Who says you have to be a man of action to get noticed? Thinkers and visionaries are now gaining popularity as the ones guiding the big-shot execs of the world. Aimee Groth, of the Business Insider, has listed out the top 10 thinkers of the corporate world.
The top 10 thinkers on the list have been taken from ‘Top 50 Business Thinkers.’ This list was collated by consultancy, Crainer Dearlove.
1. Clayton Christensen
Clayton Christensen Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is well-known globally, for his research on innovation in commercial enterprises. ‘The Innovator's Dilemma’ in 1997 is a book by Christensen, which talks about his theory of disruptive innovation. He is basically a teacher and a consultant. He also has a joint appointment in the faculty groups of Technology and Operations Management and General Management. He is also a faculty member at the Harvard Business School. He presently serves as a Board of Director in TCS. He was also a project leader and consultant at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). His other prominent books are – ‘The Innovator's Prescription’ in 2009, ‘Disrupting Class’ in 2008, ‘Seeing What's Next’ in 2004 and ‘The Innovator's Solution’ in 2003. These books of his have won many accolades in the American Healthcare System. The College of Healthcare Executives conferred him with the James A. Hamilton Award in 2010 for ‘The Innovator's Prescription.’ He received the ‘Extraordinary Teaching Award by the MBA class’ in 2010.
2. W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
W. Chan Kim is among the top authorities in managing multinational corporations by providing advice eon innovation and business strategies. He was placed on the prestigious list of ‘Top Ten Most Influential Business Thinkers in the World’ by Thinkers50 in the years – 2007, 2009 and 2011. The Journal of International Management has called him ‘Most Influential Academics in Global Strategy in the World.’ He has co-written the book – ‘Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant.’ This book has been translated into more than 41 languages. This book is seen as changing the face of strategic business thinking. This book could not have been complete had it not been for the immensely talented, Renee Mauborgne. She is among the very elite list of experts, who write on wealth creation business and strategy, innovation. Like her contemporary, she too was placed on the prestigious list of Top Ten Most Influential Business Thinkers in the World’ by Thinkers50 in the years 2007, 2009 and 2011. Both Kim and Mauborgne have co-written various articles for Harvard Business Review.
3. Vijay Govindarajan
Vijay Govindarajan is the Professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business. He is also the Founding Director of Tuck's Center for Global Leadership. His education programmes on global management are taught in more than 3 continents. He is a regular columnist in FastCompany.com. His other articles have been published in Journal of Business Strategy, Decision Science, Organizations and Society, Accounting, MIT Sloan Management Review, California Management Review and Harvard Business Review. He was also the first Professor in Residence and Chief Innovation Consultant at GE. His books include – ‘The Other Side of Innovation’ and ‘Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators: From Idea to Execution.’ Hi study, ‘The Emotionally Bonded Organization: Why Emotional Infrastructure Matters and How Leaders Can Build It’ will be published in the coming months. He has also co-written ‘How GE is Disrupting Itself’ for the Harvard Business Review.
4. Jim Collins
James ‘Jim’ Collins is a lecturer, author and business consultant. He teaches on sustainability and growth of a company. He regularly contributes to Fortune, Business Week, Harvard Business Review and other reputed journals and magazines. He has written many books, like – ‘Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All,’ ‘How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In,’ ‘Good to Great’ and ‘Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.’ ‘Built to Last’ was a best-seller in the Business Week for 6 straight years and was translated into more than 25 languages. ‘How the Mighty Fall’ was on the best seller list of Business Week, Wall Street Journal and New York Times. This book has sold more than 2.5 million copies till date and has been translated into 32 languages. The concept of “Level 5 leader” is often discussed in his writings. Such a leader is “paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will.”
5. Michael Porter
Michael Porter is the present Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School. He is perhaps best known for his Management models – Porter’s Diamond Theory and Porter’s 5 Forces Model. His other Management Principles include - Competitive advantage, strategic groups, value chain, generic strategies of cost leadership, product differentiation, market positioning and many more. Management students swear by his works. He is a Chairperson at Harvard Business School's program. He has worked on a dizzying number of publications. Some of them are – ‘How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy,’ ‘Competitive Strategy,’ ‘Competitive Advantage,’ ‘Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition On Results,’ ‘Strategy and the Internet,’ ‘From Competitive Advantage to Corporate Strategy,’ ‘The Competitive Advantage of Nations,’ ‘Towards a Dynamic Theory of Strategy,’ ‘Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility,’ and many more.
