7 famous professors teaching at business school

TL;DR

• The most prestigious MBA programs in the world attract famous speakers and lecturers to share their expertise within the classroom
• Famous business school professors range from dynamic C-suite executives to politicians and policy experts 
• Among the most famous professors teaching at business school are Condoleezza Rice, Toto Wolff, and Dominic Barton

When investing in business school education, you’re investing in access to some of the best educators in the world. The more renowned the business school, the more likely it is to attract some of the best minds in the world to impart their knowledge and experience. 

If you’re enrolling to learn about finance, management, and leadership, who better to teach you than leading economists, executives at multinationals, and former politicians? 

Here are seven famous professors who you might find teaching you at business school: 

1. Bozoma Saint John, Netflix chief marketing officer

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Where: Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Management

Netflix chief marketing officer Bozoma Saint John has discussed her much celebrated leadership style at both Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Management. 

She spoke to Stanford students as part of the business class 'Reputation Management: Strategies for Successful Communicators,' while Harvard teaches a case study based on her experiences.

Bozoma lends a wealth of experience to the classroom, having headed up marketing at audio products firm Beats before moving to become head of global consumer marketing at Apple Music. She had a brief stint at Uber as chief brand officer and was appointed CMO at Netflix in June 2020.

2. Condoleezza Rice, Former US Secretary of State

©Max Morse | TechCrunch

Where: Stanford Graduate School of Business

Once the right hand woman of President George W Bush, Condoleezza Rice has switched the White House for another esteemed US institution: Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is director of the school’s Global Center for Business and the Economy, and teaches a course on Global Futures: History, Statecraft, Systems. 

Stanford MBAs can learn from the first female African-American Secretary of State, and the first female National Security Advisor. Alongside her role at Stanford GSB, Rice was also recently appointed director of Stanford-based think tank, the Hoover Institution. 

3. Scott Galloway, Author & podcaster

©Ryan Lash | TED

Where: NYU Stern School of Business

NYU Stern professor of marketing Scott Galloway has built quite an online following through his popular podcast ‘Pivot’, which offers ‘sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics’. 

Galloway has also become a vocal campaigner for tightening antitrust laws around big tech companies. His book, ‘The Four’, examines how Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google have grown to their current size—and the consequences of this situation.

At Stern, Galloway is a professor of Marketing, teaching Brand Strategy and Digital Marketing to second-year MBA students. 

4. Dominic Barton, Former McKinsey managing director, Canadian ambassador to China

© World Economic Forum via Flickr

Where: Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management

For those looking to get into consulting, there’s no better professor than Dominic Barton, former managing director of McKinsey. Barton is an adjunct professor at the Tsinghua University School of Economics Management and teaches the school’s Leadership in a New Era program, co-hosted by McKinsey. 

Barton has also taught at Oxford Saïd Business School and the London School of Economics, so there seems a good chance you could come across him at business school.

5. Toto Wolff, Team principal and CEO of the Mercedes F1 team

©MacKrys

Where: Harvard Business School

As the co-owner, CEO and team principal of the Mercedes F1 team, Toto Wolff presided over one of the greatest winning streaks in the sport’s history. Now, he’s hoping to transfer some of that winning mentality across to Harvard Business School MBA students.

Wolff is an executive fellow and guest lecturer at Harvard, where he shares insights on high-performance leadership, organizational culture, and personal effectiveness with the school’s MBA students.

6. Lynda Gratton, Author & management thinker

©Mattias Nutt

Where: London Business School

If you’re a student of organizational behavior, you’ll know Lynda Gratton. Gratton has taught at London Business School for more than 30 years as a professor of management practice. Her elective on the Future of Work is one of the school’s most popular courses.

Her books ‘The 100-Year Life’ and ‘The Shift’ have raised Gratton’s profile as one of the world’s leading management thinkers, a mainstay in the Thinkers50 Rankings and currently a fellow at the World Economic Forum.   

7. HR McMaster, Former US national security advisor

©Kuhlman | MSC

Where: Stanford Graduate School of Business

HR McMaster served as the United States national security advisor from 2017 to 2018 and has occupied some of the most senior positions in the US Army.

He is a lecturer in management at the Stanford Graduate School of Management, teaching the course ‘Building Strategic Competence: Observations from Battlegrounds Overseas and in Washington, D.C.’

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