AWARD CRITERIA
The SMS Strategy Leadership Impact Award (formerly called the SMS Lifetime Achievement Award) is intended to honor the highest level of achievement in strategic management by a business leader.
- The honoree must have demonstrated sustained strategic leadership and innovation that significantly altered strategy practice. In this regard, “sustained” means across business cycles, in a period generally longer than a decade.
- The honoree’s leadership and innovation must be such that it significantly impacts strategy practice in industries beyond the home industry of the honoree, and is the subject of academic attention in major business schools.
This award is tied in several ways to the SMS Annual Conference. The selection committee for the Strategy Leadership Impact is made up of the Annual Conference Program Chairs and the SMS Awards & Honors Committee. Additionally, the honoree is invited to the Annual Conference, where they will be presented with the award and give a lecture discussing their achievements in strategy. This award is only presented when an appropriate honoree is nominated.
SMS Strategy Leadership Impact 2025 Recipient:
Steve Blank
It is with great honor that the Strategic Management Society recognizes Steve Blank as the recipient of the 2025 SMS Strategy Leadership Impact Award. Over the past several decades, Steve has exemplified sustained strategic leadership and innovation, fundamentally transforming the practice of strategy in entrepreneurship. As the architect of the Customer Development Methodology and a pioneer of the Lean Startup movement, Steve redefined how startups approach strategy. His insights have reshaped entrepreneurial strategy, emphasizing experimentation, customer feedback, and adaptability. Through visionary leadership and a relentless focus on experimentation and adaptability, Steve has had a profound and lasting impact on strategic thinking across sectors.
About Steve:
Steve Blank is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford and co-founder of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. He has been described as the Father of Modern Entrepreneurship.
Credited with launching the Lean Startup movement and the curriculums for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps and Hacking for Defense and Diplomacy, he’s changed how startups are built; how entrepreneurship is taught; how science is commercialized, and how companies and the government innovate.
Steve is the author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner’s Manual which revolutionized how startups were built. His Harvard Business Review cover story redefined how large companies can innovate at speed.
Award Past Recipients
John Mendelsohn, 2017
Joe Kaeser, 2016
Adam Aron, 2015
Paul Polman, 2014
Neville Isdell, 2013
Carlos Ghosn, 2012
Romano Prodi, 2011
Herb Kelleher, 2003
Andrew S. Grove, 2001