6. Roger Martin
Roger Martin is the Dean at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He is said to have spear-headed integrative thinking, apart from developing other business concepts. He serves on the boards of many reputed firms, like - Research In Motion and Thomson Reuters Corporation. He also writes regularly for Financial Times’ Judgement Call column, Washington Post’s On Leadership blog and Businessweek's Innovation and Design Channel. He has authored many books but he most well-known for – ‘The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking,’ which utilizes integrative thinking to solve complex problems. His other books include – ‘The Future of the MBA and Diaminds,’ ‘Fixing the Game,’ ‘The Design of Business,’ ‘The Opposable Mind,’ and ‘The Resonsibility Virus.’
7. Marshall Goldsmith
Marshall Goldsmith is a professor and author of management related books. He presently teaches at Dartmouth College's Tuck School and is a speaker at leading business schools. He is the pioneer of the ‘360 Degree Feedback,’ which now has become an integral part of almost all companies. Because of him, managing people in organizations has become simplified. He has written books, like – ‘How to Get It Back If You Lose It,’ ‘MOJO: How to Get It, How to Keep It’ and’ The Leader of the Future.’ He has a host of accomplishments in his name. The Economist called him the Most Credible Executive Advisors in the New Era of Business. The Economic Times called him the Top CEO Coaches of America. Forbes called him the Five Most-Respected Executive Coaches. Wall Street Journal called him Top Ten Executive Educators and The Times called him 15 Greatest Business Thinkers in the World. He received the Distinguished Entrepreneur Award in 2009 from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.
8. Marcus Buckingham
Marcus Buckingham is a business consultant, motivational speaker, researcher and author. He started The Marcus Buckingham Company (TMBC) in 2006 to develop management education programs. He is best known for his “strengths,” which help in assessing oneself. He has authored and co-authored many books. His publications include – ‘Find Your Strongest Life’ in 2009, ‘The Truth About You’ in 2008, ‘Go Put Your Strengths to Work’ in 2007, ‘The One Thing You Need to Know’ in 2005, ‘Now, Discover Your Strengths’ in 2001 and ‘First, Break All The Rules’ in 1999. His latest publication is ‘StandOut.’ His books revolve around finding our inners strength and building upon it, rather than looking for something else we are not. He has appeared on TV shows like - Larry King Live, Good Morning America, The Today Show and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
9. Don Tapscott
Don Tapscott is a Canadian business executive, speaker, author and consultant. He is the Chairman of nGenera Insight, previously called New Paradigm. He specializes in business strategy, organizational transformation, innovation and how technology affects society and business. He holds three honorary Doctor of Laws conferred by - McMaster University in 2010, Trent University in 2006 and University of Alberta in 2001. He has been the author and co-author of many books. His books include – ‘Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World’ in 2010, ‘Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World’ in 2008, ‘Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything’ in 2006, ‘The Naked Corporation: How the Age of Transparency Will Revolutionize Business’ in 2003, ‘Digital Capital: Harnessing the Power of Business Webs’ in 2000, ‘Digital Economy: Promise and Peril In The Age of Networked Intelligence’ in 1995 and ‘Paradigm Shift: The New Promise of Information Technology’ in 1992. In 2012, he received the Yorktown Humanitarian Award for community service. Thinkers50 say he is "one of the world’s leading authorities on innovation, media, globalization and the economic and social impact of technology on business and society."10. Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell is a Canadian journalist, speaker and author. He has been working for The New Yorker since 1996. Gladwell had been working for The Washington Post before moving to the New Yorker. He has authored 4 books, all of which have been New York Times Bestsellers. His books include – ‘What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures’ in 2009, ‘Outliers: The Story of Success’ in 2008, ‘Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking’ in 2005 and ‘The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference’ in 2000. His work dwells on research and its implications on social sciences, like - social psychology, psychology and sociology. His work has been appreciated for his powerful writing and lucidity of expression. He received an honorary degree from the University of Toronto in 2011. He received an honorary degree from the University of Waterloo in 2007. The American Sociological Association garnered him with the ‘Award for Excellence in the Reporting of Social Issues’ in 2007. In 2005, Time magazine listed him among the ‘Most Influential People.’
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