Rita McGrath
As seen in:
Thought Sparks,
Apple Podcasts,
Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel,
LinkedIn,
CNN,
Medium,
MSN,
MSN India,
Issuu,
The Economic Times,
Wiley Online Library
and
Covers:
Innovation, Transformation, Organizational Change, Discovery Driven Planning, Seeing Around Corners, Strategy, Technology
Strategy & innovation. @Columbia_Biz. @Thinkers50 top 10 & #1 in strategy. Bestselling author of #TheEndofCompetitiveAdvantage & #SeeingAroundCorners.
Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
As a writer, at Columbia Business School.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes
How is social media changing news?
Utterly. Business model, trustworthiness, disintermediation, analog dollars to digital pennies, you name it.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Lois Lane
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To get to the truth, wherever it leads you.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Via email.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Business software, Zoho, AI tools, Outlook.
What's your favorite social network?
LinkedIn. Does that make me sound boring?
Who do you wish followed you?
Key decision-makers in society and business.
Why did you become a journalist?
I'm actually an academic, but I write to bridge theory and practice. I love having the time to think.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Yes. I was an editor and reporter.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
Discovery Driven Planning - it ushered in a whole new way of thinking about planning under uncertainty.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Find a set of conditions that absolutely fascinate you and create the opportunity to write about them. Get feedback. Criticism is a gift.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Mornings.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
To interview the founder of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day, about a book she wrote called "I Bottled My Mother."
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Hard to pick just one. Usually some retired executive who has written a book about their "5 Principles" "Never Say Never" or other blather
What's your favorite drink?
A Manhattan.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
In front of a crowd or in the kitchen.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Harvard Business Review. The New York Times. Wired.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That business operates the way you see it on television.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.