Blue Sky Thinkers

A guide to the world's most influential strategic thinkers.

Number 1: Lynda Gratton

Nationality: British

Occupation: Associate professor of organisational behaviour at London Business School and dean of the full-time MBA programme.

Claim to fame: A driving force behind The Leading Edge Research Consortium, which examines how business strategy is developed through people, chronicling a number of companies in detail over the past 10 years. Her book Living Strategy: Putting People at the Heart of Corporate Purpose is currently one of the top-selling HR books in the world.

Key Messages: Real strategic HR is about developing ways of putting people where they belong - at the centre of the business, not on the sidelines. The notion that people are our greatest asset is a truism, not a cliché.

Buzzwords: 'People search for meaning in their work' and 'people have soul, they like to get excited about what they do'.

Real world experience: A trained psychologist, she worked for British Airways for several years as an occupational psychologist. Prior to joining London Business School she was director of HR strategy at PA Consulting. She serves on the board of the American HR Planning Society, and conducts CEO, CIO and HR director workshops in the UK and in the US.

Read: Results from the Leading Edge Consortium can be read in Strategic Human Resource Management: Corporate Rhetoric and Human Reality and Living Strategy: putting people at the heart of corporate purpose.

Strategic Human Resource Management