Derek C. M. van Bever

Derek van Bever is a Senior Lecturer in the General Management Unit. He teaches courses in both years of the MBA program (“Leadership and Corporate Accountability” in the first-year required curriculum and “Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise” in the second year), and he is the faculty lead for Clay Christensen’s Executive Education course entitled “Disruptive Innovation.” He is also the Director of the Forum for Growth and Innovation, a research project sponsored by Professor Christensen that is focused on discovering, developing and disseminating predictive theory on management and innovation.

Derek is a co-founder of The Advisory Board Company (NASDAQ: ABCO), a global research, consulting, and technology firm serving hospital and university executives, and was a member of the founding executive team of The Corporate Executive Board (NYSE: CEB), a global thought leadership and advisory network, which spun out of the Advisory Board Company in a highly successful 1999 Initial Public Offering. The Corporate Executive Board, acquired by Gartner Group in 2017, is now the world’s largest executive advisory network, with a membership spanning over 50 countries and including executives from 85% of the Fortune 500 and 50% of the Dow Jones Asian Titans.

In his role as Chief Research Officer for the Corporate Executive Board, Derek directed teams studying best practices in strategy, innovation, talent management, finance and governance in the large-corporate sector worldwide. He oversaw the development and launch of the firm’s new practice areas following the IPO, and he led the development of the firm’s internal corporate academy. He co-authored the book Stall Points, an analysis of the growth experience of the Fortune 100 across the past half-century, which was published by Yale University Press in 2008. An article based on the book, entitled “When Growth Stalls,” appeared in the May 2008 Harvard Business Review and won the McKinsey Award for that year. His survey of the CEOs of newly-public companies, “The Perfect Storm: How the IPO Experience Threatens Good Work for Leaders of the Young Public Company,” was published as part of the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s GoodWork series, edited by Howard Gardner. He and Professor Christensen have co-authored a number of articles in Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review and Foreign Affairs with members of the Forum research staff. 

Derek is a 1988 graduate of HBS and a 2011 graduate of Harvard Divinity School. His divinity school thesis, “A Mission Beyond Commerce,” examines the challenges to personal and corporate mission posed by pivot points such as a change of ownership or leadership transition and suggests practices and disciplines for retaining a sense of perspective in the “high hurry” of business life. His current interests include both environmental and personal sustainability, and he has taught on the connection between sustainability and faith in Boston University School of Management’s MBA program.

Derek lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife and three children. He was a founding board member of the Firefly Children’s Network and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and is an elder in the Presbyterian Church.

Journal Articles

• Christensen, Clayton M., Efosa Ojomo, and Derek van Bever. "Africa's New Generation of Innovators." Harvard Business Review 95, no. 1 (January–February 2017): 129–136. View Details
• Christensen, Clayton M., and Derek C. M. van Bever. "The Capitalist's Dilemma." Harvard Business Review 92, no. 6 (June 2014): 60–68. View Details
• van Bever, Derek C. M. "Uber Needs Our Permission to Grow." Harvard Business Review (website) (February 9, 2015). View Details
• Christensen, Clayton M., Dina Wang, and Derek C. M. van Bever. "Consulting on the Cusp of Disruption." Harvard Business Review 91, no. 10 (October 2013): 106–114. View Details
• Olson, Matthew S., Derek C. M. van Bever, and Seth Verry. "When Growth Stalls." Harvard Business Review 86, no. 3 (March 2008): 50–61. View Details

Cases and Teaching Materials

• van Bever, Derek C. M., Bob Moesta, Iuliana Mogosanu, Shaye Roseman, and Katie Zandbergen. "Jobs to Be Done: A Toolbox." Harvard Business School Background Note 321-095, February 2021. View Details
• van Bever, Derek C. M., Stephen P. Kaufman, James Barnett, and Shaye Roseman. "Beyond Beer: Brewing Innovation at Molson Coors." Harvard Business School Case 321-008, August 2020. View Details
• van Bever, Derek, and Miho Kubagawa. "Investing in the Future: Corning Inc. and the Alternative School for Math and Science." Harvard Business School Case 319-059, March 2019. View Details
• van Bever, Derek. "Managing Religion in the Workplace: Abercrombie & Fitch and Masterpiece Cakeshop." Harvard Business School Case 318-127, March 2018. (Revised November 2018.) View Details
• van Bever, Derek, and Efosa Ojomo. "Tolaram: Innovating in Africa." Harvard Business School Case 317-013, July 2016. (Revised October 2018.) View Details

In The News

In The News

• • 07 May 2019
  • Cold Call

  Managers: Are You Prepared to Handle Religion in the Workplace?