Ranjay Gulati studies how organizations prosper in good times and bad. In 2010 he examined 4,700 companies across past recessions and found that only 9 percent emerged stronger, outperforming competitors by at least 10 percent in sales and profit growth. The findings, published in Harvard Business Review as "Roaring Out of Recession" and extended in 2023's "Investing in Growth Through Uncertainty," anchor his work on resilience. He advises companies including Google, Microsoft, Ford, GE, Bank of America, Adidas, Unilever and BlackRock. Holding a computer science degree alongside his Ph.D. in organizational behavior, Gulati is as much at home with AI strategy as with turnarounds: his Turnarounds and Transformations MBA course, with nearly 30 case studies including Lyft, Best Buy and the U.S. Marine Corps, is being adapted into his next book.
Fieldwork at LEGO, Gotham Greens, Warby Parker, Microsoft and the Seattle Seahawks runs through his books. Deep Purpose identifies the specific levers a small set of companies use to convert purpose into superior financial and social performance. "Deep purpose leaders go beyond just a statement to put their purpose to work by connecting it to all they do, from their customers and employees to communities at large," he says. His latest, How to Be Bold, distills more than 200 real-world stories collected over 12 years into the "9 C's," a framework that treats courage as a learnable practice rather than an inborn trait.
Ranjay GulatiPaul R. Lawrence Professor, Harvard Business School