ABOUT THE AUTHORS
PAUL LEONARDI is an award-winning researcher, professor, and consultant who focuses on helping organizations become more innovative and creating change that improves the work lives of leaders, managers, and team members. As a leading expert in digital transformation, remote work, and social networks, his goal is to prepare organizations and their employees to succeed in the rapid transition into the new era of data-intensive and technology-supported work.
Paul has published more than 100 articles on these topics in top research-oriented journals, as well as numerous managerial-oriented articles based on his original research in magazines such as Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. This work has been covered by media outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Fortune, and Fast Company. Paul has published four research-focused books on digital transformation.
Over the past two decades, he has consulted with for-profit and nonprofit organizations about how to improve communication between departments, how to use social technologies to enhance internal knowledge sharing, how to structure global product development operations, and how to manage the human aspects of new technology implementation. He is also a regular keynote speaker for corporate trainings and user conferences on these and other topics related to innovation and change.
Paul has won more than thirty awards for his research and teaching, including multiple outstanding article awards from professional associations such as the Academy of Management, Strategic Management Society, and the National Communication Association. In 2021 he was elected a fellow of the International Communication Association, where he also received the Fredric Jablin Award for lifetime contributions to the study of organizational communication. He has also won major awards for his teaching to undergraduate and graduate students for his courses on digital transformation, managing innovation, and the future of work.
At the University of California Santa Barbara, he holds the Duca Family Endowed Chair in Technology Management and serves as director of the PhD program in Organization Studies in the College of Engineering. Previously, he served as the founding director of the Master of Technology Management (MTM) program, a professional management program for technical leaders, which he launched in 2014 and ran until 2019.
Before joining UCSB, Paul worked at Northwestern University, where he was jointly appointed across the School of Communication, the McCormick School of Engineering, and the Kellogg School of Management. He received his PhD in management science and engineering from Stanford University.
TSEDAL NEELEY is an award-winning scholar and teacher as the Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development and Research Strategy at Harvard Business School. Recognized as one of the 100 People Transforming Business by Business Insider, Tsedal focuses on helping leaders scale their organizations by developing and implementing global and digital strategies. She regularly advises top leaders worldwide who are embarking on virtual work and large-scale change that involves global expansion, digital transformation, and becoming more agile.
Her bestselling book, Remote Work Revolution: Succeeding from Anywhere, provides remote workers and leaders with the best practices necessary to perform at the highest levels in their organizations. Her award-winning book, The Language of Global Success, chronicles the behind-the-scenes globalization process of a company over the course of five years. Her “Managing a Global Team” is one of the most extensively used cases worldwide on the subject of virtual work. She holds a patent for her widely adopted software simulation, Global Collaboration: Tip of the Iceberg.
Prior to her academic career, Tsedal spent ten years working for companies like Lucent Technologies and the Forum Corporation in various roles, including strategies for global customer experience, performance software management systems, sales force/sales management development, and business flow analysis for telecommunication infrastructures.
She currently serves on the board of directors of Brightcove, Brown Capital Management, Harvard Business Publishing, and The Partnership, Inc. She also serves on Rakuten’s People & Culture Lab advisory board.
Tsedal received her PhD from Stanford University in management science and engineering, specializing in work, technology, and organizations. Tsedal was named to the Thinkers50 list for making lasting contributions to management, was honored as a Stanford Distinguished Alumnus Scholar, and was a Stanford University School of Engineering Lieberman award recipient for excellence in teaching and research.