Robert B. Tucker is an American author, consultant, and professional speaker specializing on the topics of innovation and growth. Tucker is the author of seven books and numerous articles on innovation, and is the founder and president of The Innovation Resource, an international consulting firm based in Santa Barbara, California. Tucker has advised senior leaders in organizations like American Express, IBM, General Electric and the Singapore Economic Development Board. He was a member of the board of directors of California Manufacturing Technology Consulting, a consulting firm funded by the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership that is serving small to mid-size California manufacturers. He has contributed to the MEP blog. Robert B. Tucker is also known for formulating the Tucker Innovation Model.
Early life and career
Tucker was born in South Carolina but was raised in California. He attended public schools in Sacramento, California and graduated from the University of California, Davis in 1976. He embarked on a career in journalism, writing for publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Esquire, Omni, The Futurist and many others. His interviews with Dr. Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine, Frederick W. Smith, founder and chairman of Federal Express, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ilya Prigogine and many other trail-blazers, artists, futurists, and scientists were the inspiration for his interest in innovation.
Innovation expert
In 1986, Tucker published Winning the Innovation Game, his examination of the common attributes of innovators and the premise that innovators are made, not born. The book’s success led him to pursue a career teaching and coaching people and organizations to achieve their highest potential by adopting the innovator’s “mindset, skill-set and toolset.” Tucker went on to write seven books on various aspects of the field, including Managing the Future: 10 Driving Forces of Change, Win the Value Revolution, How to Profit From Today’s Rapid Changes, Driving Growth Through Innovation, and Innovation is Everybody’s Business. Robert Tucker is present in the media by contributing to publications such as The Futurist and Journal of Business Strategy. He has been covered by several media outlets including Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The Los Angeles Business Journal, Business Standard, CBS News, and PBS. He has appeared on CNBC, with Maria Bartiromo, on the four-part series The Business of Innovation and CNBC Asia on the series Innovation Excellence. Tucker had the privilege of giving the keynote address at the UC Davis Graduate Studies on June 14th, 2018.
