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Rita Gunther McGrath

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Rita Gunther McGrath
McGrath in 2013
Born (1959-07-28) July 28, 1959 (age 67)
New Haven, Connecticut
Alma materBarnard College
Columbia University
The Wharton School
Scientific career
FieldsStrategy, innovation and entrepreneurship
InstitutionsColumbia Business School
Websitewww.ritamcgrath.com

Rita Gunther McGrath (born July 28, 1959, in New Haven, Connecticut) is an Academic Director in Executive Education and professor of management at Columbia Business School with a research interest in strategic management. Her research focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship, including the development of discovery-driven planning.[1][2][3]

Life and work

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McGrath graduated from Barnard College in 1981 and earned a Master of Public Administration from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University in 1982.[3] In 1993, she completed her Ph.D. at The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) with a dissertation entitled Developing New Competence in Established Organizations.[4]

After graduating in 1993, McGrath joined Columbia as an Assistant Professor of Management.[3] In 1998, she was promoted to Associate Professor of Management, and later, she became a full Professor in the Faculty of Executive Education.[3] In 2009, she was elected Fellow of the Strategic Management Society,[5] and in 2014 she was elected the Deputy Dean of their Fellows.[6]

At Columbia, she directs the course: 'Leading Strategic Growth and Change', as well as guest-lectures in a number of other courses. She is involved in other Columbia initiatives such as the Think Bigger Innovation Hub and custom program offerings.[7]

In 2013, she was elected Fellow of the International Academy of Management.[citation needed]

McGrath is also the founder of the innovation platform Valize.[8]

Honors and awards

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  • 2022: C. K. Prahalad award for scholarly impact on practice from the Strategic Management Society[9]
  • 2022: Inducted into the Business Excellence Hall of Fame by the Business Excellence Institute[10]
  • 2016: Theory to Practice award from the Vienna Strategy Forum[10]
  • 2013: Distinguished Achievement Award in Strategy from Thinkers50[11]

Selected publications

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Books

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  • MacMillan, Ian C. and Rita Gunther McGrath. The entrepreneurial mindset: Strategies for continuously creating opportunity in an age of uncertainty. Vol. 284. Harvard Business School Press, 2000.
  • MacMillan, Ian C., and Rita Gunther McGrath. MarketBusters: 40 Strategic Moves That Drive Exceptional Business Growth. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2005.
  • MacMillan, Ian C. and Rita Gunther McGrath. Discovery Driven Growth: A breakthrough process to reduce risk and seize opportunity. Harvard Business Review Press, 2009.[12]
  • McGrath, Rita Gunther. The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2013.
  • McGrath, Rita Gunther. Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.[13]

References

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  1. ↑ Zahra, Shaker A., and Gerard George. "Absorptive capacity: A review, reconceptualization, and extension." Academy of management review 27.2 (2002): 185-203.
  2. ↑ Hitt, Michael, R. Duane Ireland, and Robert Hoskisson. Strategic management cases: competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Rita McGrath | Columbia Business School". business.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
  4. ↑ Gunther, Mcgrath (1993). The Development of New Competences in Established Organizations (Thesis). University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  5. ↑ "Fellows of the Strategic Management Society". Fellows.strategicmanagement.net. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  6. ↑ "SMS Fellows - Strategic Management Society - Welcome from Dean". Fellows.strategicmanagement.net. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "Rita McGrath | Columbia Business School". business.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2026-08-15.
  8. ↑ "Valize". Valize. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
  9. ↑ "Rita McGrath, winner of the 2022 CK Prahalad Award for Scholarly Impact on Practice". Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  10. 1 2 "Excellence Hall of Fame – Rita Gunther McGrath - The Business Excellence Institute". 2024-05-14. Retrieved 2025-12-26.
  11. ↑ "Distinguished Achievement Awards 2013". Thinkers 50. 11 November 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  12. ↑ MacMillan, Ian; McGrath, Rita (1997-07-01). "Discovering New Points of Differentiation". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2025-12-26.
  13. ↑ McGrath, Rita; MacMillan, Ian (1995-07-01). "Discovery-Driven Planning". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2025-12-26.
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