thinkers50 hall of fame

Vijay Govindarajan

Leading expert on strategy and innovation, teaches how to facilitate and execute breakthrough ideas to generate growth. Inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in 2019.

01. AWARD WINNER

Winner of the Thinkers50 2019 Innovation Award and the 2011 Breakthrough Idea Award.

02. HALL OF FAME

Inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in 2019.

03. RANKED THINKER

Ranked #21 (2017), #13 (2015), #5 (2013), and #3 (2011).

ideas

Govindarajan’s “three-box solution” addresses the problem of innovation faced by many organizations; how do you re-invent, while still meeting the performance requirements of the current business. He also developed the theory of reverse innovation: instead of innovations being transported from developing to emerging markets, let innovation start, he argues, in those emerging markets, and then be transferred to developed countries. The Harvard Business Review picked reverse innovation as one of the Great Moments in Management in the Last Century.

Nationality

American

BIO

Govindarajan is the Coxe Distinguished Professor, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College. Prior to joining Tuck, he was on the faculties of Harvard Business School, INSEAD (Fontainebleu), and the Institute for Indian Management (Ahmedabad). In 2013, 2015 and 2019 he was shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Innovation Award. Govindarajan was the first professor in residence and chief innovation consultant at General Electric.

Content

Three Box Solution Playbook (HBR Press, 2020); Three Box Solution: A Strategy for Leading Innovation (HBR Press, 2016); How Stella Saved the Farm: A Tale About Making Innovation Happen (with Chris Trimble, Macmillan, 2013); Beyond the Idea (with Chris Trimble, St Martin’s Press, 2013); Reverse Innovation: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere (with Chris Trimble, HBR Press, 2012); The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge (with Chris Trimble, HBR Press 2010); Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators: From Idea to Execution (with Chris Trimble, HBR Press, 2005).

website

Vijay Govindarajan

Twitter

@vgovindarajan

Media Picks

VERDICT

“Govindarajan combines rigorous scholarship with practical insights. A rare and valuable commodity.“

Stuart Crainer & Des Dearlove, Thinkers50