Steven Spear

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Steven Spear

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Steve Spear DBA MS MS is principal of SeeToSolve LLC, whose SaaS products support the tapping into of an enterprise’s distributed and collective intelligence, and he is author of The High Velocity Edge.  

As a senior lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Spear teaches in graduate and executive education programs and has advised several dozen graduate theses. He is also senior fellow at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement and Associated Faculty at Adriane Labs of the Harvard School of Public Health. His publications have appeared in Harvard Business ReviewSloan Management ReviewAnnals of Internal MedicineAcademic MedicineHealth Services Research, the Journal of Nursing Administration, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and USA Today.Spear's research has had broad application and impact, serving as the basis for the Alcoa Business System, the DTE Operating System, the Pittsburgh Region’s Perfecting Patient Care System, the Pittsburgh Women's Center and Shelter hotline, and significant programs at companies like Intel, Pratt and Whitney, Intuit, Novelis, and GSK.  He’s been an advisor to a Secretary of the Treasury, an Undersecretary for Health Affairs at the Veterans Administration, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Chief of Naval Research, the Director of the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force, and several corporate leaders. Spear has a Doctorate from Harvard University, where disruptive innovation thought leader, Clayton Christensen was one of his dissertation advisors. He has a  Master's in engineering and in management from MIT, and a Bachelor's from Princeton University where he studied economics under Nobel Laureate David Card. He’s a board member for the Maimonides School, YI Brookline, the NE ADL, and the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership.

Honors

Spear’s book honored twice

July 30, 2025

Publications

Wiring the Winning Organization.

Kim, Gene and Steven J. Spear. IT Revolution Press, 2023.

"Succeeding in Periods of Change."

Spear, Steven J. and Trent Hone. U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings Vol. 148, No. 3 (2022).

"History’s Lessons on Competitive Innovation."

Spear, Steven J. and Patrick Stoy. Sloan Management Review, October 2020.

"Fast Discovery."

Steven J. Spear. London, UK: January 2017.

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Ideas Made to Matter

How to wire your organization to excel at problem-solving

A new book from MIT Sloan’s Steven Spear provides leaders with a blueprint for designing, sustaining, and improving their organization’s sociotechnical systems.

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Ideas Made to Matter

3 traits of a winning management system

A successful management system requires a developmental mindset, social circuitry, and a leader who prioritizes creativity.

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