Richard Tanner Pascale (June 14, 1938–May 24, 2024) was an American academic, management theorist and business advisor. He earned his MBA at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

. He was based at Stanford Business School for 20 years and was named an Associate Fellow of the

Saïd Business School Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd or SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford. The school is a provider of management education. Business and management classes started at Oxford in 1965 when the Centre of Management Studies, ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 2020. ''The Economist'' magazine has named him "one of the leading management gurus of the past 50 years".

Works

Pascale's management works include: *''The Art of Japanese Management: Applications for American Executives'' (1981), co-authored with Anthony Athos of

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 ...

. *''Managing On the Edge: How Successful Companies Use Conflict to Stay Ahead'' (1990),Pascale, R. T. (1990)
Managing On the Edge: How Successful Companies Use Conflict to Stay Ahead
Viking *''Surfing the Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business'' (2000), co-authored with Mark Millemann and Linda Gioja, *''The Power of

Positive Deviance Positive deviance (PD) is an approach to behavioral and social change. It is based on the idea that, within a community, some individuals engage in unusual behaviors allowing them to solve problems better than others who face similar challenges, des ...

: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World's Toughest Problems'' (2010), co-authored with Jerry Sternin and Monica Sternin. This book is seen as a contributing precursor to the concept of SEED-SCALE. In ''Managing on the Edge'' (1990), Pascale noted that "few of the top 500 companies in the US 10 years ago" (i.e. 1980) were still leading companies and looked for explanations for why companies decline. Pascale also catalogued management fads (or business fads), enumerating 37 different new management ideas which emerged between 1950 and 2000.

Honda Study

One of Pascale's most notable articles – on

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

's success in breaking into the US motorcycle market in the 1960's – is often referenced in the Lean, Agile and strategy communities. The 1984 California Management Review article has come to be known as "Honda B," or "The Honda Effect," and was declared a classic business study by

Henry Mintzberg Henry Mintzberg is a Canadian academic and author on business and management. He is currently the Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at the Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he has been ...

in 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 ...

. It is considered notable for describing close customer observation as you experiment and learn your way toward finding your business strategy. In the article Pascale coins the phrase “adaptive persistence,” meaning that many priorities become clear only as you strive to move toward something rather than through advance planning. You find the path along the way based on what is being learned along the way. In hindsight, then, what seems to be strategy emerges. ''"In sum, 'strategy' is defined as 'all the things necessary for the successful functioning of organization as an adaptive mechanism.'"''

Collaboration

Several of Pascale's works were co-authored. In ''The Power of Positive Deviance'', he took the lead in writing up observations and reflections based on the work of his co-authors Jerry and Monique Sternin, fieldworkers and

practitioners who had undertaken

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

child development work in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, observed by Pascale. The work of the Sternins was also observed in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Uganda, Argentina and the

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

VA Hospital and incorporated into the book.Positive Deviance Collaborative
Official Book
accessed 7 January 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pascale, Richard 1938 births 2024 deaths American management consultants Stanford University Graduate School of Business faculty Harvard Business School alumni