Rita McGrath
Professor at Columbia Business School
About
I teach strategy at Columbia Business School, rank in the Thinkers50 top 10, and write books on spotting inflection points early.
Experiences
- Professor at Columbia Business SchoolTeach strategy at Columbia, where I was the #2 pick
Their first choice, Ranjay Gulati, picked another school. I've been teaching strategy and innovation here since.
- FamilyHad both my kids while working 80-hour weeks on a PhD
Our son was six months old when I started. My husband and I commuted in opposite directions to get through.
- ValizeStarted a company so readers could put my ideas to work
People asked: is it a spreadsheet, a Word doc? So we build diagnostics and SparkHub, software to track ideas.
- BookWrote a book on seeing big shifts coming before they hit
After my last book, readers asked: when? What are the signs it's time to act? This book is my answer.
- BookArgued that competitive advantages don't last anymore
Strategy treats firms like castles with moats. I argued for waves of advantage you move through instead.
- Author at Discovery-Driven GrowthLearned from flops like Euro Disney how to plan new bets
They failed by treating assumptions as facts. Discovery-driven planning became a foundation of Lean Startup.
- Unworried WordsFroze at a $100K loan offer and sold my share
A horrible weekend showed me I was in it for the politics, not the typing. So I sold my share to my partner.
- New Haven → New YorkGrew up in New Haven, earning train trips to New York
When I did well in school, my mom took me to New York for the day. It's been my dream place ever since.