Walter Kiechel III (born July 21, 1946 in

Tecumseh, Nebraska Tecumseh is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,677 at the 2010 census. History Tecumseh was originally called Frances, and under the latter name was established in 1856. The label o ...

) is an author and business journalist. He has served as Managing Editor of ''Fortune'' magazine and as the Editorial Director of

Harvard Business School Publishing Harvard Business Publishing was founded in 1994 as a not-for-profit, wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University (distinct from Harvard University Press), with a focus on improving business management practices. The company consists of three ...

, producer of the ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Ma ...

''. His most recent work is ''

The Lords of Strategy ''The Lords of Strategy'' is a book by Walter Kiechel III, a business journalist, former editorial director of the ''Harvard Business Review'' and former managing editor of '' Fortune'' magazine, which presents the analysis of strategy evolution s ...

'', which ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' has described as a "clear, deft and cogent" history of the management consulting industry.

Biography

Born to Walter Kiechel Jr., a prominent

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

attorney, and Mary Kiechel, Kiechel III grew up in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

before attending

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

on a

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in al ...

scholarship. Kiechel was elected to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

and graduated cum laude in 1968, when he was commissioned into the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. There he served in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea aboard the destroyers USS William R. Rush (DD-714) and

USS Charles R. Ware (DD-865) USS ''Charles R. Ware'' (DD-865), was a of the United States Navy in service from 1945 to 1974. After her decommissioning, she was sunk as a target in 1981. Namesake Charles Rollins Ware was born on 11 March 1911 in Knoxville, Tennessee, Kno ...

, eventually attaining the rank of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

. During his naval service, Kiechel married Eugenia Bethea Dunstan (1946-2008), also of Alexandria, with whom he has a daughter and a son. Honorably discharged in 1973, Kiechel went on to the J.D./M.B.A. program at Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School, completing his degrees in 1977. From there he joined

Time Inc. Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...

(now a part of

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

), as a Researcher/Writer for ''Fortune'', where his work covered a variety of topics in the managerial sphere. Ascending the ranks at ''Fortune'', he published his first book, ''Office Hours: A Guide to the Managerial Life'', in 1989, which compiles many of the articles the journalist wrote for his regular column of the same name. During this time Kiechel hosted a weekly television series on

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

, and achieved the top position at the publication in 1994, succeeding

Marshall Loeb Marshall Robert Loeb (May 30, 1929 – December 9, 2017) was an American author, editor, commentator and columnist specializing in business matters, who spent 38 years in the Time Inc. publication network which included service as managing editor ...

as Managing Editor. In an unusual move, he was removed from that position less than a year later, and replaced by John Huey, who later became editor-in-chief of all Time Inc. publications. Having left Time Inc., Kiechel was appointed Editorial Director of Harvard Business School Publishing in 1998, overseeing all editorial content of the ''Harvard Business Review'' and all other books and publications of the organization. Currently, Kiechel continues his career as a freelance writer, authoring articles for such publications as ''The Washington Post'' and others. He has one younger sister, Victoria Kiechel, an architect, and one younger brother, Conrad Kiechel, also a journalist. Walter Kiechel makes his home in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiechel, Walter Living people American business writers 1946 births Harvard College alumni Fortune (magazine) people Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Law School alumni People from Tecumseh, Nebraska