Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Chair and Director, Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative

Rosabeth Moss Kanter holds the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professorship at Harvard Business School, where she specializes in strategy, innovation, and leadership for change. Her strategic and practical insights have guided leaders of large and small organizations worldwide for over 25 years, through teaching, writing, and direct consultation to major corporations and governments. The former Editor of Harvard Business Review (1989-1992), Professor Kanter has been named to lists of the "50 most powerful women in the world" (Times of London), and the "50 most influential business thinkers in the world" (Accenture and Thinkers 50 research). In 2001, she received the Academy of Management's Distinguished Career Award for her scholarly contributions to management knowledge, and in 2002 was named "Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year" by the World Teleport Association.  

Kanter is well known for her classic 1977 study of "tokenism" on how being a minority can affect one's performance due to enhanced visibility and performance pressure. She is the author or co-author of 17 books, focused largely on business management techniques, especially change management. Her most recent book, America the Principled: 6 Opportunities for Becoming a Can-Do Nation Once Again sets forward a positive agenda for the nation. Her previous book, Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin & End was a New York Times business bestseller and a BusinessWeek #1 bestseller. The book draws on more than 300 interviews with leaders in business, sport and politics to explore the role confidence plays in the performance of institutions and individuals.

The major investment that’s required for the future is in human capital.
There is an economic imperative to have higher engagement at work, so why has it not changed?
3mins
Why do we have so little engagement in work these days? Companies need to be about values.
2mins
Encouragement, a positive culture, and support from colleagues can foster good leadership.
3mins
Rosabeth Moss Kanter got her PhD when there were very few women like her.
3mins
Just do it, even if it’s not easy, says Rosabeth Moss Kanter.
1mins
Rosabeth Moss Kanter leader knows how to unlock potential.
4mins
We don’t respect our government, Rosabeth Moss Kanter says.
1mins
Hopefully, says Rosabeth Moss Kanter, we will have invested more in brain power than in oil.
14mins
Moss Kanter helps leaders lead better.
How can you find satisfaction in tackling a problem?
2mins
The fact that more people are paying attention to what’s going on around them gives Rosabeth Moss Kanter hope.
4mins
An awful lot of people aren’t happy because they don’t have healthcare, Rosabeth Moss Kanter says.
2mins
A wider array of options toppled Communism in Eastern Europe.
3mins
Kanter’s Law: Everything can look like a failure in the middle.
5mins
Rosabeth Kantor says small actions can make a big difference.
6mins
The ideas Rosabeth Moss Kanter spawned have flown the coop and landed in big companies and presidential campaigns.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, on the suburbs and the big city.