Heidi K. Gardner

Distinguished Fellow in the Center on the Legal Profession; Faculty Chair, Accelerated Leadership Program, Faculty Chair, Sector Leadership Master Class; Faculty Chair, Smart Collaboration Master Class

Heidi K. Gardner, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession and Faculty Chair of both the Accelerated Leadership Program and Sector Leadership Master Class.  She was previously a professor at Harvard Business School.  Her research, teaching, speaking and consulting focus on leadership and collaboration in professional service firms, and her book “Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos” will be published this year by Harvard Business Press.  Her first book, “Leadership for Lawyers: Essential Strategies for Law Firm Success” (Globe Business & Law Publishing) was released in 2015.

Previously on the faculty at Harvard Business School, she teaches continues to teach executive courses at HBS, Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard’s learning centers in Shanghai, China and Doha, Qatar. She is also an International Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Said Business School.

Dr. Gardner’s research was awarded the Academy of Management’s prize for Outstanding Practical Implications for Management. She has published articles in the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Harvard Business Review, Law Practice Today, and the Financial Times. She has also published numerous book chapters focusing on organizational behavior, cultural intelligence, multinational teams, professional collaboration, and the management of professional service firms. Her research has been featured in media such as The Economist, Boston Globe, MSN.com, CNN Money, Fortune.com and CBSNews.com.

Dr. Gardner earned a BA in Japanese Studies from the University of Pennsylvania (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), a Masters from the London School of Economics (highest distinction) and a second Masters and PhD from London Business School. Dr. Gardner has lived and worked on four continents. She previously worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Co. in London, Johannesburg and New York, and as a manager for Procter & Gamble. She also held a Fulbright fellowship in Germany, and studied and taught in Japan.