RGM

Discovery Driven Planning is a Harvard Business Review best-seller and has been adopted by companies all over the world as a key innovation tool.

Rita McGrath’s main argument is that most established companies have everything they need to take advantage of high-growth opportunities, with one exception: the right disciplines. Her entertaining and provocative sessions will help you and your people understand the disciplines that work to drive innovation and growth.

Selected Topics

Topic	Key Message
Discovery Driven Planning	Stop using the same planning techniques for new businesses that you use for existing ones; instead, plan to learn
MarketBusting	You too can identify huge growth opportunities by using five key lenses with discipline
Entrepreneurial Leadership	Understand the five key practices that create an entrepreneurial mindset and culture in your company
Capturing the most value from venturing	Get beyond go/no go thinking when evaluating your ventures to maximize their benefit to your company
Designing a portfolio for growth	How you can balance the long-term and short-term investment horizons while simultaneously integrating strategy, projects, budgeting and people development
The middle managers’ role in growth programs	The much-maligned middle manager is often the secret weapon in a drive to create growth.
Designing the launch	What should you take into account when you are launching your new business?
Dynamic Strategy	For years, we’ve been told that sustainable competitive advantage is the best strategic outcome. Rita shows you that temporary advantages can be just as powerful.

Keynote Speech from TechColumbus Innovation Summit 2009

Rita McGrath Part 1/3 from TechColumbus on Vimeo.

Rita McGrath Part 2/3 from TechColumbus on Vimeo.

Rita McGrath Part 3/3 from TechColumbus on Vimeo.

Rita, I was privileged to be in attendance in Florida to hear your comments on Intelligent Failures. Your style is engaging and the material was presented in a way that resonated with me, and with some of the issues we are having in my company today. Thanks for your time and for the thoughtful way in which you caused me to rethink some of our efforts here.

John Jung, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer,  Alfa Group,

Rita McGrath is one of the most dedicated, creative, caring, and energetic strategic thinkers around. In my work with her in Executive Education at Columbia Business School, she developed many innovative and impactful programs that really delivered value and impact to a range of companies and organizations. She has a wonderful ability to analyze a situation and develop programs that push the participants and their companies to new heights!
Barbara Glyde, Executive Director, Sales and Marketing, Columbia Business School,

A brief note of thanks to Professor McGrath for her impressive speech to our Navigant Consulting client in Laguna Beach. It was evident from the start of her talk that Rita had done her homework. Her PowerPoint and her commentary were specifically geared to this audience, and the numerous audience questions during her speech made the value of having this important speaker at this conference quite apparent. Thank you again for your continued courtesies.

Marc Reede, Rave Reviews Speakers and Entertainment, Beverly Hills, California,

Thank You! We wanted to express our sincere gratitude for the guidance you have provided us regarding the identification of new business opportunities. For years we have struggled with this concept. On many occasions we have spent tremendous amounts of time and money to build entire service delivery structures only to find out the market demand was not to be found. Through your instruction, web tools and book on “Discovery Driven Growth” I believe we have found the tools to be successful in this endeavor. We are in the early stages of using this methodology and have been pleasantly surprised by the discipline and direction it has provided our team. I would recommend DDG to any company wanting a disciplined and economical approach to sifting through a steady stream of ideas in order to identify great growth opportunities!
Manish Bhatnagar, VP and GM, Global Chemicals Industry, Underwriters Laboratories,

Truly a top expert in the field of Strategy. I hired Rita to co-design and deliver a strategy program for high-potential leaders at Microsoft. Her deep expertise allowed us to expand and focus as needed to meet the demands of the group. No matter the issue, Rita could bring out relevant content on the spot. I would hire Rita again. Also, what I really enjoyed about working with Rita is that in spite of the fact she is one of the top 20 strategy experts in nation, we could just discuss issues. No sense of arrogance. Easy to work with. http://www.DaveJennings.com
Dave A. Jennings, PhD, Leadership and Change Expert

I had the opportunity to work with Rita at both Wharton and Columbia. She is consistently sought after as a brilliant presenter, clear communicator, and a thought leader in her field. It was an honor to have worked with her, what I learned from our interactions together is an asset to me everyday.
Solveig Nicklos, Director of Program Management, Columbia Business School, Executive Education

Armed with innovative insights into the nature of strategy in our rapidly changing world, Rita is a strategy expert at the top of her game. Never afraid to roll up her sleeves to get the job done, she educates and inspires with a big-picture view and a practical touch.
Waha Capital, Abu Dhabi Engagement, David Grunfeld, Managing Director, MindSight

Thank you for your substantial contribution to our forum! Your presentation was a highlight and people continued to talk about it after you left. We are happy to report that we sold out of your books and will be selling them through our website. Your presentation will have a lasting affect on those who were fortunate enough to listen and engage with you this morning. We are proud to have offered a forum with the caliber of speakers that we did and having you on our program was a highlight! Thank you!

Sally Caputo, Director of Operations & Programming, Association of Management Consulting Firms,

Rita McGrath provided us with extremely valuable knowledge and skills on innovation and the role of leadership. She conducted 15 two-hour, live telecourses, based on her three books, tools, templates and readings. In addition, she interacted with the participants via a Think Tank collaborative tool where all posted their ideas and questions and answers. The evaluations were full of raves about her and this delivery method of digestible and actionable content. Now, those part of the business unit that attended share a common language and methodology in approaching the design, discussion, review, and implementation of new product ideas.
Pearson People Development Webinars, Krys Moskal Amdurer, PEARSON VP, Pearson People Development

Dear Dr. McGrath,

Thanks so much for joining us yesterday. We felt that your talk provided us the inspiration that was really the leitmotif of the day. All of our members and speakers enjoyed using your illustrations and I think that your talk and books provided us with a vocabulary that we frankly didn’t have before.

Pamela Rollo
Chair, New York Special Libraries Association
and Managing Director, BSTAmerica
Keynote to New York Special Libraries Association,

"The Market Busters strategies and tactics provide much-needed structure for the innovation process. Rita McGrath's unique innovation lenses and tools helped us understand how to take innovation at Nestle to the next level."
John Dilts, Managing Director of Dilts Ventures, LLC, Entrepreneurial Innovation Expert and Moderator for Nestlé’s 2007 Innovation Conference

"Rita McGrath is a thrilling speaker -- one of the best on strategy subjects of relevance to companies. She is bright, quick, energetic, focused, inspiring and effective. Rita teaches and learns as well, in real time, while challenging executives to sharpen their strategies and raise their aspirations.

Rita is herself a dynamic woman who thinks as fast and as powerfully as the brightest managers in any company, and who can confidently challenge any executive on raising the bar of ambition and improving the odds of success.

Rita creates lasting change in the way executives view their strategies and the possibilities that sound thinking can create for customers and companies."
Steve Newman, Program Director for Executive Development, Ericsson

"I have worked several years with Rita with excellent results! She really makes the difference with her new views and professional experience."
Birgit Byman-Kivivuori, HRD Manager of Human Resources, Nokia Ventures Organization

"Your presentation and real life examples provided practical information and a useful "checklist" for our participants. The break out sessions were well received and provided us with an opportunity to brain storm as a team, with helpful guidance and oversight from you."
Nancy McKinstry, CEO, Wolters Kluwers