Rate My Professor Rakesh Khurana

Rakesh Khurana is a Professor of Sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University and the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development at Harvard Business School. He previously served as the Danoff Dean of Harvard College from 2014 to 2025 and as co-Master and Faculty Dean of Cabot House from 2010 to 2020. Khurana received his B.S. from Cornell University and his A.M. in Sociology and Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University in 1998. Prior to graduate school, he worked as a founding member of Cambridge Technology Partners in sales and marketing.

Khurana’s research focuses on corporate governance, accountability, social responsibility, labor markets, leadership, and organizational behavior. His work examines executive labor markets and CEO succession processes, the evolution of management as a profession, and global leadership and institutional transformations in universities. He has authored or co-authored books including Searching for a Corporate Savior: The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs and From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession, and co-edited The Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice. Khurana teaches doctoral seminars on management and markets as well as MBA courses in corporate governance and leadership.