Howard Yu

Future-ready strategist.

RANKED THINKER

Ranked in 2023. 

AWARD RECIPIENT

Recipient of the Thinkers50 2023 Strategy Award.

SHORTLISTED

Shortlisted for the Thinkers50 2019 Innovation Award.

Ideas

Specializing in technological innovation, strategic transformation, and change management, Howard focuses on why and how some firms can sustain new growth while others cannot. He is the director of IMD’s Center for Future Readiness, which produces the Future Readiness Indicator. The Future Readiness Indicator measures a company’s deep, long-term secular trends and consists of a composite of proven proxies to predict an organisation’s adaptability quotient, such as revenue generation or research and development spending. The ranking gauges within a given industry which companies are ready for a bold new frontier. The secret to stay ahead isn’t speed, explains Howard, it is to prepare. 

Bio

LEGO professor of management and Innovation at IMD in Switzerland, Howard received his doctoral degree in management from Harvard Business School. Prior to his doctorate, he worked in the banking industry in Hong Kong. In 2015, he was selected by Poets&Quants as one of The World’s Top 40 Business Professors Under 40.

Content

Leap: How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can Be Copied (PublicAffairs, 2018); ‘Leopards sometimes change their spots: How established firms can transform themselves’ (award-winning paper, 2012). Multiple publications in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Forbes, MIT Sloan Management Review, Financial Times, The Straits Times, The South China Morning Post, and Shanghai Daily.

NATIONALITY: Native of Hong Kong

Media picks

Verdict

“Our go-to future fitness trainer.”

Stuart Crainer & Des Dearlove, Thinkers50

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with the latest and greatest ideas in business, management, and thought leadership.

*mandatory field

Thinkers50 will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide news, updates, and marketing. Please confirm that you agree to have us contact you by clicking below:


You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at . We will treat your information with respect. For more information about our privacy practices please visit our website. By clicking below, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Privacy Policy Update

Thinkers50 Limited has updated its Privacy Policy on 28 March 2024 with several amendments and additions to the previous version, to fully incorporate to the text information required by current applicable date protection regulation. Processing of the personal data of Thinkers50’s customers, potential customers and other stakeholders has not been changed essentially, but the texts have been clarified and amended to give more detailed information of the processing activities.

Thinkers50 Awards Gala 2023

Join us in celebration of the best in business and management thinking.