Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management and Chair of the Doctoral Programs at Harvard Business School. She is also Chair of the Committee of Higher Degrees in Business Studies at Harvard University. The Novartis Chair was established to enable the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful business enterprises for the betterment of society.

Edmondson joined the Harvard faculty as an Assistant Professor in 1996. Her research examines leadership influences on learning, collaboration and innovation in teams and organizations. Her field-based approach includes research in contexts ranging from health care delivery and manufacturing to space exploration. One stream of her work has shown effects of leadership behavior and a safe psychological climate on patient safety in hospitals. Another stream investigates management team practices that promote effective decision-making. She also has studied leadership enablers of organizational learning, more generally.

Edmondson has published over 50 articles in academic journals, management periodicals, and books. In 2003, the Academy of Management's Organizational Behavior Division selected Professor Edmondson for the Cummings Award for outstanding achievement in early mid-career, and in 2000 selected her article, "Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams," for its annual award for the best published paper in the field. Her recent article, "Why Hospitals Don't Learn from Failures: Organizational and Psychological Dynamics That Inhibit System Change" (with Anita Tucker), received the 2004 Accenture Award for a significant contribution to management practice.

Professor Edmondson teaches MBA and Executive Education courses in leadership, service management, and organizational learning, and a doctoral course in field research methods. She is the Faculty Chair of the HBS World Bank Group program for new leaders. In the past, she has taught the HBS required MBA course in Technology and Operations Management, and has served on 17 doctoral committees. She is the author of 18 HBS teaching cases, including leadership cases on The Cleveland Clinic, General Motors Powertrain, Prudential Financial, Simmons Mattress Company, YUM brands, IDEO product design, and NASA's failed Columbia mission.

Before her academic career, Edmondson was Director of Research at Pecos River Learning Centers, where she worked closely with founder and CEO Larry Wilson to design and implement organizational change programs in a variety of Fortune 100 companies. In the early 1980s, she worked as Chief Engineer for architect/inventor Buckminster Fuller, and her book, A Fuller Explanation, clarifies Fuller's mathematical contributions for a non-technical audience.

Edmondson received her PhD in organizational behavior, AM in psychology, and AB in engineering and design, all from Harvard University. She lives with her husband George Daley, a physician-scientist, and their two young sons.