TOP 50 MANAGEMENT THINKERS

thinkers 50
A website called Thinkers 50 has released its annual list of the 50 most important living management thinkers. The site has detailed bios of those that made the list. Site visitors can nominate anyone of their choice, and a panel of five business writers then votes on the extent to which each nominee meets the following criteria:

1. ORIGINALITY OF IDEAS
2. PRACTICALITY OF IDEAS
3. ORAL PRESENTATION STYLE
4. WRITTEN COMMUNICATION PROFICIENCY
5. LOYALTY OF FOLLOWERS
6. BUSINESS SENSE (PRACTICE WHAT THEY PREACH)
7. INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK
8. RIGOR OF RESEARCH
9. IMPACT OF IDEAS
10. GURU FACTOR

Here’s the list. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a dozen of these people, and reading the work of all but a handful of them. I think it’s a good, objective list (though I’d have added Herman Daly, Steve Denning and a few others who are conspicuously missing):

1      Peter DRUCKER
2      Michael PORTER
3      Tom PETERS
4      Gary HAMEL
5      Charles HANDY
6      Philip KOTLER
7      Henry MINTZBERG
8      Jack WELCH
9      Rosabeth MOSS KANTER
10      Jim COLLINS
11      Sumantra GHOSHAL
12      CK PRAHALAD
13      Warren BENNIS
14      Peter SENGE
15      Robert KAPLAN & David NORTON
16      Stephen COVEY
17      Edgar H SCHEIN
18      Chris ARGYRIS
19      Kenichi OHMAE
20      Bill GATES
21      Kjell NORDSTROM & Jonas RIDDERSTRALE
22      Clayton CHRISTENSEN
23      John KOTTER
24      Nicholas NEGROPONTE
25      Jim CHAMPY
26      Andy GROVE
27      Scott ADAMS
28      Richard PASCALE
29      Daniel GOLEMAN
30      Naomi KLEIN
31      Chan KIM & Renee MAUBORGNE
32      Don TAPSCOTT
33      Michael DELL
34      Richard BRANSON
35      Edward DE BONO
36      Ricardo SEMLER
37      Thomas A. STEWART
38      Geoffrey MOORE
39      Jeff BEZOS
40      Paul KRUGMAN
41      Lynda GRATTON
42      Alan GREENSPAN
43      Manfred KETS DE VRIES
44      Robert WATERMAN
45      Watts WACKER
46      Patrick DIXON
47      Geert HOFSTEDE
48      DON PEPPERS
49      Stan DAVIS
50      Fons TROMPENAARS

The ones I’ve italicized above have been the subject of at least one How to Save the World post in the past year. As soon as Google catches up spidering my streamlined blog pages, you’ll even be able to use the search bar in the upper right sidebar to find the articles in question.

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2 Responses to TOP 50 MANAGEMENT THINKERS

  1. Home of the Brave?Economists concede that economics is an inexact science. What does that mean? Perhaps it means their economic forecast is better than yours or mine. Recently, economic indicators have been rising and people have their fingers crossed. Economists have given us reason to hope that the job market will improve and that the stock market will continue on a steady climb. Yet, the newspapers continue to report more layoffs and more jobs going overseas. Meanwhile, our economy is getting more and more complex. We associate complexity with progess for some ungodly reason. The following problems, however, have become inherent in our economy. What does that mean? It means they will be around for a while:Needless poverty, unemployment, inflation, the threat of depression, taxes, crimes related to profit (sale of illicit drugs, stolen IDs, muggings, bribery, con artists, etc.), conflict of interest, endless red tape, a staggering national debt plus a widening budget deficit, 48 out of 50 states in debt, cities in debt, counties in debt, skyrocketing personal debts, 50% of Americans unhappy at their work, saving for retirement and our children’s education, health being a matter of wealth, competing in the “rat race”, the need for insurance, being a nation of litigation, being subject to the tremors on Wall Street, fear of downsizing and automation, fear of more Enrons, outsourcing, bankruptcies, crippling strikes, materialism, corruption, welfare, social security, wasteful competition, sacrificing quality and safety in our products for the sake of profit, the social problem of the “haves” vs. the “have nots” and spending money to fix the problems that money creates. Have we become gluttons for punishment? My college professor once said,

  2. Nikhil says:

    Surprised Rusell Ackoff -“Dean of Systems Thinking” didn’t make it on the list.

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