Rita McGrath is an expert in strategy, innovation, and organisational transformation. Consistently named among the Thinkers50 Top 10 Management Thinkers and awarded the #1 prize for strategy, she is celebrated for her ability to help organisations adapt to uncertainty and capitalise on strategic inflection points.
Rita founded Valize in 2016 to help leaders and entrepreneurs navigate transformative challenges and future-proof their organisations. Valize offers cutting-edge tools like SparcHub software, the Valize Learning Hub, and consulting services to build organisational capabilities at the speed of business. Since 2014, she has also led the Rita McGrath Group, applying innovative thinking to solve complex challenges for clients across industries such as technology, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods. Equally, Rita is a long-time professor at Columbia Business School; her research and teaching centre on the intersection between strategy and innovation.
Rita has made a profound impact on business strategy and innovation, contributing to pivotal transformations in major organisations. She helped Honeywell reshape its aviation strategy, guided an oil and gas company’s transition to renewables, and inspired the Lean Startup movement with her groundbreaking Discovery-Driven Planning framework. As part of IBM’s Emerging Business Opportunity program, she helped launch 18 billion-dollar businesses. A bestselling author, Rita has published five influential books, including ‘Seeing Around Corners’ and ‘The End of Competitive Advantage’. Her work has been recognised with accolades such as the C. K. Prahalad Award and multiple ‘best book’ honours.
Rita McGrath’s ability to demystify complex challenges and deliver actionable strategies makes her a sought-after advisor and speaker. She regularly addresses high-profile events like the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Microsoft CEO Summit, and SXSW. Her keynotes focus on critical topics such as strategic inflection points, fostering innovation, and building gender-balanced workplaces - with a proven track record of inspiring C-suite leaders and driving transformative change.
Social Media
Books
Discovery-Driven Growth: A Breakthrough Process to Reduce Risk and Seize Opportunity
Marketbusters: 40 Strategic Moves That Drive Exceptional Business Growth
Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen
The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business
The Entrepreneurial Mindset: Strategies for Continuously Creating Opportunity in an Age of Uncertainty
How to hire Rita McGrath
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Rita McGrath for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
Rita McGrath's official speaker topics are listed below:
- Discovery-driven planning
- Gender-balanced workplaces
- Innovation as a repeatable process
- Positive politics for organisational change
- Strategic inflection points
- 2023 - Recognised as a Thinkers50 Top 10 Management Thinker
- 2019 - Published ‘Seeing Around Corners’
- 2013 - Published ‘The End of Competitive Advantage’
- 2004 - Awarded the Maurice Holland Award for Best Paper in Research Technology Management
- 1995 - Developed the Discovery-Driven Planning methodology
