William Pietersen
Professor of the Practice of Management
Management
Faculty Member
Executive Education
BA, LLB, Rhodes, 1960; MA, Oxford, 1963
Joined CBS in 1996
E-mail:
[email protected]
Fax:
212-426-5604
Personal Website
Curriculum Vitae
Biography
Willie Pietersen was raised in South Africa, and received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. After practicing law, he embarked on an international business career. Over a period of twenty years he served as the CEO of multibillion-dollar businesses such as Lever Foods, Seagram USA, Tropicana and Sterling Winthrop's Consumer Health Group. In 1998, Pietersen was named Professor of the Practice of Management at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He specializes in strategy and the leadership of change, and his methods and ideas, especially Strategic Learning, are widely applied within Columbia's executive education programs, and also in numerous corporations. He has served as a teacher and advisor to many global companies, including Aviva, Bausch & Lomb, Boeing, Chubb Corp., Deloitte, DePuy, Ericsson, ExxonMobil, Henry Schein, Inc., Novartis, SAP and also the Girl Scouts of the USA.
Research
Books
Strategic Learning: How to Be Smarter Than Your Competition and Turn Key Insights into Competitive Advantage
(2010)
Coauthor(s): William Pietersen
Reinventing Strategy: Using Strategic Learning to Create and Sustain Breakthrough Performance
(2002)
Coauthor(s): William Pietersen
Working papers
Strategic Learning: A Leadership Process for Creating and Implementing Breakthrough Strategies
(2005)
Coauthor(s): William Pietersen
Strategy: In Search of a Method
(2005)
Coauthor(s): William Pietersen
Ideas and Insights
In The Media
Tesla Board Should Rein in Elon Musk's Tweets and Appoint a Second in Command, former Toyota Exec Says
Elon Musk says this crucial skill is what made Steve Jobs and Bill Gates successful
Donald Trump Said He’d Run the White House Like a Business, but No Big Business Is Run Like Donald Trump’s White House
Magazine articles
Translating Your Strategy Into a Compelling Leadership Message
In The European Business Review
(2010)
Coauthor(s): William Pietersen
Defining Competitive Advantage: How Much More Value Do You Deliver Than Your Competitors?
In The European Business Review
(2010)
Coauthor(s): William Pietersen
Strategy as Learning
In The European Business Review
(2010)
Coauthor(s): William Pietersen