Ranjay Gulati

Ranjay Gulati Speaking Topics

• Agile Leadership that Transcends Derailers and Overcomes Inertia

  Spurred by uncertainty about the future, many companies are rushing to become an agile organization to remain competitive. Despite the increasing need for agility, organizations may resist the change, and agile-curious leaders may not know or have have the skills to bring this strategy to life. Management expert and award-winning author Ranjay Gulati, Ph.D., has spent decades bridging strategy, organizational design and leadership to form a comprehensive model for developing agile leadership, especially during tremendous market uncertainty. Interactive and accessible to any audience, Gulati first provides leaders with a detailed assessment of the inertial forces that perpetuate stagnation and failure, making it hard for established organizations to be agile. Building on these derailers, he introduces leaders to specific actions they can take to anticipate and ultimately transcend them. Finally, he concludes with a personal leadership roadmap for those seeking to develop agile and self-management skills in themselves, providing a path to embracing agility with a winning mindset.

• Build Exceptional Teams Through The 5 T’s of Coaching

  Much research has been conducted on successful organizational leadership. But does that research leave out some of the world’s most successful leaders? According to Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati, Ph.D., when it comes to empowering teams to perform at their best, sports coaches are among the most focused leaders of all. In this eye-opening presentation, he reveals insights from some of the sports world’s most successful coaches such as NBA legend Phil Jackson, iconic MLB manager Bobby Cox, innovative football coach Pete Carroll and more. Gulati outlines “the 5 T’s of coaching” – talent, training, teamwork, tenacity and transformation – to provide lessons that are as immediately applicable in the business world as they are in the sports world. Audiences will leave with proven strategies for getting the best out of their teams whether they’re on the field or in the boardroom.

• Deep Purpose: Serving Society While Achieving Economic Success

  According to award-winning author and Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati, Ph.D., the pursuit of purpose can translate into superior financial and social performance, but that pursuit must go beyond a well-intentioned purpose statement to net real results. Through in-depth fieldwork assessing companies that truly embrace purpose as an organizing principle, he has identified four specific levers that allow leaders of deep purpose companies to achieve superior results. Drawing from his 2022 book “Deep Purpose,” Gulati uses colorful storytelling, inspiring case studies and relatable research analysis to break down why and how to form a corporate purpose that translates into growth. In interactive and practical presentations, Gulati showcases how the vast majority of businesses today can better employ purpose to serve society while also achieving economic success.

• How to Be Bold: Unlocking the Science and Strategy of Everyday Courage

  In uncertain times, organizations often retreat, finding themselves playing not to lose instead of striving to win. But what if courage, both individual and collective, is a mental muscle that leaders and teams can build? In deeply researched presentations, Harvard Business School professor and bestselling author Ranjay Gulati, Ph.D. draws on his latest book “How to Be Bold: The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage” to reframe courage as a learnable practice. Sharing insights from psychology, neuroscience, history and leadership, as well as more than 200 real-world stories collected over 12 years, Gulati reveals how individuals and organizations can cultivate boldness in the face of fear, uncertainty and risk. Highly inspiring, Gulati’s framework is built on practical steps for activating nine key levers of courageous leadership, which he calls the “9 C’s.” This includes how to build the support systems that fuel brave action, how to reframe fear as a signal instead of a stop sign, and how to turn adversity into innovation. By using historical and contemporary cases as vivid examples, Gulati reveals that learning to act with courage entails developing a purposeful and powerful self-narrative. With research showing that leaders can trigger courage when they help others to reframe their self-narratives in specific ways, Gulati delivers practical exercises for changing how we think about the stories we tell ourselves. Attendees exit with a clear understanding of what it takes to foster the cultural and structural conditions that empower teams to act boldly, especially when the stakes are high.

• How to Bolster Successful Businesses and Rescue Struggling Ones

  In a time of rapid technological and economic changes, how can healthy organizations stay healthy and how can struggling organizations turn around? Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati, Ph.D., one of the world’s top experts on organizational strategy and change management, has created accessible frameworks for enacting practical transformation and turnaround initiatives. In this eye-opening session, he presents a preview of his upcoming book featuring real-world examples of businesses who have undergone such initiatives, including Lyft, Best Buy, the U.S. Marine Corps and more. Audiences will discover new internal processes for creating a strategically unique place in the market that can boost successful businesses and pull fraught businesses back from potential failure.