DEBORAH ANCONA is the Seley Distinguished Professor of Management and founder of the MIT Leadership Center at the MIT Sloan School of Management. She has consulted on leadership and innovation to premier companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Takeda, Accenture, YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization), and the International Development Bank. Her pioneering research into how successful teams operate led to the concept of x-teams as a vehicle for driving innovation within large organizations. Ancona’s work also focuses on the concept of distributed leadership, moving from bureaucracies to more nimble forms of organizing, and individual models of leadership and change. She is known for the development of research-based tools, practices, and teaching/coaching models that enable organizations to foster creative leadership at every level.

Ancona is the author of several Harvard Business Review articles on leadership, including “In Praise of the Incomplete Leader,” “Nimble Leadership: Walking the Line Between Creativity and Chaos,” and “Family Ghosts in the Executive Suite.” Two of her articles have appeared in HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership. Her research has been published in the Administrative Science Quarterly, the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, and the MIT Sloan Management Review, as well as media outlets such as Fast Company, Financial Times, Forbes, Latin Trade, and Strategy & Business. She received both the Jamieson and Seegal prizes for teaching excellence at MIT.

Ancona holds a BA and an MS in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in management from Columbia University.

HENRIK BRESMAN is a professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD and a recognized expert on leadership, high-performance teams, and organizational change. He regularly works with companies and public-sector organizations embarking on large-scale transformations. Bresman’s research draws on data from multiple contexts, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, software development, health care, and government. His work has appeared in leading academic and practice journals, such as the Academy of Management Journal, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, and Organization Science, as well as many media outlets, including the Economist, Financial Times, Forbes, the New York Times, Time, and the Wall Street Journal.

Bresman’s teaching currently focuses on developing leaders for an exponentially changing world. He directs INSEAD’s flagship general management program for emerging leaders, the Management Acceleration Program, and the senior executive program Leading for Results. Before entering academia, Bresman worked in several roles as a manager, management consultant, and entrepreneur. He cofounded a venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology businesses. He is an experienced board member and a highly sought-after keynote speaker. Bresman holds a BS and an MS in economics from the Stockholm School of Economics and a PhD in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.