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.
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.
Ed Schein joined MIT in 1956 and initially worked under the influence of Douglas McGregor. He has remained there ever since, making a notable mark in the field of organizational development especially in the areas of organizational culture and careers. He received a PhD in social psychology from Harvard, and a Masters in psychology from Stanford.
Edward E. Lawler III is one of Human Resource’s leading global theorists. Lawler has been charting HR’s twists and turns for nearly forty years. Thanks to demographics, the rise in importance of intellectual capital, and the changing nature of business, how companies attract, retain, motivate and manage people has risen to the top of the executive agenda. Once relegated to the margins as a “soft” subject, Human Resources (HR) is now regarded as a core business function.
Now based at Henley Business School in the UK, Andrew Kakabadse is one of the world’s leading experts on top teams, boardroom effectiveness, and governance practice. His top team database covers 17 nations and his board studies span 14 countries. His most recent book is Leadership Intelligence: the 5Qs for Thriving as a Leader (with Ali Qassim Jawad, 2019), which identifies five leadership intelligences that leaders need to simultaneously employ in order to achieve transformational change.
Change, leadership and responsible capitalism have been themes throughout the work of Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor at Harvard Business School and Chair and Director of the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative. Formerly editor of the Harvard Business Review, Kanter’s books include The Change Masters (1983), When Giants Learn to Dance (1989), SuperCorp (2009), Move (2015) and Think Outside the Building (2020).
Shortlisted for the 2013 Thinkers50 Strategy Award, Richard Rumelt is the Harry and Elsa Kunin Chair in Business and Society at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Rumelt has been described as the “strategist’s strategist.” His 2011 book is Good Strategy/Bad Strategy helps readers recognise and avoid the elements of bad strategy – business buzz-speak, motivational slogans – and adopt good, action-orientated strategies.
Ram Charan (bn 1939) is a prolific business consultant, speaker, and writer. He is the author of 15 business books, including the best-selling Execution (with Larry Bossidy and Charles Burck), and is the self-styled confidant to some of America’s leading CEOs.
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Thinkers50 Limited
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United Kingdom
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