About Karen
Karen Golden-Biddle is an organizational ethnographer, educator, and author of The Untapped Power of Discovery. She is a leading voice on discovery, organizational change, and transformation, helping leaders navigate uncertainty and imagine new possibilities for lasting change.
Discovery as a Leadership Practice
Karen’s award-winning research on organizational change uncovered a powerful yet often overlooked leadership capacity: the practice of discovery. Her work shows that discovery emerges through shared, experience-based creative inquiry that helps people recognize possibilities they might otherwise miss.
She is committed to helping leaders cultivate discovery as an intentional practice for navigating uncertainty and creating meaningful, sustained change. The Untapped Power of Discovery and this website reflect that commitment.
Today, Karen continues to explore how discovery shapes leadership, organizations, and society through her writing, speaking, and the Change Chronicles Substack. Drawing on current events, organizational life, and emerging research, she examines how people strengthen their capacity to notice more deeply, respond more creatively, and generate meaningful change in an increasingly complex world.
“Discovery begins when we notice what others overlook—and choose to explore its possibilities.”
– KAREN GOLDEN-BIDDLE
Research and Publications
Karen’s scholarly work provides the foundation for The Untapped Power of Discovery and her approach to working with leaders. Her research has appeared in leading journals, including the Academy of Management Journal (2020, 2006) and Organization Science (2011, 2008), where it has contributed to core conversations on leading organizational change amidst uncertainty.
She has also written extensively for practitioners. Her articles include “How to Change an Organization Without Blowing It Up” (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2012) and “How Micro-Moves Can Drive Major Health Care Change” (Harvard Business Review, 2013). Her MIT Sloan Management Review piece was later selected for the Sloan Select Collection, recognizing it as one of the publication’s most widely read and discussed articles on change management.
Karen’s research has been supported by the Questrom Professorship at Boston University, along with grants from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research and the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation – support that reflects the rigor, relevance and impact of her work.
Recognition
Karen was inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Management in 2018, honoring her lifetime contributions to the science and practice of management. She has also received numerous awards for both her research and her teaching, reflecting the depth and reach of her work across academic and practitioner communities.
Academic Leadership
Karen earned her bachelor’s degree from Denison University and her MBA and PhD from Case Western Reserve University. She is Professor Emerita of Management and Organizations and a Faculty Fellow of the Human Resources Policy Institute at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. Throughout her academic career, she has helped shape research, teaching, and leadership development at the intersection of organizational change and everyday human experience.