The top 5 most influential business thinkers, according to a recent Wall Street Journal ranking , are as follows:
1. Gary Hamel – Strategy Guru
2. Thomas L. Friedman – New York Times Columnist
3. Bill Gates – Microsoft Chairman
4. Malcolm Gladwell – Author “Tipping Point”
    5. Howard Gardner- Harvard Professor
No surprises there.
The remaining 15 are as follows:
6. Philip Kotler – Northwestern professor
7. Robert B. Reich – Ex-labor secretary
8. Daniel Goleman – Psychologist
9. Henry Mitzberg – McGill professor
10. Steven R. Covey – Author,’7 Habits of Highly Effective People’
11. Jeffrey Pfeffer – Stanford professor
12. Peter M. Senge – Author,’The Fifth Discipine’
13. Richard Branson – Virgin founder
14. Michael E. Porter – Harvard professor
15. Michael S. Dell – Dell founder
16. Geert Hofstede – Author, ‘Culture’s Consequences’
17. Clayton M. Christiansen – Harvard professor
18. Jack Welch – Former GE CEO
19. Tom Peters – Author, ‘In Search of Excellence’
20. Myron S. Scholes – Nobel laureate
After reading the full list, I began to wonder who has made the most impact on my personal development as a business strategist/marketer. I have read books or articles by all the authors listed. I use formulas and principles developed by Michael Porter (Porter’s 5-forces) , Geert Hofstede (Cultural Dimensions) and Philip Kotler (Social Marketing) in almost every strategy I develop (where applicable). I have even been inspired enough to take immediate action just by watching interviews with Richard Branson and listening to success stories like that of Michael S. Dell. However, all this thinking made me realize that I don’t have one single guru. Everybody has played their part, not to mention a whole slew of existing experts (and perhaps potential future Top-20 gurus) like Don Tapscott, Jim Collins, Chris Anderson, Mitch Joel, Seth Godin, Joseph Jaffe, or even my bosses Bernie Colterman and Jim Mintz.
I then (out of curiosity) looked at the methodology for this list and noticed that for the first time Google search results were incorporated as determinant factors, and rightfully so. For too long business guru influence was measured solely by amount of publications or scholarly journal articles (which is important, but only measures the influence on a niche segment). Nowadays, if you want to establish yourself as a guru, or sustain your existing position as a guru, you absolutely must have a strong digital presence. The existing gurus are lucky that their publishers, agents, communities of readers, etc… actively talk about them and create digital content mentioning them online. They don’t have to get personally involved (although it would be great if they did).
The new, up and coming gurus on the other hand, absolutely should (and are) all personally involved in creating, sharing, responding and listing to digital content using social media (blogging, podcasting, etc…) to boost their reputations and carfeully manage their own personal brands. They understand that the rules have changed. It will be interesting to see how many gurus on the Top 20 list a decade from now, will have gotten there thanks to social media.
The potential impact a single individual can have on others has always amazed me. My own personal goal is to find that ideal balance of absorbing a bit of everything around me (kind of like a sponge) while at the same time trying hard to push my field further ahead with new ideas.
Who are your favourite gurus and what are your thoughts on the list compiled by the Wall Street Journal?
wow – thank you so much for associating me with this group. I appreciate it very much. I wonder to what extent the WSJ is even aware of people like myself and Mitch, or Chris Anderson and Seth Godin for that matter i.e. the next way of thinkers who are focused a lot more on what would typically be called the Web 2.0 arena.
Interesting how things are changing.
I think the Web 2.0 arena goes way beyond just marketing and interaction with consumers. It is a new way of doing business that needs to be applied at the highest strategic level within organizations. The WSJ is bound to realize this sooner or later and thus the Web 2.0 pioneers (from a business perspective) will start to come into mainstream light. It’s interesting to see Philip Kotler on that list as the only marketer, especially considering he’s quite removed from Web 2.0 thinking (great old-school ideas though).
Very interesting Mike. It seems to me that in some instances allowing yourself to be influenced by “guru’s” can help you or hurt you. In relation to playing music as I do, I find that when I listen to other musicians it can either inspire me or get me stuck hearing their tunes which hampers my own creative abilities. Do you think this sort of effect can happen in the areas of business? At some point if you want to be a guru, do you have to ignore most of what is around you and say “I know better!?”
As for my own inspirational guru, I’d have to give it to Hillman Curtis. His book: “MTIV: Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer” is incredibly inspirational on so many levels and for so many practices. A book basically designed to help get people out of creative slumps.
Shane, in response to your question , I agree with you 100%. It is extremely important not to just sponge up information but also to put something new and original on the table. I have many artists and a few musicians in my family so I completely understand where you are coming from. That being said, I do find it very important to have a solid base of theory in business or whatever creative industry you are in before bringing new ideas forward since chances are it’s been said or done before. Industry guru’s can help you get that base (they are the ones universities use for theories, textbooks and quotes). When I was getting my B.Com degree, I’d say about 50% of course material came from a few established gurus in their respective fields.
Very interesting post….also interesting, that in the whole list, not one woman was mentioned. I too have been inspired by many no that list and many other web 2.0-ers, including you Mike…but it seems that in leading traditional thought, we are missing a woman’s voice. Perhaps this is why, in my field, Nedra Weinreich or Nancy Lee inspire me so much…
Thanks for the entry!
Great point. I noticed a ton of blog posts about this list and the apparent lack of female gurus in the Top 20. It would be interesting if somebody did a correlation study to determine some of the factors that could be involved here.
Thanks for the blog and for the plug. There are a number of gurus out there who have had a major influence in my marketing career like Al Reis and Jack Trout ( the positioning guys) and I would include Al’s daughter Laura Ries as a leader in marketing. If I am ever need for inspiration I read articles which they publish on their respective sites.
However when you really think about it the most inspirational guru may be a colleague , your boss, teacher/professor a family member ( no question that my older brother had tremendous impact on me learning about marketing and business) or an article you read that really changes the way you think. It may not necessarily come from the world of business but from politics, arts and entertainment, science, sports etc.