Co-founder, managing partner, Katzenbach Partners
Big Idea: Companies tend to avoid change, or change at the expense of their core strengths.
Clients: T-Mobile, MasterCard, Pfizer
Canner, 37, has emerged in recent years as one of the brightest lights in both strategy and organizational issues. Known for getting to the root of incredibly complex problems, he works with CEOs and top executives to help them make huge strategic shifts without destroying the existing culture.
He's helped T-Mobile reorient itself as a consumer company rather than a wireless one. He's also worked to globalize Korean conglomerate Doosan Group and developed nonprofit Acumen Fund's elite Fellows program. Now Canner and his team are focused on their own long-term project: China 2024, a study that's following 114 new Chinese MBAs for 20 years to learn firsthand lessons about China's business evolution.
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Last updated November 13 2008: 7:28 AM ET