Thinkers50 2017 Ranking: Spot the BoS Speakers

The Biennial Thinkers50 2017 ranking was announced last night, and we were not at all surprised to see some familiar faces make the top 50.

The Thinkers50 identify, rank, and share the leading management ideas of the moment. Their Gala, held last night in London, saw the announcement of the 2017 rankings – a collection of the most important management thinkers right now.

Click here to see the full rankings

There were no fewer than 7 BoS Speakers on the list – a huge congratulations to all for achieving such recognition. Here they are, with a link to some wisdom they shared at BoS Conferences past.

 

#3 – Clayton Christensen

Clayton Christensen is a regular atop the Thinkers50, having gained the #1 spot in both 2011 & 2013, and #2 in 2015. He is the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, as well as an author, founder of consulting firm Innosight, and renowned speaker.

Clayton spoke at BoS USA 2011 with a brilliant talk titled “The Job Your Product Does”.

Watch Clayton Christensen at BoS USA 2011

 

#7 – Alexander Osterwalder

Founder of Strategyzer Alex Osterwalder comes in at #7 this year with Yves Pigneur, his co-author on books such as “Business Model Generation: A handbook For Visionaries, Game Changers, And Challengers”. Alex is perhaps best known for his Business Model Canvas tool, a strategic management template for developing business models.

Alex has spoken 4 times at BoS, including once earlier this year at BoS Europe 2017. Keep an eye out for that talk coming soon! Here is his talk from 2015 – “How To Design Organisational Culture”.

Watch Alexander Osterwalder at BoS USA 2015

 

#10 – Rita Gunter McGrath

At #10 is USA2017 speaker Rita Gunter McGrath. The Columbia Business School Associate Professor is the best-selling author of “The End of Competitive Advantage”, and presented her new research on Strategic Inflection Points at BoS USA this year with Michael Sikorsky (CEO and Co-Founder of Robots & Pencils).

As well as this year, Rita spoke at BoS USA 2013 on “The End of Competitive Advantage”.

Watch Rita Gunter McGrath at BoS USA 2013

 

#11 – Dan Pink

Dan is a brilliant author – you’ve probably heard of his books “Drive”, “To Sell Is Human”, and especially “A Whole New Mind”, which spent 4 years on the NYT Bestseller list. If you haven’t, you should most definitely check them out. His new book, “When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing”, comes out in January.

Dan spoke at BoS USA 2012, presenting ideas from “To Sell Is Human” a year before the book was published. Click below to watch “The Surprising Truth About Moving Others”.

Watch Dan Pink at BoS USA 2012

 

#16 – Eric Ries

Famous for his game-changing book “The Lean Startup”, Eric Ries is another old friend of Business of Software. After the success of “The Lean Startup”, Eric is now back with a new book, “The Startup Way”, which looks at how Lean Startup principles can be applied to big businesses too.

Eric launched both his books at BoS events in London, and spoke at BoS USA 2010, a year before “The Lean Startup” was published. Watch that talk here:

Watch Eric Ries at BoS USA 2010

 

#33 – Seth Godin

The “Purple Cow” author is again in the Thinkers50, having appeared there in 2011 and 2015 previously. Seth is a prolific author and you’ve probably heard of a few of them: “The Icarus Deception”, “Permission Marketing”, and “Tribes“ are just a few from his impressive back catalogue.

Seth spoke this year at BoS USA, but has spoken before, back in 2008 and 2010. Here’s his 2010 talk: “Are You Afraid To Truly Make An Impact?”.

Watch Seth Godin at BoS USA 2010

 

#44 – Jennifer Aaker

Jennifer Aaker makes her second appearance in the Thinkers50 this year, having been at #36 in 2015. Jennifer is a social psychologist and author, as well as being the General Atlantic Professor of Marketing at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Her book, “The Dragonfly Effect“, co-authored with her husband Andy Smith, has been translated into over 10 languages.

Jennifer presented at BoS USA 2009 with a talk titled “Beyond Happiness” – click below to watch it:

Watch Jennifer Aaker at BoS USA 2009

 

Congratulations again to all our speakers who made the list – a truly fantastic achievement. Have a glass of bubbly on us!