Heidi K. Gardner

Champion of cross-silo collaboration.

RANKED THINKER

Ranked in 2023.

SHORTLISTED

Shortlisted for the Thinkers50 2023 Leadership Award.

RADAR THINKER

Radar Class of 2017. 

Ideas

A Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School and former Professor at Harvard Business School, Heidi’s work focuses on leadership and collaboration in professional service firms. Her 2017 book, Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos, is a Washington Post bestseller. Her 2022 follow-up book, Smarter Collaboration: A New Approach to Breaking Down Barriers and Transforming Work (co-authored with Ivan A. Matviak, 2022), lays out a pragmatic action plan for companies to collaborate effectively. Along with her team at Gardner & Co, Heidi works with boards, executive teams, and senior leaders to boost performance by embedding the principles and practices of agile cross-silo collaboration. Her research received the Academy of Management’s prize for Outstanding Practical Implications for Management and has featured in major media outlets worldwide.

Bio

Co-founder of Gardner & Co, Heidi has authored or co-authored over 100 books, chapters, case studies, and articles. She is a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession and Faculty Chair of the school’s Accelerated Leadership Program. Previously she was a Professor at Harvard Business School. Heidi has lived and worked on four continents, including as a Fulbright Fellow, and for McKinsey & Co. and Procter & Gamble. She earned her BA in Japanese Studies from the University of Pennsylvania (Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude), a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, and a second master’s and PhD from London Business School.

NATIONALITY: American

Media picks

Verdict

“Rigorous researcher and practitioner of collaboration”

Stuart Crainer & Des Dearlove, Thinkers50

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