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Jonathan Trevor

Associate Professor of Management Practice

Saïd Business School
University of Oxford
Park End Street
Oxford
OX1 1HP

Profile

Jonathan is a noted management researcher, author, advisor, speaker, and teacher on the subject of strategy and organisation alignment.

Jonathan consults extensively to executive leadership teams in all sectors and internationally to apply his research to help them to transform their organisations to be fit for purpose.

Jonathan’s thought leadership is published in leading journals, including Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. His research regularly features in the media, and he has provided expert comment for the Financial Times, BBC, Wall Street Journal, CNN and Forbes.

Jonathan is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at the University of Oxford’s Said Business School. He teaches on the Oxford MBA, Executive MBA and international executive education programmes.

Previously he was a University Lecturer at the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School and Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge. He holds a PhD in management studies and economics from the University of Cambridge and was a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Expertise:

  • Strategic alignment (aligning corporate purpose, strategy and organisation)
  • Business strategy and organisational effectiveness
  • Future of work and next generation organisation
  • Enterprise leadership and business transformation

Watch Jonathan’s live lecture on strategic alignment on the School’s LinkedIn page.

Watch Jonathan deliver a keynote conference address.

Read one of Jonathan’s Harvard Business Review articles.

Research

Why do some businesses thrive, while many more struggle and fail?

A key reason – and the focus of Jonathan’s research – is strategic alignment. This is the careful arrangement of the various elements of a business – from its business strategy to how it is organised – to best support the fulfilment of its long-term purpose. The best-aligned organisations are the best performing.

Most executives recognise that their organisations should be managed in this aligned way, but lack a robust system of thought to allow them to execute strategic alignment effectively and realise its full benefits. There are thousands of organisations globally that are operating below their potential simply because they are not aligned.

Jonathan’s research aims to change this.

'In Align, Jonathan Trevor passionately shares why connecting core purpose, strategy and organization lead to a highly successful and sustainable enterprise. Many of us business leaders have relied on our instincts and experience; now Align articulates an alignment framework that enables us to better bridge these critical components to seamlessly navigate our teams into in the rapidly changing future.' Angela Ahrendts DBE, former SVP, Apple Retail & CEO, Burberry

Learn more about Jonathan’s latest book, Align: A Leadership Blueprint For Aligning Enterprise Purpose, Strategy and Organisation.

Honours:

  • Business Book Awards 2020, shortlisted finalist
  • Chartered Management Institute Management Book of the Year 2020, longlist finalist
  • Financial Times business books of the month, November 2019

Read the Financial Times feature review of Align.

Visit our Oxford Answers feature on Jonathan’s latest book.

Read about an example of Jonathan’s research engagement with leading companies, including AXA, Bayer, BNY Mellon, Evonik, HSBC, IBM, JLL, Ricoh, Shell, Siemens, Unilever, Vodafone and Zurich.

Publications

Corporate Values Alignment: Ideation, Codification, and Co-Creation.

  • Journal article
  • JONATHAN TREVOR
Organisation Studies

Managing the New Tensions of Hybrid Work

  • Chapter
  • JONATHAN TREVOR,
  • Matthias HOLWEG
Organisation Studies

Re:Align A Leadership Blueprint for Overcoming Disruption and Improving Performance

  • Book
  • Bloomsbury Publishing
  • Jonathan Trevor
Organisation Studies

Why Purpose Matters

  • Journal article
  • JONATHAN TREVOR
Organisation Studies

Align A Leadership Blueprint for Aligning Enterprise Purpose, Strategy and Organisation

  • Book
  • Bloomsbury Business
  • Jonathan Trevor
Organisation Studies
See more publications

Engagement

Jonathan is the recognised authority on strategic alignment and has worked with hundreds of leadership teams across the world to apply his ideas.

Jonathan coaches and consults extensively with executive leadership teams in all sectors and internationally to apply his research to help them to transform their businesses to be fit for purpose.

Learn more about Jonathan’s consultancy work.

In terms of public engagement, Jonathan is a regular commentator in national and international media, including the Financial Times, BBC, Wall Street Journal, CNN and Forbes.

Read a Forbes feature about Jonathan’s strategic alignment research.

Watch a television interview with Jonathan on CNBC.

Teaching

Jonathan’s teaching is described as authoritative and highly engaging by executives and students alike.

Jonathan is a top-rated teacher on international executive education programmes and Oxford’s Executive MBA, MBA and diploma courses. Jonathan’s approach is to make complex academic concepts easy to understand and impactful by applying them to real-world situations as much as possible.

See an example of one of Jonathan’s highly customised corporate executive education programmes.

Jonathan is the Programme Director for the online Oxford Enterprise Leadership Programme.   

Social media

Get the latest news and updates from Jonathan on social media. 

Oxford Answers

Thought-leadership and insights for business leaders written by our Faculty and Associate Fellows.
View articles by Jonathan.

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