Why You Should Be Wary of Popular Business Literature


Rita McGrath is among the top 10 thinkers worldwide and hearing her you can quickly tell why. My conversation with Rita was extraordinary in the clarity of its message and is absolutely worth paying attention to, if you are leading, or wanting to lead organizations and people. It was indeed great to have her on our show. 

A professor at the Columbia University, Rita is regarded as one of the most astute strategists worldwide both by the academia and the world's top business leaders today. She is best known for her work on strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship. Fast Company called her "one of the top 25 smartest women on twitter".

Our conversation centered around two ideas. The first was about clarifying the perception that academic literature is removed from reality and is less useful to business than it may appear to be. Well... that is as far removed from reality as Simba the lion king. Without the diligence and unbiased efforts of academics, we could be living in a world of snake oil salesmen. The discovery of what works in business is no less different than it is for medicine. The difference is that medicine is not colored by commonsense. In business, all frameworks seem commonsensically true. Yet one can spearhead your growth, and the other may keep you inexplicably stunted. Listen to this conversation and it might just as well change the way you approach business and ideas.

The second focus of our conversation was on managing growth. Rita has developed a comprehensive framework for positioning products and services for high growth. It is very different from most other paradigms that promote a specific methodology. Her research is ground-breaking in that it is comprehensive, dependable, and grounded in reality.