Amy C. Edmondson AB ’81, AM ’95, PHD ’96

Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, a chair established to support the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful enterprises that contribute to the betterment of society. Number 13 on the 2017 Thinkers50 list of the worlds’ most influential management thinkers, which has recognized her contributions since 2011, Edmondson speaks regularly on leadership and management in companies and at conferences around the world. She is the author of six books, including The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety for Learning, Innovation and Growth (Wiley: forthcoming) and Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, & Compete in the Knowledge Economy (Jossey-Bass, 2012), as well as Building the future: Big teaming for audacious innovation (Berrett-Koehler, 2016).

Before her academic career, she was Director of Research at Pecos River Learning Centers. In the early 1980s, she worked as Chief Engineer for architect/inventor Buckminster Fuller, and her book A Fuller Explanation: The Synergetic Geometry of R. Buckminster Fuller (Birkauser Boston, 1987) clarifies Fuller’s mathematical contributions for a non-technical audience. She received her PhD in organizational behavior, AM in psychology, and AB in engineering and design, all from Harvard University.