Bill George is executive fellow at Harvard Business School (HBS), where he has taught leadership since 2004. He is the author of four best‐selling books: Authentic Leadership, True North, Discover Your True North, and 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis.

He was chair and CEO of Medtronic, the world's leading medical technology company. Under his leadership, Medtronic's market capitalization grew from $1.1 billion to $60 billion, averaging 35 percent a year. He joined Medtronic in 1989 as president and COO, was CEO from 1991 to 2001, and was chair of the board from 1996 to 2002. Earlier in his career, he was an executive with Honeywell and Litton Industries and served in the U.S. Department of Defense.

He has served as a director of Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, Novartis, Target, the Mayo Clinic, and World Economic Forum USA. He received the 2014 Bower Award for Business Leadership and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2012. He has been named one of the Top 25 Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years by PBS, Executive of the Year by Academy of Management, and Director of the Year by National Association of Corporate Directors.

Bill received a BS in industrial engineering with high honors from Georgia Tech and his MBA with high distinction from Harvard University, where he was a Baker Scholar. He has received honorary PhDs from Georgia Tech, Mayo Medical School, University of St. Thomas, Augsburg College, and Bryant University. He and his wife, Penny, reside in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Zach Clayton is founder and CEO of Three Ships, which owns a collection of digital marketplace businesses that enable brands to efficiently connect with consumers and help them buy with confidence. The company's businesses have more than 300 employees. He received a BA from University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar and Phi Beta Kappa honoree, and his MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.

Zach serves on the boards of the Dix Park Conservancy, With Honor, and Business for Educational Success and Transformation NC. He has supported Bill on editorial projects since business school and benefited tremendously from the ongoing journey of trying to better understand and apply the concepts in True North. He, his wife, Katie, and their four children live in Raleigh, North Carolina.