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According to BCG’s Grant Freeland, going digital requires a fundamental shift in the ways we do business and how organizations operate. Learn more about the key questions each leader needs to address.

SO LONG, FAREWELL, AUF WIEDERSEHEN, GOOD NIGHT—BE KIND; CHANGE THE WORLD

There are few times in modern history when the world was more in need of kindness and change. This is among the huge responsibilities that comes with leadership: to be kind and help change the world.

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Or explore Grant’s collection 

A PERSONAL PLEA FOR LEADERS TO HELP PARENTS, ESPECIALLY WOMEN, JUGGLE COVID, FAMILY AND CAREERS

If you don’t proactively develop a caregiver strategy, you’ll lose more than just hard-won progress on gender diversity. You may also lose some of your most valuable employees and future company leaders.

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CULTURE CHANGE NEEDED FOR LGBTQ EMPLOYEES TO "FEEL AT HOME" AT WORK

Companies have a moral, legal, and fiduciary obligation to create open-arms policies that make their firms magnets for top talent. Leadership is especially critical in promoting diversity and inclusion.

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COVID-19 AND OUR NEW BIONIC SOCIETY

The COVID-19 pandemic proves the need to permanently integrate data, technology, and human sensibilities.

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INDRA NOOYI'S PASSIONS" PEOPLE, PERFORMANCE & PURPOSE AT PEPSICO AND BEYONS

Former chairman & CEO of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi’s new book focuses on how to integrate work & family—and demonstrates why her leadership style continues to inspire.

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THE END OF MANAGEMENT AS WE KNOW IT

Don't expect the management career ladder to totally disappear. Do expect it to morph into something significantly different.

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REACHING YOUR DIGITAL TIPPING POINT REQUIRES AN "ALL IN" EFFORT

Companies must master and control emerging technologies to take charge of their next customized digital initiative.

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TALENT WINS GAMES, TEAMWORK WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Leaders should focus on collaboration, cooperation, and teamwork—as opposed to the performance of any single employee.

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Grant Freeland has been with Boston Consulting Group since 1989 when he joined the Melbourne office. He has been the Managing Partner of the Boston office, and Global Leader for BCG’s People and Organization Practice. He is now a Senior Advisor and Senior Partner Emeritus at the firm, as well as an Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard Kennedy school and Adjunct Professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

During Grant’s 31-year tenure at BCG, his work focused on driving transformations in large organizations in both the private and public sector. This work includes organizational redesigns, post-merger integrations, restructurings, creation of high-performance workforces, culture change, leadership effectiveness, and creating digital and agile organizations. He was one of BCG’s Global Leaders when BCG was one of only two companies rated in the top five best places to work in Fortune’s Best Places to Work survey for eight years in row. Grant was selected as one of Consulting Magazine’s Top 25 Consultants in 2017.

Grant’s course at Harvard Kennedy School and Dartmouth Tuck focuses on transforming public interest organizations. He has contributed over 60 columns on leadership to Forbes.com. Previously, Grant was a marketing communications manager for Hewlett-Packard.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

EDUCATION

  • MPA, Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
  • MBA, Australian Graduate School of Management
  • BA, Chisholm Institute of Technology

HONORS AND AWARDS

Publications and Videos

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To Find the Right CEO, Look Beyond the CV

A prospective CEO’s personal characteristics are critical to success in the role, but other considerations are crucial, too—and far more often overlooked.
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COVID-19 And Our New Bionic Society

The COVID-19 pandemic proves the need to permanently integrate data, technology, and human sensibilities.
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Leaders Should Be Humans First, Especially In Times Of Crisis

Instead of being “all business,” try engaging with people on a personal level first, writes BCG’s Grant Freeland on Forbes.com.
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Agile Can Work Wonders in Pharma

Even highly regulated and rigid industries can benefit from new ways of working.
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BD’s Vincent Forlenza on Transforming in a Rapidly Changing Industry

Vincent Forlenza, CEO of BD, has navigated multibillion-dollar acquisitions while driving a full-scale organizational transformation. BD’s success, amid enormous change, hinges on its purpose-driven culture.
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How CEOs Keep Agile Transformations Moving

Leaders who observe five lessons keep transformations on track.
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Agile Traps

Agile is hard—really hard. But when companies don’t commit to planning and execution, they risk falling into one of several known traps.
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A CEO’s Guide to Leading Digital Transformation

Digital transformation requires not just technology but new ways of working. For many companies, the scarcest resource is not technological know-how. It’s leadership.
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Organizing for Growth

A new growth strategy is only as good as the people and organizational practices that support it. Here are five secrets that leaders can use to promote the cooperation and behavior that new growth initiatives require.
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Conversations with Leaders About Thriving amid Uncertainty

These six leaders favor fluid decision making. They impart a directional vision for their organizations to follow. Finally, they embrace complexity rather than wish it away.
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Leadership in a Two-Speed Economy

Today’s chief executives will ultimately be judged on how well they lead their companies through the two-speed world. Seven CEOs discuss how they do it.
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Grant Freeland on Filling the Leadership Vacuum

BCG’s Grant Freeland discusses the lessons about leadership that emerged from conversations with 11 chief executives who drove major transformation at their organizations.