What is a virtual mentor, you ask?
A mentor doesn’t only have to be a physical presence in an office, or a coffee shop!
A virtual mentor is anyone you can learn from.
So how do I learn from them?
- Books obviously – that yellow button in the top right corner of Amazon is well used!
- YouTube – it’s amazing how much you can learn from a virtual mentor in an hour long YouTube video or a TEDX Talk!
- But also podcasts like:
Global Gurus Top 30 Management Gurus for 2022:
Global Guru Top Gurus lists of remarkable leaders are chosen and voted for by the people/public/Global Guru audience. They are not necessarily industry leaders, but people who support knowledge and personal/organisational development in their fields through speaking, training, books, and media:
- Philip Kotler – World famous Management and Marketing guru, called the ‘Father of Modern Marketing’, author of Marketing Management.
- Tom Peters – Called the ‘Red Bull’ of management thinkers, author of In Search Of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies
- John Kotter – Harvard Business School professor for over 30 years, founder of Kotter International, and author of Leading Change.
- Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez – World champion in project management and author of The Focused Organization: How Concentrating on a Few Key Initiatives Can Dramatically Improve Strategy Execution.
- Hortense Le Gentil – Executive Leadership Coach and the President and Founder of JAY Consulting.
- Vijay Govindarajan – World-leading expert on strategy and innovation, New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author.
- Brian Moran – President and Founder of The 12 Week Year with 30 years of expertise as a corporate executive, entrepreneur, consultant and coach.
- Jeffrey Pfeffer – Listed in the top 25 management thinkers by Thinkers 50, author or co-author of 15 books.
- Bob Nelson – President of Nelson Motivation Inc., has sold 5 million books on management and motivation.
- Jim Collins – Business consultant, author, and speaker on leadership and company sustainability and growth, author of Good to Great.
- David Burkus – A renowned expert, Burkus’ writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, USA Today, Fast Company, and more.
- Robin Speculand – A strategy implementation expert, he is known for his breakthroughs on implementation methodology and techniques.
- Tamara J. Erickson – A McKinsey Award-winning author and widely respected expert on collaboration and innovation.
- Gary Hamel – Recently ranked by The Wall Street Journal as the world’s most influential business thinker and by Fortune magazine as the world’s leading expert on business strategy.
- Hal Gregersen – Co-author of ten books and publisher of over 50 articles on leading innovation and change. His research has been highlighted in global media such as BBC, CNN, The Economist, Fast Company, Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune, Inc., The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
- Dr. Annie McKee – Executive coach and advisor to leaders of Fortune/FTSE 500 companies, governments and NGOs around the globe.
- W. Chan Kim – Author of “Blue Ocean Strategy”, Kim is ranked in the top 3 management gurus in the world in the Thinkers50 listing of the World’s Top Management Gurus.
- Don Tapscott – Canadian business executive, author, consultant and speaker who specialises in business strategy, organisational transformation and the role of technology in business and society. Co-author of international bestseller “Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything”.
- Alexander Osterwalder – Co-founder of Strategyzer, an innovation powerhouse specialising in business model innovation and value proposition design.
- Sandy Ogg – Founder of CEO.works. He has spent over 30 years working with and learning from successful CEOs around the world.
- Herminia Ibarra – An organisational behaviour professor at London Business School and ranked by Thinkers50 as among the top management thinkers in the world.
- Joseph Eugene Stiglitz – Former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001. Author of The New York Times bestseller “The Price of Inequality”.
- Roger Martin – Premier’s Chair in Productivity & Competitiveness and Academic Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management. He has written eighteen Harvard Business Review articles and published eight books.
- Jonathan H. Westover, Ph.D – US-based Amazon.com # 1 Bestselling Author, ranked # 1 HR, Innovation, and Future of Work Global Thought Leader & Influencer (Thinkers360), entrepreneur, management consultant, teacher, and research academic.
- Philip Kotler – American management consultant author and educator.
- Dr. Noel M Tichy – Management consultant author and educator. He has authored many books, including “Judgement: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls.” He is regarded as one of the Top 10 Management Gurus by Business Week.
- Harry M. Jansen Kraemer Jr. – American business executive, leadership author, and professor. Author of two bestselling leadership books: “From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership” and “Becoming The Best: Build a World-Class Organization Through Values-Based Leadership”.
- Barbara Kellerman – American professor of public leadership, currently at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She has appeared often on media outlets such as CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, NPR, MSNBC, Reuters and BBC, and has contributed articles and reviews to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and the Harvard Business Review.
- Kaihan Krippendorff – Internationally recognised thought-leader, consultant, and sought-after keynote speaker on the topics of strategy, growth, and transformation. Named to the Thinkers50 list of the 30 management thinkers most likely to shape the future of how organisations are managed and led, Kaihan is also a best-selling author of five books.
- Dave Crenshaw – Author, speaker, and online trainer, he is a master of building productive leaders. He has decades of experience training leaders in Fortune 500 companies, universities, and organisations of every size.
My virtual mentors include:
- Jim Collins – Author Good to Great
- Patrick Lencioni – Author Five Dysfunctions of a Team
- Brad Smart – Author Topgrading
- Verne Harnish – Author Scaling Up
- Ismail Salim – Author Exponential Organisations
- Kaihan Krippendorff – Author Outthinker
- Peter Diamandis – Founder Xprise Foundation
- Shannon Susko – Author Metronomics
- Dan Sullivan – Author Who Not How
- Victoria Medvec – High Stakes Negotiation
- Francis Frei – Author Uncommon Service
- Daniel Marcos – CEO Growth Institute
- Jack Daly – Jack Daly Sales
Who are your virtual mentors? Your favourite Thought Leaders? What are your favourite podcasts?
I would love to hear from you.
I hope you have enjoyed these insights. Have a great week and stay growth-focused!
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Best wishes,
Jonathan
jonathan@scaleupgrowth.co
+61 (0) 408 748 980