Hiroshi Kanno received his Bachelor and Master of Engineering and Architecture degrees from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Master of Science in Industrial Administration degree from Carnegie Mellon University. He currently serves as Professor at Waseda University Business School in Tokyo and Visiting Professor at School of Business, Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, as well as Visiting Lecturer at ICS.
Mr. Kanno worked in consulting services at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for 17 years. His last position at BCG was Partner and Managing Director, where he served as the Asia/Pacific regional leader of BCG’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice. At BCG, Mr. Kanno executed over 300 projects, working closely with both Japanese and non-Japanese companies. Although his main focus was technology, media and telecommunications, he worked in a wide range of industries, including high-tech, industrial goods, electronics, consumer electronics, telecommunications, systems integration, Internet services, broadcasting, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, real estate, insurance, and NPOs. He also worked in Europe, North America and Asia. Prior to BCG, Mr. Kanno worked as an architect, city planner, and engineer for Nikken Sekkei, Japan’s largest architecture and city planning firm.
Mr. Kanno is the author of Corporate Strategy (Nihon Keizai Shinbun Shuppan-sha, 2019, in Japanese), BCG Management Concepts, Part II: Transformation (Toyo Keizai Shinpo-sha, 2016, in Japanese), Failsafe Ways to Avoid the Failure Trap (Nihon Keizai Shinbun Shuppan-sha, 2011, in Japanese; also published in Chinese and Korean) and The BCG Way - The Art of Developing Leadership (Diamond-sha, 2005, in Japanese; also published in Korean). Mr. Kanno has written a number of articles for business magazines, including: "Strategic Thinking of Carl von Clausewitz: its Application to Business" (Think!, Winter 2004); "Dilemma of the Successful CEO", (Nikkei Business, March 2006, (co-author); "Open Innovation", (Waseda Business School Review, July 2007); "Corporate Strategy and Growth: Creation of New Businesses at an Established Corporation", (Nihon Keizai Shimbun, January 14, 2010, (co-author) ; "Insight: how to 'jump' and think innovatively", (Think!, August 2013); and "Growing Leaders From Within Your Company", (Diamond Harvard Business Review, May 2015).