Thinkers50 2019 has named W. Chan Kim, INSEAD Professor of Strategy and International Management, and Renée Mauborgne, INSEAD Affiliate Professor of Strategy and Distinguished Fellow of Strategy and International Management, as the world’s most influential management thinkers.
The Thinkers50 2019 rankings and awards took place at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London and was attended by academics and management gurus from around the world. The bi-annual ranking is widely regarded the “Oscars of Management Thinking” recognising thought-leadership achievements.
The rankings and awards is based on a set of metrics and input from advisors led by the award’s founders. It has ten established criteria, including originality and practicality of ideas, international outlook, ability to inspire, and presentation style.
Every two years, Thinkers50 salutes the leading business and management ideas of the current age with its Ranking of Management Thinkers and its awards for distinguished achievement in a number of specific management categories. Its annual Radar list introduces emerging thinkers with the potential to make lasting contributions to management theory and practice.
Mauborgne is the first women to occupy the number one position while Kim is the first from North Asia and also, it is the very first time that faculty members from a European business school have topped the ranking.
Professors of Strategy W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, co-directors of the INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute and co-authors of the New York Times Bestseller and a #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller, Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing – Proven Steps to Inspire Confidence and Seize New Growth (Hachette, 2017), and the global bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy (2005, Expanded Edition 2015), are ranked first for their thought-leadership on companies that seek out “blue oceans” of untapped market space, rather than competing head-to-head in “red oceans”.
Blue Ocean Strategy is recognised as one of the most iconic and impactful strategy books ever written. It has sold over four million copies and is published in a record-breaking 46 languages. It is a bestseller across five continents.
Erin Meyer, INSEAD Senior Affiliate Professor of Organisational Behaviour, came in 32nd, moving up by seven spots from the prior ranking. Meyer is a specialist on cross-cultural management and her evaluation of different cultures has resulted in a strategic framework for organisations seeking international success. She is the best-selling author of The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business.
Gianpiero Petriglieri, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD, advanced ten positions from 47th to 37th this year. Petriglieri’s award-winning research focuses on leadership and learning in the workplace, notably leadership in the age of “nomadic preofessionalism”, and broadening and strengthening leadership communities. His research has appeared in top academic journals and the media. He writes regularly for the Harvard Business Review. At INSEAD, he directs the Management Acceleration Programme, the school’s flagship executive programme for emerging leaders.
