Linda A. Hill

Business leader, educator and author

Linda A. Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and chair of the Leadership Initiative. Hill is regarded as one of the top experts on leadership. Hill is the co-author of Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation, co-founder of Paradox Strategies, and co-creator of the Innovation Quotient. She was named by Thinkers50 as one of the top ten management thinkers in the world in 2013 and received the Thinkers50 Innovation Award in 2015.

Hill's research focuses on implementing global strategies and leading innovation; building innovative organizations and ecosystems; developing leaders for innovation; and the role of the board in governing innovation. She is the author of highly-regarded books and articles on leadership, including her latest book Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation (Harvard Business Review Press 2014). Collective Genius was named by Business Insider as one of "The 20 Best Business Books" in 2014 and received the Gold Medal for Leadership, Axiom Business Book Award. In 2015, Hill, along with her co-authors, received the first Warren Bennis Prize for the Harvard Business Review article "Collective Genius," based on the book. Hill is also the co-author of Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives of Becoming a Great Leader, noted by the Wall Street Journal as one of the "Five Business Books to Read for your Career in 2011" and author of Becoming a Manager: How New Mangers Master the Challenges of Leadership (2nd edition). Her books are available in multiple languages. Hill has authored or co-authored numerous Harvard Business Review articles, including "Where Will We Find Tomorrow's Leaders," "Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets," and "Are You a High Potential?" She is a contributor to the HBS Press Pocket Mentor series Managing Up, Hiring, Becoming a New Manager, and Negotiating Outcomes.

Hill has chaired numerous HBS Executive Education programs, including the Young Presidents' Organization Presidents' Seminar and the High Potentials Leadership Program, and Leading and Building a Culture of Innovation. She was course-head during the development of the new Leadership and Organizational Behavior MBA required course.

Hill has been at the forefront of developing various innovative learning programs for managers, including Breakthrough Leadership, the winner of the 2013 Brandon Hall Group Award for Best Advance in Unique Learning Technology, and the award-winning multimedia management development programs such as High Performance Management.

Hill's consulting and executive education activities have been in the areas of leadership development, talent management, leading change and innovation, implementing global strategies, and managing cross-organizational relationships. Organizations with which Professor Hill has worked include the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, General Electric, RELX, Accenture, UnitedHealth Group, IBM, MasterCard, Merck, Mitsubishi, Morgan Stanley, National Bank of Kuwait, AREVA, The Economist, Salesforce.com, and The World Economic Forum. In 2014, Hill co-founded Paradox Strategies, an advisory and research firm that assesses and advises organizations and boards on leadership and innovation.

Hill is a member of the Board of Directors of State Street Corporation, Harvard Business Publishing, and the Global Citizens Initiative, Inc. Hill has served on the Board of Trustee of ArtCollege of Design since 2015 and is a Special Representative to the Board of Trustees of Bryn Mawr College. She is also on the Advisory Board of Eight Inc., the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, and the Advisory Board for the California Institute for Telecommunications and information Technology (Calit2). She is on the Board of Advisors of the American Repertory Theater. She is a member of the HR People + Strategy Advisory Council. Hill is a former director of the Eaton Corporation, former member of the Board of Trustees of The Rockefeller Foundation and The Bridgespan Group, and a former member of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund USA board.

Hill completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Harvard Business School and earned a Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences at the University of Chicago. She received her M.A. in Educational Psychology from the University of Chicago. She has a B.A., summa cum laude, in psychology from Bryn Mawr College.