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CYNTHIA MONTGOMERY

Harvard Business School Professor and Strategy Expert

Cynthia Montgomery is a professor of business administration and former head of the strategy unit at Harvard Business School, where she has taught for 20 years. For the past six years, she has led the strategy track in the school's owner/president management executive education program, which attracts leaders of midsized companies worldwide.

Professor Montgomery's research centers on strategy and corporate governance. Of particular interest are the unique roles leaders play in developing and implementing strategy; the means organizations use to create value across multiple lines of business; and issues related to corporate boards of directors.

Professor Montgomery has published extensively in the fields of strategy and economics. Her work has appeared in nearly a dozen top-tier managerial and academic outlets, including Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, American Economic Review, Rand Journal of Economics, Strategic Management Journal, The Academy of Management Journal, Management Science, The Journal of Business, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, and others.

She is the author of The Strategist: Be the Leader your Business Needs (HarperBusiness, 2012); the co-author of Corporate Strategy: Resources and the Scope of the Firm (with David J. Collis), the editor of Resource-Based and Evolutionary Theories of the Firm, and the co-editor of Strategy: Seeking and Securing Competitive Advantage (with Michael E. Porter).

At Harvard Business School, she received the Greenhill Award for her outstanding contributions to the School's core MBA strategy course. Prior to Harvard, Montgomery taught at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Michigan and at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management where she was recognized with its Outstanding Teacher of the Year award. Her dissertation work on corporate level strategy won the General Electric Award for Outstanding Research in Strategic Management.

Montgomery has served on the Board of Directors of two Fortune 500 companies--NewellRubbermaid, Inc. and UnumProvident--and a number of mutual funds managed by BlackRock, Inc. She has also served on several not-for-profit boards, including Harvard Business Publishing and McLean Hospital.

Her latest offering, The Strategist: Be the Leader Your Business Needs was published by Harper Business in May, 2012. Professor Montgomery has successfully distilled the lessons from her popular executive courses into the book. Driven by the voices and experiences of executives she has taught from around the world, she urges leaders to embrace their role as strategists, uniquely positioned to answer the most essential question facing every business: does your company truly matter?

In her presentations, Professor Montgomery will discuss what strategy is, why it matters, and what it takes to lead the effort. By bottling the experiences and insights gleaned in the Harvard classroom, Montgomery empowers leaders to develop the skills and sensibilities they need to become strategists themselves.

Strategy
Leadership
Competitive Advantage
Competition

The Strategist: Be the Leader Your Business Needs

Based on an acclaimed professor's legendary strategy course at Harvard Business School, The Strategist offers a radically new perspective on a leader's most vital role.

"Are you a strategist?" That's the first question Cynthia Montgomery asks the business owners and senior executives from all over the world who participate in her highly regarded executive education course. It's not a question they anticipate or care much about on opening day. But by the time the program ends, they cannot imagine leading their companies to success without being—and living the role of—a strategist.

Over a series of weeks and months, Montgomery puts these accomplished executives through their paces. Using case discussions, after-hours talks, and participants' own strategy dilemmas, she illuminates what strategy is, why it's important, and what it takes to lead the effort. En route, she equips them to confront the most essential question facing every business leader: Does this company truly matter? In doing so, she shows that strategy is not just a tool for outwitting the competition; it is the most powerful means a leader has for shaping a company itself.

The Strategist exposes all business leaders—whether they run a global enterprise or a small business—to the invaluable insights Montgomery shares with these privileged executives. By distilling the experiences and insights gleaned in the classroom, Montgomery helps leaders develop the skills and sensibilities they need to become strategists themselves. It is a difficult role, but little else one does as a leader is likely to matter more.