Kaihan Krippendorff

Founder of think tank and executive network, Outthinker, and podcast host.

ranked thinker

Ranked in 2025.

SHORTLISTED

Thinkers50 Strategy Award, 2023.

Thinkers50 Innovation Award, 2019.

RADAR THINKER

Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2019.

Ideas

At the core of his work, Kaihan focuses on how emerging strategic concepts reshape the field of strategy – expanding the options leaders see and ultimately influencing competitive behaviour. In Outthink the Competition, he introduces five emerging strategic concepts that high-performing companies use to compete in today’s fast-paced digital era, along with the 9Ps Framework, a popular tool for business model design. In Driving Innovation from Within, he demonstrates that employees – not entrepreneurs or CEOs – are the primary drivers of innovation in society and offers a framework for unlocking greater intrapreneurship inside large organisations. In Proximity (with Robert Wolcott), he explores how technology is pulling production, services, and value creation ever closer to the moment of demand. Through these works, Kaihan’s ideas help broaden the strategic imagination of leaders and influence the evolving dialogue about how firms innovate and compete.

Bio

Kaihan is the founder of Outthinker, a global think-tank and peer network of chief strategy, innovation, growth, and transformation officers and executives from large public, private, and Fortune 500 companies. A former McKinsey consultant known for his rigorously researched tools, trends insights, and engaging style, Kaihan is an inspiring business keynote speaker for smart audiences and a strategic advisor to executives of some of the world’s most recognisable companies. Kaihan hosts Outthinkers, The Chief Strategy Officer Podcast, and Strategy at Scale podcasts. His ideas are published frequently in Harvard Business Review and Fast Company. Kaihan is a senior fellow at Wharton Business School and also teaches at NYU School of Professional Studies and Florida International University. He holds a doctorate in economics and business and engineering degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering, Wharton, Columbia Business School, and London Business School.

Content

Proximity: How Coming Breakthroughs in Just-In-Time Transform Business, Society, and Daily Life (with Robert Wolcott, Columbia Business School Publishing, 2024); Outthink the Competition: How Innovative Companies and Strategists See Options Others Ignore (GreyRock Publishing, 2022); Driving Innovation From Within: A Guide for Internal Entrepreneurs (Columbia Business School Publishing, 2019); Outthinkers, The Chief Strategy Officer Podcast, Strategy at Scale (Outthinker Media); ‘A Strategic Approach for Meeting Customer Demand as Quickly as Possible’ (with Robert Wolcott, Harvard Business Review, 2024); 6 Strategic Concepts That Set High-Performing Companies Apart (Harvard Business Review, 2024); ‘New Research Shows How an “Idea Marketplace” Can Boost Innovation’ (with Jayshree Seth and George S. Day, Harvard Business Review, 2025).

NATIONALITY: American

Media picks

Verdict

“Proximity is one of those concepts that, once you’ve read about it, changes your perspective forever. This wonderful book takes us on a rollicking ride through the future that is just beginning to emerge – but will be here before we know it. No business leader should miss its lessons.”

Rita McGrath, Thinkers50 Ranking Top 10

Thinkers50

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Thinkers50

Best of Management Thinking

Thinkers50 Limited
The Studio
Highfield Lane
Wargrave RG10 8PZ
United Kingdom

Contact us at:

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with the latest and greatest ideas in business, management, and thought leadership.

Thinkers50

Best of Management Thinking

Thinkers50 Limited
The Studio
Highfield Lane
Wargrave RG10 8PZ
United Kingdom

Contact us at:

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with the latest and greatest ideas in business, management, and thought leadership.

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