ABOUT US
Alan G. Robinson
Dr. Alan G. Robinson has advised more than a hundred companies in twelve countries on how to improve their creative performance, and is an award-winning author and educator. He has served on the Board of Examiners of the United States' Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
His book Corporate Creativity: How Innovation and Improvement Actually Happen (co-authored with Sam Stern) has been translated into thirteen foreign languages. It was a finalist in the Financial Times/Booz Allen & Hamilton Global Best Business Book Awards, was named "Book of the Year" by the Academy of Human Resource Management, and has been translated into thirteen languages.
His 2002 book Vos Idées Changent Tout (co-authored with Isaac Getz) has been translated into five languages. In his preface to the German edition of this book, Heinrich von Pierer, President and CEO of Siemens AG, called this "an important book on a topic that is fundamental to every business".
His latest book Ideas Are Free, co-authored with Dean Schroeder, was published in 2004. Based on their research and consulting in more than 300 organizations in 17 countries, the book describes how the best companies go about getting large numbers of ideas from their front-line employees. The book was named Reader’s Choice by Fast Company magazine in June 2004 and one of the 30 best business books of 2004 by Soundview Executive Books, and was featured on ABC World News, CNN Headline News and several NPR programs. A syndicated small business columnist for Scripps-Howard, Paul Tulenko, wrote about Ideas Are Free, “I rate this book 5 1/2 stars, a first in this category. It's that powerful. (Only the Bible and the Constitution receive 6 stars.)”.
Dr. Robinson is currently on the faculty of the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts. He received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A./M.A. in mathematics from the University of Cambridge in Great Britain.
Dr. Schroeder is a distinguished scholar, author, and consultant. He is an experienced leader of strategic organizational transformations, having started up two companies, led the turnaround of two others, and served as a consultant on many organizational change initiative teams in North America, Europe, and Asia.
He served for five years on the Board of Examiners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, is on the Board of Directors of the American Creativity Association, and has served on several corporate boards. Dr. Schroeder currently serves as the Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Programs in Management, and is the Herbert and Agnes Schulz Professor of Management at Valparaiso University in Northwest Indiana.
Dr. Schroeder has authored more than eighty articles and papers, for which he has received a number of national awards. His 2004 book, co-authored with Alan G. Robinson, Ideas Are Free: How the Idea Revolution is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations was based on their research and consulting in more than 300 organizations in 17 countries. The book describes how the best companies successfully get large numbers of ideas from their front-line employees. The book was named Reader’s Choice by Fast Company magazine in June 2004 and one of the 30 best business books of 2004 by Soundview Executive Books, and was featured on ABC World News, CNN Headline News, and several NPR programs. A syndicated small business columnist for Scripps-Howard, Paul Tulenko, wrote about Ideas Are Free, “I rate this book 5 1/2 stars, a first in this category. It's that powerful. (Only the Bible and the Constitution receive 6 stars.)”.
He received his Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the Carlson School at the University of Minnesota, his M.B.A. from the University of Montana, and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Institute of Technology at the University of Minnesota. He has also taught at the University of Massachusetts, St. Petersburg Technical University in Russia and the Athens Laboratory of Business Administration (affiliated with INSEAD) in Greece.
Dr. Schroeder is a principle in Quest Management, a consulting company focusing on strategic planning and cultural transformation in both the public and private sectors.
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