Going on Offense

Behnam Tabrizi is a world-renowned expert in Transformation, best-selling author, and an award-winning teacher, scholar and global advisor. He has served on the teaching faculty of Organizational Transformation at Stanford University and its executive programs for the past 25 years. He is the author of nine books on leading innovation and transformation, and served as an advisor to many large global companies, the U.S. President, and governmental agencies. Dr. Tabrizi has helped thousands of CEOs and leaders in high-tech (Including Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft), banking and finance, retail, healthcare, etc. plan, mobilize, and implement transformational initiatives that have elevated organizational performance and created unprecedented results. His latest book, "The Inside-Out Effect: A Practical Guide to Transformational Leadership", is an international bestseller and was featured in 2014 on The Washington Post website as Leadership Book of the Week reaching 10.4 million readers. His “Rapid Transformation” book, published by Harvard Business Review Press, was picked by Business Insider as the #1 book on leadership and has sold over million copies worldwide.Tabrizi’s research with McKinsey & Co. on more than 100 global companies on “Accelerating Agile Innovation & Transformation” was featured in Economist, Financial Times, Forbes, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, and the San Jose Mercury News as a “pioneering work.” He also has also been interviewed by the BBC, CNN, Financial Times, and C-SPAN regarding his work on transformation. Dr. Tabrizi has served on the boards of Clever Sense (recently sold to Google), WebMBO (merged with Realm Corp.), Catapult Ventures, and has held positions at the Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Dr. Tabrizi received a B.S. in computer science, summa cum laude, and then earned a master’s degree in computer science at the University of Illinois-Urbana. He earned M.S. degree in engineering management and a doctorate in strategy, organizations and digital transformation from Stanford University.

“I anticipate Going on Offense: A Leader’s Playbook forPerpetual Innovation to quickly become required reading in boardrooms andclassrooms around the world.”—RON JOHNSON, Senior Vice President of Apple and pioneer of Applestore under Steve Jobs, 2000–2011; CEO of JCPenney, 2011–2013; Board Member ofErmenegildo Zenga Group, 2019–Present“Behnam Tabrizi and I both started our careers at IBM, andit’s been exciting to see him become an expert on organizational and leadershiptransformation and trusted advisor to more than 100 companies. Going on Offenseis full of practical and actionable solutions for unlocking game-changing innovation.It should be required reading for companies of all sizes.”—MAYNARD WEBB, Former Chief Operating Officer of eBay,Director at Salesforce and Visa, Founder of the Webb Investment Network, andbestselling author“Based on practical lessons from the most innovativecompanies, Behnam Tabrizi provides a well-researched playbook for organizationslooking to enhance their culture while adapting to new challenges and expandinginto new markets. Going on Offense: A Leader’s Playbook for Perpetual Innovationis rich with actionable insights to help you drive innovation in yourorganization.”—HAMID MOGHADAM, Cofounder, CEO, and Chairman of Prologis,the world’s largest industrial landlord“As a former student and researcher for Professor Tabrizi atStanford, I have applied many of the practical toolkits of his earlier books,especially Rapid Transformation, throughout my career. In his latest book,Going on Offense, his keen game-changing insights outline critical frameworksand blueprints for any manager or executive that wants to keep their companyahead in a rapidly accelerating world.”—DREW BENNETT, Tesla Head of Global Charging reporting toElon Musk, 2018–2020; Executive Vice President of Network Operations, VoltCharging, recently sold to Shell Global“I have known Behnam for the better part of a decade fromsince I introduced the “Strategic Execution Framework” I had studied atStanford as the key management system into the European Parliament. Behnam is aprolific thinker and writer. Going on Offense will give you the best of hisin-depth knowledge about very successful companies and leaders making agilitytheir reality.”—KLAUS WELLE, Secretary General European Parliament,2009–2022“I expect Going on Offense: A Leader’s Playbook forPerpetual Innovation to quickly become required reading for entrepreneurs,CEOs, and boardrooms.”—ARASH FERDOWSI, Cofounder of Dropbox“Behnam Tabrizi offers us a comprehensive playbook for how people and organizations must work in the modern economy. Unlike the many management books that focus on a single important topic like purpose, Going on Offense brings it all together—purpose, agility, leadership, ambidexterity, radical collaboration, and more—presenting a treasure chest of practical insights for companies that are serious about thriving in a turbulent future.”—AMY EDMONDSON, Professor at Harvard Business School and author of Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well“A rich and actionable compendium on sustaining innovationin large enterprises, Going on Offense fills a critical gap in the literatureon leadership and organizational management.”—LILY SARAFAN, Cofounder and Executive Chair of TheKey,Board Member at Stanford University, Instacart, and Thumbtack“Behnam Tabrizi knows the key to some of the most successfulcompanies in the world is unleashing human magic to inspire innovation.Companies like Apple, Starbucks, and Microsoft have done so successfully, and inGoing on Offense, you’ll hear the lessons that helped them stay agile and tapinto the power of their teams. These lessons gained from years of Tabrizi’s ownresearch at Stanford, through his teaching and consulting with variouscompanies, can be applied to organizations of all sizes and used by leaders atall levels. This book is a must-read for creating the right innovativeculture.”—HUBERT JOLY, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School,former Chairman and CEO of Best Buy, and bestselling author of The Heart ofBusiness: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism“After reading Professor Behnam’s book, I can relate myexperience observing the author’s work with our commercial bank in Thailand tohis belief that culture drives transformation and innovation. We have hiredmany renowned consultants to help us transform our bank to cope with rapidly changingindustry forces. Professor Behnam’s approach and his commitment toimplementation set him apart from our other advisors. By the end of his transformationcoaching, he had us all believing that empowerment is a critical success factorin creating an agile culture that puts clients’ needs at the center of everyinnovation. This book is the definite innovation playbook.”—KATTIYA INDARAVIJAYA, CEO of Kasikornbank, Thailand’ssecond largest commercial lender and ranked #1 in digital banking services“When it comes to transformation, Behnam Tabrizi is the bestof guides. His work is based on deep research, powerful human connections, andinsights gathered from the world’s leading organizations. Going on Offense isrequired and inspiring reading.”—STUART CRAINER, Cofounder of Thinkers50“Behnam Tabrizi is a guru of transformation and innovation.Going on Offense brings it to the next level with detailed actions companiescan take to achieve perpetual innovation, which is becoming a necessity sincenew and faster competitors are showing up every day.”—SPENCER FUNG, Group Executive Chairman of Li & Fung“Behnam Tabrizi has written a must-read primer for anyoneconsidering transforming their organization into a perpetual innovator. . . .Read this book and learn from the best.”—DAN WALKER, Chief Talent Officer, under Steve Jobs, 2000–2005;Chief Talent Officer, JC Penny, 2011–2013“Behnam Tabrizi has written a well-researched book thatprovides a practical playbook on how to turn your organization and employeesinto perpetual innovators. I highly recommend this book.”—GEOFFREY MOORE, Innovation Expert, well-known author of Crossingthe Chasm, and Partner at Wildcat Venture Partners“Going on Offense provides a practical blueprint and timely shift to the winning mindset and practices that enable best-in-class organizational innovation and transformation. I’m done playing not to lose, and I’m grateful for Dr. Tabrizi’s playbook guiding my improvement journey.”—ARIA SAMENI, Senior Vice President of CVS Health