CK Prahalad is worlds most influential thinker: Thinkers 50 global ranking of business gurus

Prahalad has been named as worlds most influential thinker by UK based Thinkers 50, a respected global ranking of business gurus (www.thinkers50.com).
According to Thinkers 50, Prahalad has surged ahead of icons like Bill Gates, Michael Porter, Jack Welch, Gary Hamel and other venerated gurus to claim the no 1 spot. This is the first time since Thinkers 50 was first published in 2001 that an Indian has topped the list.

CK Prahalad is not the only Indian in the list. There are three others: CEO coach Ram Charan (#22), Vijay Govindarajan of the Tuck Business School (#23); and Harvards Rakesh Khurana (#45). North Americans however dominate the list with 37 gurus of the total fifty.

Noting the achievement of Prahalad, Thinkers 50 says, The most influential living management guru in the world is CK Prahalad. Best known for his work with Gary Hamel on resource-based strategy, which gave rise to the term core competences, more recently, Prahalad has turned his attention to the plight of the worlds poor. In The Bottom of the Pyramid, his 2004 book, he argues that capitalism can be the engine to eradicate poverty.

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates is ranked at No 2. Says Thinkers 50, Once vilified by IT purists, Gates stature as a technology pioneer is enhanced by his philanthropic work. The billions of dollars he has invested to help eradicate malaria and promote education have enabled him to retain the number 2 slot he claimed in 2005.

In third spot is former head of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, whose book The Age of Turbulence has become an influential book on todays turbulent times. Strategy guru Michael Porter, who topped the list in 2005, is ranked at No 4.

There are many new entrants to this years list. John Kotter; Thomas Friedman (author of The World is Flat); coach Marshall Goldsmith; Marcus Buckingham; Richard DAveni; permission marketing evangelist Seth Godin; educationist Howard Gardner; and Chris Zook of Bain Consulting make their debut.

Thinkers 50, produced by UK based management experts Des Dearlove & Stuart Crainer of Suntop Media, is a bi-annual guide to which thinkers and ideas are most influential in todays times. According to Thinkers 50, shortlists for the ranking were based on readers poll, expert poll and Google search listings. Shortlists were assessed against 10 criteria. These criteria were originality of ideas, practicality of ideas, presentation style, written communication, loyalty of followers, business sense, international outlook, rigor of research, impact of ideas and guru factor.

Thinkers 50: Rankings2007
(Rankings in brackets indicate 2005 ranking)

1
CK PRAHALAD (3)

2
Bill GATES (2)

3
Alan GREENSPAN (35)

4
Michael PORTER (1)

5
Gary HAMEL (14)

6
Chan KIM & Rene MAUBORGNE (15)

7
Tom PETERS (4)

8
Jack WELCH (5)

9
Richard BRANSON (11)

10
Jim COLLINS (6)

22
Ram CHARAN (24)

23
Vijay GOVINDARAJAN (31)

45
Rakesh KHURANA (33)

Source: www.Thinkers50.com