Dr. Jonas Ridderstrale

Biography

Dr. Jonas Ridderstråle is one of the world’s most prominent and respected business thinkers and speakers. Since bursting onto the international scene with the bestseller Funky Business in 2000, Jonas has remained at the forefront of the new generation of management gurus. The 2009 Thinkers 50, the biennial ranking of management thinkers, ranked him at number 23 globally and put him on the top-five list in Europe.

His forceful blend of academic rigor, imagination, humour and highly dynamic presentation style has made him an extremely sought after and appreciated speaker with engagements from Moscow to Mumbai and San Francisco to Shanghai. Jonas’ diverse client list includes organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies and major government bodies to sports teams and trade unions. Jonas is a presenter with a difference who makes a difference. He has spent the last ten years giving people the competence, confidence and courage to think, feel and do things differently. In keynotes and workshops Jonas conveys his message with passion and energy, adding not only improved skills but also inspiring the will and thrill necessary for change.

Jonas holds an MBA and a PhD in international business and was recognized as Sweden’s outstanding young academic of the year. In 2007, he was awarded the prestigious Italian Nobels Colloquia award for “Leadership in Business and Economic Thinking”. Jonas is currently a visiting professor at two internationally acclaimed business schools: Ashridge in the UK and IE in Spain. His research has been published in leading academic journals.

Jonas also practices what he so persuasively preaches. He is co-owner and Chairman of the Swedish Management Group – Mgruppen – one of Scandinavia’s leading and most successful providers of management training and development. In addition, he acts as a trusted advisor and consultant to a number of multinational corporations.

In 2008, Wiley published his latest bestseller Re-energizing the Corporation: How leaders make change happen (co-written with Mark Wilcox). The new book tells you how to combine the why and how of leading change. His original claim to fame Funky Business: Talent makes capital dance quickly became an international success, selling in the excess of 300,000 copies. The book was recently ranked at number 16 in a Bloomsbury survey of the best business books of all time. The sequels, Karaoke Capitalism: Management for mankind and Funky Business Forever: How to enjoy capitalism, also became globally celebrated manifestos for how to make it in the new world of commerce. (All three books were co-authored with Kjell A. Nordström.) His books have been translated into more than 30 languages and published in more than 50 countries worldwide.

Jonas has attracted huge media coverage throughout the world. He has appeared on CNN’s “Global Office” in an extended interview exploring the ideas behind his books. Elsewhere, he has been featured in Fortune, Fast Company, Time Magazine, Financial Times, The Times, Stern, Paris Match, and many other publications worldwide.

Topics

• Change Management
• The Economic Darwinism – Survival of the Sexiest
• Funky Business
• Karaoke Capitalism
• Competition and Strategy

Publications

• Change Management!, 2009 (co-author)
• Re-energizing the Corporation, 2008
• Karaoke Capitalism – Management for Mankind, 2004 (co-author)
• Funky Business – Talent Makes Capital Dance, 1999 (co-author)