Today my guest is Rita McGrath. She is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and a longtime professor at Columbia Business School. She is widely recognized as a premier expert on strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship and growth during times of uncertainty.
Rita has received the #1 achievement award for strategy from the prestigious Thinkers50 and has been consistently named one of the world’s Top 10 management thinkers in its bi-annual ranking. As a consultant to CEOs, her work has had a lasting impact on the strategy and growth programs of Fortune 500 companies worldwide.
Rita is a highly sought-after speaker at exclusive corporate events around the globe, such as the Global Peter Drucker Forum. She is also the author of several books, including the best-selling, The End of Competitive Advantage (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013). Her new book is, Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019). She has written three other books including, Discovery-Driven Growth: A Breakthrough Process to Reduce Risk and Seize Opportunity, cited by Clayton Christensen as creating one of the most important management ideas ever developed.
She received her PhD from the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) and has degrees with honors from Barnard College and the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.
Here are some key items that you will learn about in this podcast episode:
- How did Walmart innovate in response to a resistant culture?
- How retail will rebound, i.e. the story of Showfields.
- Some practical ideas about How to See Around Corners.
- Learn about Adobe’s innovative strategy using the Red Kickbox Program.
- What Rita means by ‘Snow melts from the edge’ and the imperative for leaders.
- Learn what Rita considers to be her Superpower, and why.
- How innovation proficiency defangs an organization’s anti-bodies.
- Personal inflection points and how to personally manage being an Innovation Leader.
Now, I want to introduce you to this amazing conversation with Rita McGrath.
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Books and References:
Books:
- Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen by Rita McGrath. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019)
- The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business by Rita McGrath. (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013)
- Discovery-Driven Growth: A Breakthrough Process to Reduce Risk and Seize Opportunity by Rita McGrath. (Harvard Business School Publishing, 2009)
- Marketbusters: 40 Strategic Moves That Drive Exceptional Business Growth by Rita McGrath. (Harvard Business School Publishing, 2009)
- The Entrepreneurial Mindset: Strategies for Continuously Creating Opportunity in an Age of Uncertainty (President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2000.)
- Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?: (And How to Fix It), by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic. (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019)
- The Right It: Why So Many Ideas Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Succeed, by Alberto Savoia. (HarperOne, 2019)
Resources:
- Amy C. Edmondson is an American scholar of leadership, teaming, and organizational learning who studies psychological safety in organizations and teams. Click on the link to see more from Wikipedia.
- acqui-hire: According to Wikipedia, acquihire is the process of acquiring a company primarily to recruit its employees, rather than its products or services. Click on the term for more details.
- The Chief Strategy Officer Playbook: How to Transform Strategies Into Great Results, Thinkers50 Books. You can download this as a pdf for free.
How to Connect with Rita McGrath
This episode is sponsored by the CIO Innovation Forum, dedicated to Business Digital Leaders who want to be a part of 20% of the planet and help their businesses win with innovation and transformation.
Credits:
* Outro music provided by Ben’s Sound
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About Bill Murphy
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