Background
Kao was born in 1950 to Chinese immigrant parents.
Kao was born in 1950 to Chinese immigrant parents.
Kao studied philosophy at Yale College, received an Doctor of Medicine from Yale Medical School, and an Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
His work concentrates on issues of innovation and organizational transformation. He taught at Harvard Business School from 1982-1996, where he specialized in innovation and entrepreneurship. He has also held faculty appointments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory, Yale College, and the Naval Postgraduate School.
His advisory work for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was described in The New York Times as "out of the box".