity to contribute more accessible.
David grew up in a small town in rural Northern Ontario. His father was a Polish immigrant, and he was the first in his family to attend university. He spent much of elementary school in special education classes. These experiences shaped his understanding of learning, failure, and the barriers that can make university seem out of reach.
The idea for R3ciprocity came on a drive home from Disney, with his children in the back seat. Drawing on his work as a software developer in the chemical-process industry, David began thinking of research as a process that could be designed better. The question grew into a platform built around tools, reciprocal feedback, and a community that helps people make progress.
Through YouTube, the R3ciprocity blog, and other online platforms, David shares candid guidance on research, PhD life, innovation, strategy, and the experience of building something uncertain. The R3ciprocity Project has reached millions of people across platforms. His public work brings practical advice, encouragement, and a sense of connection to researchers around the world.
David’s work examines organizational learning and decision-making, including the medical-device and digital sectors. His research has appeared in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Journal of Management Inquiry, Journal of Management, Journal of World Business, Management Science, Organization Science, R&D Management, and Strategic Management Journal.
He has taught strategy, organizational theory, research methods, innovation, and entrepreneurship at undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral levels. His service includes editorial boards at Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, and Strategic Organization, and serving as secretary of the Academy of Management’s Strategy Division. He co-founded the Carnegie School of Organizational Learning conference and founded the Ivey Medical Technology Innovation conference.
David holds a PhD in strategy from the Ivey School of Business at Western University, an MASc in Management Science, and a BASc in Chemical Engineering with a sociology minor from the University of Waterloo. His experience outside academia includes scientific programming and public policy in healthcare. He also served as Waterloo chapter president of Engineers Without Borders.
His publications include “Underdogs and One-hit Wonders: When is Overcoming Adversity Impressive?” (Management Science, 2023), “Noise as a signal in learning from rare events” (Organization Science, 2018), and “Change and persistence with failed technological innovation” (Strategic Management Journal, 2016). The faculty profile provides a fuller publication list.
Research can be lonely, and an uncertain idea can be difficult to keep working on. R3ciprocity carries forward David’s commitment to encouragement, reciprocal support, and broader access: anyone, anywhere, should have the chance to create ideas that compete on the world stage.
REAL PEOPLE. SHARED CURIOSITY.
Reflections on the learning, encouragement, and reciprocal feedback that bring our community together.
a treasure trove for anyone remotely considering PhD and, more broadly, academia as a career.
I’ve grown more confident in my writing and learned so much from reviewing other people’s work.
YOUR NEXT IDEA STARTS WITH ONE MOVE
