Hall of Fame

Saluting distinguished management thinkers and
their contributions

ABOUT THE HALL OF FAME

About the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame

The business world is fickle and has a short memory. This is especially true in the world of business ideas. New tools and techniques are put to work and then taken for granted as they are incorporated into business life. The quest for novelty and differentiation means that curious business leaders move quickly onto the next big idea. This is reflected in the Thinkers50 Ranking, which is a barometer of the ideas and thinkers making an impact today.

This relentless curiosity is a good thing. But, it can mean that over time the names of those who originated the most innovative business ideas and inspired best practice are overlooked or forgotten. Through the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame we salute the distinguished thinkers whose contributions to management thinking have made it what it is today.

SELECTION PROCESS

Thinkers50 Hall of Fame: The Selection Process

Every year we honour the contribution of a few individuals by inducting them into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame. Their names and legacies are added to the ranks of those who have arrived here before them. All are distinguished thinkers who have all made a lasting and vital impact on how organisations are led and managed. They are the giants upon whose shoulders managers and leaders stand.

Thinkers50 Hall of Fame status is at the discretion of the Thinkers50 founders, Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove, and their advisors. It is an honour given in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to management thinking over many years.

Thinkers50 Hall oF FAME 2022

Sumantra Ghoshal (1948-2004)

The Indian scholar, educator, and author was a Professor of Strategic and International Management at London Business School from 1994 and before that a professor at INSEAD from 1985. Co-author (with Chris Bartlett) of Managing Across Borders: The Transnational Solution (1999), which was hugely influential and identified and described three different varieties of internationalization (multinational, global, and international). 

Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones (1952-2021)

The British duo are the authors of The Character of a Corporation (1998), Why Should Anyone Be Led By You? (second edition, 2015), Clever: Leading Your Smartest and Most Creative People (2009), and Why Should Anyone Work Here? (2015). Goffee is a professor emeritus of London Business School. Jones taught at Henley Business School and IE Business School and held senior executive positions in a number of corporations including the BBC. 

Gary Hamel

Gary Hamel has been on the faculty of London Business School for more than 30 years and is the director of the Management Lab. His most recent bestsellers are Humanocracy (with Michele Zanini, 2020), What Matters Now (2012), The Future of Management (2007), and Leading the Revolution (2000). 

In his influential early work he collaborated with CK Prahalad. Their book, Competing for the Future (1994) was one of the most important books of the 1990s. 

Sally Helgesen

One of the world’s premier experts on women’s leadership, she is the author of How Women Rise (with Marshall Goldsmith, 2018) which examines the behaviors most likely to get in the way of successful women. Previous books include The Female Advantage: Women’s Ways of Leadership (1990) and The Female Vision: Women’s Real Power at Work (2010), which explore how women’s strategic insights can strengthen their careers. The Web of Inclusion: A New Architecture for Building Great Organizations (1995) is credited with bringing the language of inclusion into business.

Stella M. Nkomo

Professor in the Department of Human Resource Management at the University of Pretoria. A former Scholar-in-Residence at the Bunting Institute of Harvard University and Visiting Scholar at the Tuck Business School of Dartmouth College. Co-author of Our Separate Ways: Black and White Women and the Struggle for Professional Identity (with Ella Bell Smith, second edition 2021). Her most recent research focuses on diversity practices in Africa and the relationship between diversity ideologies and practices.

Danah Zohar

Extends the language and principles of quantum physics into a new understanding of human consciousness, psychology, and social organization, particularly the organization of companies. Her books include The Quantum Self (1991), The Quantum Society (with Ian Marshall, 1994), ReWiring the Corporate Brain (1997), and The Quantum Leader (new edition, 2016). Has also championed the concepts of spiritual intelligence and spiritual capital in SQ: Connecting with our Spiritual Intelligence (with Ian Marshall, 2000) and Spiritual Capital: Wealth We Can Live By (with Ian Marshall, 2004)Her most recent work is Zero Distance: Management in the Quantum Age (2021).

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Thinkers50 Awards Gala 2023

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