CEO of Shift Thinking, Harvard PhD & MIT researcher. Expert in mental models & exponential thinking. HBR contributor, Singularity University faculty, and keynote speaker helping leaders drive transformative growth.
Mark Bonchek is the CEO of Shift Thinking and a leading expert in mental models, digital transformation, and exponential thinking. A pioneer on the digital frontier for over two decades, Mark earned his doctorate in Political Economy from Harvard University in 1997 — the first PhD awarded by Harvard on the topic of social media — and conducted research as an associate at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, where his work predicted the rise of social networking, media disintermediation, and individual empowerment. As a faculty member at Singularity University, he helps leaders adopt an exponential mindset to drive transformative growth. Mark is a prolific contributor to Harvard Business Review, with nearly fifty published articles, including a piece on Thinking Styles that ranked among HBR's ten most popular articles of 2015. His career spans roles as Director of Research at the Strategos Institute, COO of TomorrowLab@McKinsey, CEO of Truman Company, and SVP of Communities and Networks at Sears Holdings. Through Shift Thinking, he has developed conceptual frameworks that guide organizations — including SAP, Kaiser Permanente, Accenture Interactive, and the American Heart Association — in shifting from products to platforms, audiences to communities, and hierarchies to networks. Mark is also the originator of the Thinking Styles assessment, a unique tool designed to enhance team collaboration. A highly sought-after keynote speaker, Mark is known for his engaging delivery and ability to make future-forward thinking immediately relevant and actionable for today's leaders.
