e-Mentoring
Management Gurus
Clayton M. Christensen is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, with a joint appointment in the Technology & Operations Management and General Management faculty groups. He is best known for his study of innovation in commercial enterprises. His first book, The Innovator's Dilemma articulated his theory of Disruptive Technology.He graduated with highest honors in economics from Brigham Young University in 1975. Later, he received an M.Phil. in applied econometrics and the economics of less-developed countries from Oxford University in 1977. He received an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School in 1979, graduating as a George F. Baker ScholarHe is consistently acknowledged in rankings and surveys as one of the world’s leading thinkers on innovation, Christensen is widely sought after as a speaker, advisor and board member. His research has been applied to national economies, start-up and Fortune 50 companies, as well as to early and late stage investing. He won a number of awards, such as the Best Dissertation Award from The Institute of Management Sciences for his doctoral thesis on technology development in the disk drive industry.His seminal book The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997), which first outlined his disruptive innovation frameworks, received the Global Business Book Award for the Best Business Book of the Year in 1997, was a New York Times bestseller, has been translated into over 10 languages, and is sold in over 25 countries. He is also a three-time recipient of the McKinsey Award for the Harvard Business Reviews’s best article.
Scott Adams received his Bachelor's degree in Economics from Hartwick College in 1979. He also studied economics and management for his MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He worked closely with telecom engineers at Crocker National Bank in San Francisco between 1979 and 1986, and at Pacific Bell between 1986 and June 1995, and draws on their personalities for those of his Dilbert characters. He is also the CEO of Scott Adams Foods, Inc, makers of the Dilberito, and a co-owner of Stacey's Cafe.From 1979 to 1986, he worked at a San Francisco bank in a variety of dead-end jobs (as a bank teller, he was held at gunpoint twice), then worked at Pacific Bell from 1986 to June 1995, mostly in various engineering groups. Inspired from Adams idle doodlings during dull company meetings, nerdy Dilbert embodied many characteristics of his co-workers.Adams many best-selling Dilbert books include "Build a Better Life by Stealing Office Supplies", "The Dilbert Future", "I'm Not Anti-Business, I'm Anti-Idiot"; "Journey to Cubeville"; and "Random Acts of Management." Adams is an irreverent member of Mensa.Adams has received a great deal of recognition for his work, including the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award and Newspaper Comic Strip Award for 1997 for his work on Dilbert. He had also been climbing the Suntop Media & European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) rankings of the 50 most influential management thinkers placing 31st in 2001, 27th in 2003, and 12th in 2005, but fell to 21st in 2007.He received the NCTE George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language for his participation in "Mission Impertinent" (San Jose Mercury News West Magazine, November 16, 1997).
William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born 1955) is an American business magnate, philanthropist, author, and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. He is ranked consistently one of the world's wealthiest people and the wealthiest overall as of 2009. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder with more than 8 percent of the common stock. He has also authored or co-authored several books.
Chris Zook received a B.A. from Williams College, an M. Phil. in Economics from Exeter College, Oxford University, and holds Master's and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. He is particularly skilled at adapting the style of writing to the needs of the client, creating text that is clear, concise, and effective.More than 20 years at Bain, Mr. Book's work has focused on companies searching for new sources of profitable growth, in a wide range of industries. He served two terms as President of the Board of Trustees for Avondale House. Christopher also serves as a Deacon and teaches an adult Sunday school class at Second Baptist Church.In 2001 he published his best-selling business book, Profit from the Core: Growth Strategy in an Era of Turbulence, in 2004 Beyond the Core, Expand Your Market without Abandoning Your Roots and in 2007 Unstoppable, Finding Hidden Assets to Renew the Core and Fuel Profitable Growth. All three books are based on a growth study begun in 1990 at Bain & Company that involves thousands of companies worldwide. The study's findings have been expanded each year, adopted and applied, in hundreds of successful companies in all types of industries.Mr.Zook is Chairman of the Board of the Texas Hedge Fund Association. Christopher currently serves on the board of The Children's Fund.
Jeffrey Pfeffer has published extensively in the fields of organization theory and human resource management. His current research focuses on the relationship between time and money, power and leadership in organizations, economics language and assumptions and their effects on management practice, how social science theories become self-fulfilling, barriers to turning knowledge into action and how to overcome them, and evidence-based management and what it is, barriers to its use, and how to implement it. Pfeffer has won the Richard I. Irwin Award presented by the Academy of Management for scholarly contributions to management and numerous awards for articles and books
Lynda Gratton is Professor of Management Practices at London Business School. She is considered one of the world's authorities on human resources strategy and actively advises companies across the world. Professor Grafton's book "Living Strategy", originally published in 2000, has been translated into more than 15 languages and was rated by US CEOs as one of the most important books of the year.A more recent book "The Democratic Enterprise", was described by the Financial Times as a work of important scholarship. Her article Integrating the Enterprise, which examines cooperative strategies, was awarded the MIT Sloan Management Review best article of the year in 2002 and her case study of BP's peer assist integration practices won the 2005 ECC best strategy case of the year award.In 2008, she was listed as one of the top 20 thinkers in the The Times "The Thinkers 50" - a global rankings of the most important and influential business thinkers.In 2007 Lynda published "Hot Spots" why some places and teams buzz with energy and innovation and others don't , and in 2009 Lynda published "Glow: how you radiate energy, innovation and success"
Kenichi Ohmae (born 1943) is one of the world's leading business and corporate strategists. Described as "Mr. Strategy" worldwide, Dr. Kenichi Ohmae is regularly sought out as a public speaker and management consultant. Ohmae, according to the Financial Times of London, is "Japan's only management guru." In 1994, The Economist selected him one of five management gurus in the world. As an author he has published over 100 books, many of which are devoted to business and socio-political analyses. He has also contributed numerous articles to major publication.
Michael Saul Dell (born 1965) is an American businessman and the founder and CEO of Dell, Inc. He created one of the most profitable computer companies in the world with annual sales of up to $50 billion American dollars. Dell has also become one of the wealthiest people in the world with a 4th place listing on the Forbes rich Americans list in 2005 with an estimated worth of $18 billion.
Accolades for Dell include: "Entrepreneur of the Year" from Inc. magazine; "Man of the Year" from PC Magazine; "Top CEO in American Business" from Worth Magazine; "CEO of the Year" from Financial World, Industry Week and Chief Executive Magazine.
Kenneth Hartley Blanchard (born 1939) is an American author and management expert. His book The One Minute Manager (co-authored with Spencer Johnson) has sold over 13 million copies and has been translated into 37 languages. In addition he has coauthored over 30 other best-selling books. Among many accolades, Blanchard has been honored as one of the top 10 Leadership professionals in the international Leadership Gurus survey for 2007 and 2008.
Rakesh Khurana, is Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Organisational Behavior area at Harvard Business School. He teaches a doctoral seminar on Management and Markets and The Board of Directors and Corporate Governance in the MBA program. Khurana is ranked 33rd in the list.
Professor Khurana received his B.S. from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and his A.M. (Sociology) and Ph.D. in Organization Behavior from Harvard University. Prior to attending graduate school, he worked as a founding member of Cambridge Technology Partners in Sales and Marketing.
He worked for three years as a founding team member of Cambridge Technology Partners before starting graduate school in 1994. After finishing his doctorate, he taught at MIT's Sloan School of Management.
His current research throws up unique insights into the CEO talent market, and indeed challenges many of the myths that high-paid CEOs put out about the connection between pay and performance.
His book -- Searching for a Corporate Savior: The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs, is an analysis of the labor market for CEOs.
