Hayagreeva "Huggy" Rao is a prominent academic and author in the field of organizational behavior and human resources. He holds the Atholl McBean Professorship of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is also a professor of sociology by courtesy at Stanford's School of Humanities and Sciences.
Rao's academic journey began in India, where he earned a BA from Andhra University in 1978 and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from XLRI, Jamshedpur in 1980. He later earned a PhD in 1989 from Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. Before joining Stanford in 2005, he held professorships at Emory University's Goizueta Business School and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
His research primarily centers around collective action within organizations and markets. He investigates how to scale up mobilization, innovation, and talent in organizations. He has published extensively in leading academic journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, and Strategic Management Journal.
Huggy Rao is a widely recognized author of several influential books. He co-authored the bestselling book Scaling Up Excellence: Getting to More Without Settling for Less (2014) with Robert I. Sutton, which was recognized by publications like the Financial Times, Inc. Magazine, Amazon, Forbes, and The Washington Post as one of the best business books of its year. He is also the author of Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations (2008) and, most recently, co-authored The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder.
Beyond his teaching and writing, Rao directs or co-directs several Stanford programs, including Customer-Focused Innovation, Managing Talent for Strategic Advantage, and the Stanford Innovation and Entrepreneurship Certificate. He has consulted with and conducted executive workshops for numerous organizations, including British Petroleum, CEMEX, General Electric, IBM, and various government agencies like the FBI and CIA. He is a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Science, the Sociological Research Association, and the Academy of Management.
The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder