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Lindner Dean Marianne Lewis receives Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award

Honor given to Lewis for co-authoring innovative problem-solving book

headshot of Grant Freking By Grant Freking
3 minute read November 16, 2023

Marianne Lewis, PhD, dean and professor of management at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business, has been recognized with the Thinkers50 2023 Breakthrough Idea Award.

Lewis was honored along with Wendy K. Smith, Dana J. Johnson Professor of Management and faculty director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at the University of Delaware’s Lerner College of Business and Economics. Lewis and Smith are the co-authors of “Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems,” which was released in August 2022.

Thinkers50 is the preeminent resource in the field of management thinking for identifying, ranking and sharing leading management ideas. Per Thinkers50, the Breakthrough Idea Award commemorates a “Eureka moment in management. It is given to a radical idea, which has the potential to change the way we think about business forever.”

Lindner dean Marianne Lewis holds a copy of her book with her co-author, Wendy Smith.

Dean Lewis (left) with her “Both/And Thinking” co-author, Wendy K. Smith, Dana J. Johnson Professor of Management and faculty director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at the University of Delaware’s Lerner College of Business and Economics. Photo provided.

The award is dedicated to the memory of C.K. Prahalad, an internationally renowned management consultant and thinker, and the former Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. 

“It is deeply humbling to receive this award, particularly given the inspiring nominees in this category and its namesake, C.K. Prahalad,” Lewis said. “I’m grateful for teaming with Wendy, and the extraordinary opportunities enabled by ‘Both/And Thinking,’ as we’re working with and learning from international organizations, scholars and leaders to push our ideas further.”

Thinkers50 noted that in “Both/And Thinking,” Lewis and Smith “demonstrate how to cope and thrive with multiple knotted tensions at the same time and provide an actionable framework for transforming those tensions into opportunities for growth and innovation. Drawing on more than 20 years of pioneering research, they show how we can employ ‘both/and thinking’ to make more creative, flexible and impactful decisions.”

For her work on “Both/And Thinking,” Lewis has been the subject of a Cincinnati Business Courier cover story and has been featured in various podcasts, newsletters and articles throughout the business world.

Featured image at top: Lindner Dean Marianne Lewis’ co-written book “Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems” was released in August 2022. Photo/Gavin Vargas.

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