Thomas A. Stewart & Patricia O’Connell

Stewart, an influential thought leader on global management, and O’Connell, an expert on customer-centric business strategy, argue that today’s companies must be designed for service from the ground up. The duo introduce the emerging science of service design in their forthcoming book, “Woo, Wow and Win: Service Design, Strategy and the Art of Customer Delight,” (HarperCollins, November 2016), and provide design-led best practices for service innovation. Currently the executive director of the National Center for the Middle Market (NCMM), Stewart is well known and regarded for his ability to show executives what the new realities of a constantly shifting marketplace of ideas means in designing, managing and running organizations that keep pace with innovation and achieve sustainable growth. Before joining NCMM, he served as chief marketing and knowledge officer for international consulting firm Booz & Company (now called Strategy&), overseeing the firm’s intellectual agenda, major research projects and strategy + business magazine. Prior to that, he was the editor and managing director of Harvard Business Review for six years. Visionary in scope, Stewart’s indispensable books include, “Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations” (Crown Business, 1998) and “The Wealth of Knowledge: Intellectual Capital and the Twenty-First Century Organization.” Translating his expertise and passion to the podium, Stewart is also a highly sought speaker. He is a 12-time participant in the World Economic Forum, and delivers lectures and seminars across the U.S. and in more than two dozen countries worldwide. Stewart is a summa cum laude graduate of Harvard College and holds an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Cass Business School, City University London.

O’Connell, currently president of Aerten Consulting, collaborates with companies to devise content strategies, develop thought leadership, and deliver new products and services for consumers of content. A 12-year veteran of BloombergBusinessweek.com, where she served as news editor and subsequently as the management editor, O’Connell has long worked with some of the world’s greatest thought leaders, including John Byrne, Marshall Goldsmith, John Kotter, Ben Heineman, Dov Seidman, and others. She is a talented, award-winning writer, and also a passionate and engaging speaker.

With author Neil Smith of the New York Times best-seller, “How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the Eight Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses,” O’Connell passionately pursues excellence in consumer services – and helps companies do the same. This, along with her conviction that service design is the path to “the better way,” were the impetus for the development of The Five Principles of Service Design and The 10 Essential Elements of Service Design and Deliver – two of the unique contributions of “Woo, Wow and Win” to the nascent business discipline of service design and innovation.

A graduate of Boston College, O’Connell has worked with such organizations as the Project Management Institute, the Association of Management Consulting Firms, Strategy&, Boston Consulting Group, Hay Group (now part of Korn Kerry), Stephens Inc., Savannah College of Art and Design and T. Rowe Price.