About Ranjay Gulati
Ranjay Gulati is the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration and a distinguished organizational sociologist. He is the author of several books including Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies (HarperCollins, 2022) and How to Be Bold: The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage (Harper Business, 2025).
His pathbreaking research, which focuses on unlocking organizational potential and unleashing human potential, has shown how winning companies—those that prosper both in good times and bad—drive growth and prosperity. At the same time, his research has inspired individuals to unlock possibilities by aligning their own personal purpose with that of their organizations.
The Economist, the Financial Times, and the Economist Intelligence Unit have listed him as among the top handful of business school scholars whose work is most relevant to management practice. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his scholarly research and teaching, including recognition by Thinkers50 as a top management scholar and the CK Prahalad Award for Scholarly Impact on Practice in 2024.
Professor Gulati holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and lives in Newton, Massachusetts with his wife and two children.
Academic CV
Harvard Business School Faculty Page
Accolades & Awards
IILM (New Delhi, India)
Distinguished Global Thinker Award – 2025
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SOCIETY
CK Prahalad Award for Scholarly Impact on Practice – 2024
ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT FELLOWS GROUP AND THE COMMUNITY FOR RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT (RRBM)
Responsible Research in Management Award (finalist) – 2024
THINKERS 50
Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Leadership Award – 2025
Thinkers Distinguished Achievement Award for Leadership (finalist) – 2023
Recent Cases
Gulati, Ranjay, O’Connell, Andrew, and de Lacvivier, Caroline.
“Alaska Airlines: Empowering Frontline Workers to Make It Right.”
Harvard Business School Supplement 418-063, March 2018.
Gulati, Ranjay, and Huizinga, Jeff.
“Lyft 2023: Roads to Growth and Differentiation.”
Harvard Business School Supplement 424-060, March 2024.
Gulati, Ranjay, Wong, Adina, Lau, Dawn, and Mesfin, Joseph.
“DBS: Purpose-Driven Transformation.”
Harvard Business School Supplement 423-022, September 2022.
Gulati, Ranjay, and Eppa Rixey.
"Nick Saban: Embracing 'The Process' of Sustaining Success."
Harvard Business School Case 423-033, January 2023. (Revised August 2023.)
Gulati, Ranjay, Akhil Iyer, and Joel Malkin.
"First to Fight? Culture, Tradition, and the United States Marine Corps (USMC)."
Harvard Business School Case 423-051, January 2023.
Gulati, Ranjay, Allison Ciechanover, and Jeff Huizinga.
"Netflix: A Creative Approach to Culture and Agility."
Harvard Business School Case 420-055, September 2019.
Gulati, Ranjay, Luciana Silvestri, and Monte Burke.
"Etsy: Crafting a Turnaround to Save the Business and Its Soul."
Harvard Business School Case 821-092, April 2021.
Gulati, Ranjay, and Rachna Tahilyani.
"The Mahindra Group: Leading with Purpose."
Harvard Business School Case 421-091, April 2021. (Revised December 2023.)
Gulati, Ranjay, Jan W. Rivkin, and Kelly McNamara.
"BlackRock (A): Selling the Systems?"
Harvard Business School Case 717-404, October 2016. (Revised January 2018.)
Gulati, Ranjay, and Yogi, Sam.
“Warby Parker: Scaling a Startup.”
Harvard Business School Supplement 419-042, November 2018.