Thinkers50 in 50 Seconds: Who or what is your biggest inspiration?

We have conducted several 50-second interviews with our thinkers. Here are their collected answers to one specific question: Who or what is your biggest inspiration?

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[testimonial author=”Whitney Johnson” image=”https://thinkers50.com/wp-content/uploads/Whitney-Johnson.jpg”]Professionally? Clayton Christensen, hands down.  Brene Brown, a distance second.  For a list of books that have inspired me, click here.[/testimonial]

[testimonial author=”Tammy Erickson” image=”https://thinkers50.com/wp-content/uploads/TammyErickson-200×2001.jpg”]The thinker I most admire is Peter Drucker.  He had an unparalleled ability to move gracefully from deep data and detail to broad implications and patterns, and to bring the listener along as he did so.[/testimonial]

[testimonial author=”Enrique Dans” image=”https://thinkers50.com/wp-content/uploads/enrique-dans.jpeg”]My mentor, José Mario Álvarez de Novales. Although he is no longer with us, he keeps making me want to be better.[/testimonial]

[testimonial author=”Alf Rehn” image=”https://thinkers50.com/wp-content/uploads/alf-rehn.jpg”]I try to seek inspiration in people outside of my own field, and primarily people who challenge the status quo. So I try to seek it in everything from original philosophers to upstart chefs. And gin, of course. Can’t forget gin.[/testimonial]

[testimonial author=”Gianpiero Petriglieri” image=”https://thinkers50.com/wp-content/uploads/Gianpiero_Petriglieri.jpg”] My wife and children. Friends and students. The open sea. Wintery mountaintops, after it has snowed.[/testimonial]

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[testimonial author=”David Burkus” image=”https://thinkers50.com/wp-content/uploads/david-burkus.jpg”]A lot of my intellectual heroes are a part of this year’s Thinkers50. Daniel Pink, Liz Wiseman, Roger Martin, and Nilofer Merchant are just a few of the folks whose work inspires me to make a contribution to management thought.[/testimonial]

[testimonial author=”Rachel Botsman” image=”https://thinkers50.com/wp-content/uploads/rachel-botsman.jpg”]I’m inspired by people who make complex things simple.[/testimonial]

[testimonial author=”Peter Fisk” image=”https://thinkers50.com/wp-content/uploads/PeterFisk.jpg”]Leonardo da Vinci – the sculptor who became an artist, and then scientist and engineer. The best ideas come by making new connections – business learning from nature or sport, one sector learning from another. So who is the modern-day Leonardo da Vinci? Steve Jobs was, with the ability to combine design and technology, to imagine the uncreated and non essential. In today’s world it could be Jack Ma, or Elon Musk, or Zaha Hadid. The inspiration comes from people who do amazing things, the thinking from making sense of what they do.[/testimonial]

[testimonial author=”Dave Ulrich” image=”https://thinkers50.com/wp-content/uploads/dave-ulrich-banner-980×300-e1440268792159-200×200.jpg”]My dad taught me to be the best I can be. My mother taught me to serve others by her example. My wife teaches me to be aware of how my intent should match my behavior and to invest in relationships. Our kids and grandkids teach me to play more and obsess less.[/testimonial]

[testimonial author=”Vlatka Hlupic” image=”https://thinkers50.com/wp-content/uploads/35213286801656.zTdB9gof6Fx6VP495V0q_height640.png”]Peter Drucker.[/testimonial]

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