[7] Nadya is the author of The Reinvention Method, which as of 2021 consists of nine tools bridging the fields of strategy, foresight, design thinking, SCRUM/Agile, organization development, leadership and change management.
Dr. Zhexembayeva grew up in Almaty, Kazakhstan (then part of the Soviet Union), at the time she claims the country was "going through immense deterioration".
[10] While still at high school, Zhexembayeva started her business career selling insurance and later worked as a trainer at Association of Young Leaders, then went on to earn a Freedom Support Act scholarship that allowed her to complete two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Management and then Psychology from Hartwick College, where she was named a Faculty Scholar and John Christopher Hartwick Scholar – "the highest honor the College can confer upon a student".
[12] Dr. Zhexembayeva served as the Coca-Cola Chaired Professor of Sustainable Development at IEDC-Bled School of Management, an executive education center based in the Slovene Alps, where, as of 2016, she continues to teach courses in leadership, strategy, change management, design thinking, and sustainability.
[19] Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva coined the term "Titanic Syndrome," which she defines as "a corporate or individual disease in which organizations facing disruption bring about their own downfall through arrogance, excessive attachment to past success, or an inability to recognize the new and emerging reality.