|
Executive Interviews: Interview with Vijay Govindarajan on Management Guru
November 2010
-
By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary
Vijay Govindarajan Vijay Govindarajan
Earl C Daum 1924 Professor of
International Business and Founding
Director of the Center for Global
Leadership Tuck School of
Business 
Professor, Congratulations for being
ranked among the 'top-50 global
management thinkers' by The
London Times and also being named
as 'Outstanding Teacher of the Year'
by MBA students. What did 'one of
the top-50 global management
thinkers' mean to you?
It is an honor to be on the list of Top
50 Management Thinkers -
considering how many millions of
people are there in the management
profession. At the same time it is
humbling. One typically assumes
that a guru must know everything.
The reality is that I have so much
more to learn. Recognitions like this
make me realize how far I need to go.
|
|
-
Who according to you is a management guru? What specific qualities and contributions set them apart from the rest of management fraternity?
Guru by definition is an expert, a thought leader. A management guru must have created a set of ideas based on rigorous research. As such a management guru is a thought leader in a space of critical importance to corporations.
'The Thinkers 50' list, produced by the Suntop Media in association with Skillsoft, is supposed to be a definitive guide to who is the most influential living management thinker. And this list changes every year. What do the changing names mean for the world of business – that the old thinkers' ideas have become irrelevant or that new breed of management thinkers have emerged?
We now live in a world that is constantly changing. Therefore, we need new ideas to navigate in such turbulent waters. It is quite natural that new thinkers will constantly emerge with new ideas. This is just a natural evolution.
-
Are 'Thought Leaders' and 'Management Thinkers', Management Gurus or is there a difference between these titles?
Yes, they are the same. You cannot have a guru who is not a thinker and
a thought leader.
-
Who according to you have been some of the global management gurus who have redefined the discipline and practice of management?
I will put three names on top of that list: Peter Drucker, CK Prahalad, Mike
Porter. Unfirtunately two of those names are no longer with us.
-
At times, even the CEOs get voted as the world's best management gurus.
For instance, in The Thinkers 50 2007 list, produced by Suntop Media in association with Skillsoft, Bill Gates, Alan Greenspan, Thomas J
Peters, Jack Welch, Richard Branson were in the top ten list. The others
(Michael E Porter, Gary Hamel, Jim Collins) were typical academicians who, with their research and writings, had profound effect on the way companies managed their giant enterprises? Noticeably amongst the career executives, Jack Welch, Tom Peters continued to have influence even after a few years of their reckoning. Micahel E Porter who was No. 1 in the list in 2004 slipped to No.4 in the 2007 list. What, therefore, explains the enduring power of a
management guru?
It is critical for a management guru to continue to produce good ideas. If
you want to endure, you have to be coming with new ideas. You cannot be a one-trick pony. Take Jim Collins, for example. He followed one book, Built To Last, with another book, Good To Great - both books have had profound impact on management.
-
It is often noticed that several such lists (Wall Street Journal's world's
most influential business thinkers, Fortune's world's best gurus in
strategy, etc) are dominated by North Americans, with abysmal representations either from Europe or Asia? What explains this polarization?
America has been the intellectual capital of the world when it comes to management research and education. Think about the number of world
class business schools and academics in the US. It is to be expected that most gurus will be from the US. However, given the recent rise of India and China, we can expect more gurus from India and China in the future.
1.
Management Guru Case Study
2. ICMR
Case Collection
3.
Case Study Volumes
|
