Paul McManus

A Boston native and Questrom alum (QST ’86), I returned to teach at Questrom in 2004 after a 30+-year career in venture capital, management consulting and high-tech industries.

My current interests encompass the emerging field of Outcome-Driven Strategies for responsible growth, social renewal, and environmental regeneration. Within this broad landscape, my teaching focuses on the field of strategic management and embraces the creative elements of strategic imagination, the processes of strategic innovation, the methods of strategy implementation and the practice of transitional leadership for Impact-Driven organizations operating in high-velocity VUCA environments.

Specific courses focus on the topics of:

• Product/Service Design & Innovation, which emphasizes human-centered design and nature-based product and service innovation;

• Strategy Design and Strategic Innovation, which focuses on designing future-ready, open strategies, innovative networked/platform-based business models, and trust/blockchain-based value networks; and

• Strategy Implementation and the Real-Time Execution, which covers setting the stage for action, acquiring, assembling, aligning, and activating key resources/stakeholders, launching operations, managing deployment, monitoring performance, and delivering results over a multi-horizon time frame.

My advanced teaching and executive development programs are geared toward helping scientific, technical, and functional experts bridge the gap to executive-level roles. These programs enhance situational awareness, deepen strategic capabilities, broaden managerial competencies and prepare rising leaders for general management roles.

I offer these programs through immersive studios and workshop formats, collaborative action-learning labs, and large-scale virtual platforms, catering to traditional degree programs, micro-credential programs, professional development, and life-long learning experiences.

New course development explores: 1) the role of science fiction and speculative design in creating a strategic narrative, 2) serious game-based pedagogies for enhancing cognitive performance related to situational awareness, contextual orientation, and experiment-based decision-making, and 3) autonomous collaboration in distributed teams and DAOs.

EDUCATION

• MBA, Boston University, 1986
• BS, Wentworth Institute of Technology, 1977

AWARDS AND HONORS

• 2021, 2022 Nominee for the Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching
• 2021, 2021 Questrom Award for Excellence in Institutional Leadership
• 2021, 2021 Faculty of the Year Award for Excellence in Teaching - MBA Program
• 2020, James E. Freeman Leadership Development Award, Boston University
• 2020, Questrom Award for Faculty Excellence in Institutional Leadership, Boston University
• 2019, 2021 Faculty of the Year Award for Excellence in Teaching - MBA Program
• 2019, 2021 Faculty of the Year Award for Excellence in Teaching - MBA Program, Questrom Scchool
• 2017, Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching (Nominee), Office of the Provost
• 2013, 2013 Henry Morgan Award for Service to the Entrepreneurship Program, Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization
• 2010, 2010 Broderick Prize forService to the MBA Program, School of Management
• 2009, 2021 Faculty of the Year Award for Excellence in Teaching - MBA Program, MBA Full-tume class of 2009