Chris Zook

Chris Zook: Profile

In 2001 he published his best-selling business book, Profit from the Core, (Harvard Business School Press), which found that nine out of 10 companies that had sustained profitable growth for a decade had focused on their core businesses, rather than following a siren's song toward diversification. The book offers an approach to assessing and making the most of core business opportunities. Mr. Zook's sequel, Beyond the Core, (Harvard Business School Press, 2004), examines how companies that have fully exploited their core businesses can systematically and successfully expand beyond into related, or "adjacent" areas.

Unstoppable (Harvard Business School Press, 2007) completes the series and examines what to do when your growth formula of the past begins to approach its limits, demanding that your company change its strategic focus and redefine its core. In 2010, Harvard Business School press published an updated version of the book, Profit From the Core: A Return to Growth in Turbulent Times.

All three books are based on a growth study begun in 1990 at Bain & Company that involves thousands of companies worldwide. The study's findings have been expanded each year; adopted and applied, in hundreds of successful companies in all types of industries.

Mr. Zook also writes extensively in the business press, is a frequent speaker at business forums, such as the World Economic Forum at Davos, and appears regularly on television and radio. He received a B.A. from Williams College, an M. Phil. in Economics from Exeter College, Oxford University, and holds Master's and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University.