Walter Kiechel III (born July 21, 1946, in Tecumseh, Nebraska) is an author and business journalist. He has served as Managing Editor of ''Fortune'' magazine and as the editorial director of Harvard Business School Publishing, producer of the ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a not-for-profit, independent corporation that is an affiliate of Harvard Business School. ''HBR'' is published six times a year ...

''. His most recent work is '' The Lords of Strategy'', which ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' has described as a "clear, deft and cogent" history of the management consulting industry.

Biography

Born to Walter Kiechel Jr., a prominent Washington, D.C. attorney, and Mary Kiechel, Kiechel III grew up in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

before attending

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

on a

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

scholarship. Kiechel was elected to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

and graduated cum laude in 1968, when he was commissioned into the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. There he served in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea aboard the destroyers USS William R. Rush (DD-714) and USS Charles R. Ware (DD-865), eventually attaining the rank of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

. During his naval service, Kiechel married Eugenia Bethea Dunstan (1946-2008), also of Alexandria, with whom he has a daughter and a son. Honorably discharged in 1973, Kiechel went on to the J.D./M.B.A. program at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, completing his degrees in 1977. From there he joined Time Inc. (now a part of

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

), as a Researcher/Writer for ''Fortune'', where his work covered a variety of topics in the managerial sphere. Ascending the ranks at ''Fortune'', he published his first book, ''Office Hours: A Guide to the Managerial Life'', in 1989, which compiles many of the articles the journalist wrote for his regular column of the same name. During this time Kiechel hosted a weekly television series on

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

, and achieved the top position at the publication in 1994, succeeding Marshall Loeb as Managing Editor. In an unusual move, he was removed from that position less than a year later, and replaced by John Huey, who later became editor-in-chief of all Time Inc. publications. Having left Time Inc., Kiechel was appointed editorial director of Harvard Business School Publishing in 1998, overseeing all editorial content of the ''Harvard Business Review'' and all other books and publications of the organization. Currently, Kiechel continues his career as a freelance writer, authoring articles for such publications as ''The Washington Post'' and others. He has one younger sister, Victoria Kiechel, an architect, and one younger brother, Conrad Kiechel, also a journalist. Walter Kiechel makes his home in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiechel, Walter Living people American business writers 1946 births Harvard College alumni Fortune (magazine) people Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Law School alumni People from Tecumseh, Nebraska