HEIDI GARDNER, PhD

Distinguished Fellow, Harvard Law

Heidi K. Gardner, PhD, is a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession and Faculty Chair of the school’s Accelerated Leadership Program and Sector Leadership Masterclass.  Previously she was a professor at Harvard Business School.  Dr. Gardner’s book “Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos” was published in 2017 by Harvard Business Press, and became a Washington Post bestseller. Named by Thinkers 50 as a Next Generation Business Guru, Dr. Gardner recently co-founded the research and advisory firm Gardner & Co.

Dr. Gardner has authored more than 70 books, chapters, case studies, and articles. Her research received the Academy of Management’s prize for Outstanding Practical Implications for Management, and has been selected three times for Harvard Business Review’s “best of” collections. The 2^nd edition of her book Leadership for Lawyers: Essential Strategies for Law Firm Success was published in 2019, and Smart Collaboration for Lateral Hiring was released in 2018. Her latest work, Smart Collaboration for In-House Legal Teams is forthcoming in 2020.  A sought-after keynote speaker and advisor, Dr. Gardner has addressed live audiences of more than 30,000 business leaders in more than 30 countries.

Dr. Gardner has lived and worked on four continents, including as a Fulbright Fellow, and for McKinsey & Co. and Procter & Gamble.  She earned her BA in Japanese from the University of Pennsylvania (summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa), a Masters degree from the London School of Economics (with distinction), and second Masters and PhD from London Business School.