Author of two bestselling books, The Exceptionals and The Innovation Biome. Thirty years spent researching high performance, innovation, and the patterns behind both.
A look at the small number of people who reach the very top of their fields — and the patterns underneath their success. Rather than treating exceptional performance as innate talent, the book breaks it into elements readers can study and apply: singular focus, micro-excellence, and matching natural strengths to the right environment. It's a blueprint for moving from good to great, and from outstanding to elite.
Written from the inside by someone who spent years building products at Microsoft and his own startups, this book argues that innovation isn't a stroke of genius — it's an environment. It lays out the conditions that let organizations create one breakthrough after another, rather than treating innovation as the domain of a few gifted individuals. Now used in business school curricula.
"Kumar Mehta will help you think deeply about innovation."
Seth Godin — author, Linchpin · on The Innovation Biome
"Readers will sense his deep experience behind every page."
Derek Van Bever — Director, Forum for Growth and Innovation, Harvard Business School · on The Innovation Biome
"Kumar Mehta's The Innovation Biome will easily become a standard in business schools."
Jeffrey Cole, PhD — Director, USC Center for the Digital Future · on The Innovation Biome
"A must-read for being your best and at the top of your field."
Brad Chase — author, Strategy First · on The Exceptionals
"A comprehensive guide to the intangibles of elite performance."
Jacob Nissly — Principal Percussionist, San Francisco Symphony · on The Exceptionals
Kumar Mehta is the author of two Amazon bestsellers, The Innovation Biome and The Exceptionals, and has spent thirty years at the forefront of research, innovation, and data analytics. He researches, writes, and speaks on personal excellence and innovation, drawing on experience that includes nine years as CEO of a large data analytics company and fourteen years at Microsoft.
He also serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California, and is passionate about education — serving as board president of the Committee for Children, a global nonprofit dedicated to children's safety and well-being through social-emotional learning. Kumar holds a PhD in pharmaceutical socioeconomics from the University of Iowa and lives in Seattle.
Kumar writes and appears regularly on the science of exceptional performance and the practice of innovation.
A regular column at Forbes covering the research behind high performance and organizational innovation.
Interviewed as the author of The Innovation Biome and The Exceptionals on the science of success.
Kumar speaks to organizations, conferences, and leadership teams — drawing on both books and thirty years of research into what separates the best from the rest.
For speaking engagements, media, or just to say hello — reach out directly.