RGM

Rita McGrath is an expert on strategy in volatile and uncertain environments. She works with senior leadership teams to help them create an entrepreneurial mindset, drive growth and recognize when and how to disengage. In addition to her popular speaking engagements, she works in partnership with companies who seek to accelerate their competitive effectiveness.

Rita McGrath, a Professor at Columbia Business School in New York, is one of the world’s leading experts on strategy in highly uncertain and volatile environments.  She works with both Global 1,000 icons and smaller, but fast-growing organizations.  Some current clients include F-Secure, Nokia, Microsoft, (and its CEO Summit), AXA Equitable, General Electric, Novartis, PPG Industries, the Stena Group and the World Economic Forum.  She is a popular speaker and consults to senior leadership teams.  In 2009, she was inducted as a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society, an honor accorded to those who have had a significant impact on the field.

Her new co-authored book, Discovery Driven Growth:  A Breakthrough Process to Reduce Risk and Seize Opportunity (2009) was endorsed by Clayton Christensen, Ram Charan and CK Prahalad, among others.  She has co-authored two previous books:  The Entrepreneurial Mindset (2000) and MarketBusters: 40 Strategic Moves that Drive Exceptional Business Growth (2005).  MarketBusters has been translated into ten languages and was named one of the best business books of 2005 by strategy+business.  It was featured by Bill Gates at the 2005 Microsoft CEO Summit, whose theme “New Pathways to Growth” was derived from the book’s main topic.

Rita McGrath appears regularly on television and radio and is often cited in the press, including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, and Businessweek, Inc. She maintains an active blog (see www.RitaMcGrath.com) and is featured as a discussion leader at Harvard Business Online.  She has coauthored six articles in the Harvard Business Review, including the best-selling Discovery Driven Planning.

Rita McGrath joined the faculty of Columbia Business School in 1993.  Prior to life in academia, she was an IT director, worked in the political arena, and founded two startups.  Her Ph.D. is from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.  She teaches MBA and Executive MBA courses, and is the Faculty Director for the Columbia Executive Education program Leading Strategic Growth and Change.

Rita’s academic publications have appeared in leading journals such as the Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, and Management Science. She has won numerous awards for excellence in scholarship. Among these are the Strategic Management Society ‘best paper’ and ‘runner up’ awards in 2001 and 2004; the Maurice Holland award from the Industrial Research Institute; the Academy of Management Review “best paper” award, the Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice Award for the Best Conceptual Paper (both 1992 and 1996) and the European Foundation for Entrepreneurship Research (EFER) best paper award. She is a member of several editorial boards of prestigious journals.

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