Business historian and professor of management, Lucerne School of Business.
Martin’s TEDx Berlin Talk has received over two million views.
A passionate user of the “em” dash – long before ChatGPT discovered it.
Martin’s research is broadly focused on the intersection of leadership, technology, and history, covering a wide range of topics including sustainability, cooperatives, and political extremism. The thread throughout his work is how individual leader and organisations adapt in moments of upheaval, especially when technology is thrown into the mix. In The Unseen Leader he throws down the challenge to re-examine some of the fundamental assumptions often made about leaders and leadership. By tracking the journeys of four unknown or misunderstood leaders, Martin demonstrates that history’s truly great leaders are often the ones who didn’t make the headlines.
Currently a professor of management at the Lucerne School of Business, from 2016 to 2020 Martin was the founding managing director of the Swiss School of Public Governance at ETH Zurich. He has taught, studied, and worked at The Maxwell School of Syracuse University, Harvard University, Colorado College, IE Business School, and The African Leadership University. His writing and commentary have featured in multiple international publications including The New York Times, Forbes, Inc., the Chicago Tribune, Fast Company, Business Insider, and the BBC. Martin’s TEDx Berlin Talk has received over two million views.
The Unseen Leader: How History Can Help Us Rethink Leadership (Springer, 2023). ‘Why That Viral AI Statistic Might Be More Hype Than Science’ (Forbes, 2025); ‘The New Leadership Playbook For The Age Of AI’ (Forbes, 2025); ‘Why Humble Leadership Is A Superpower – Now More Than Ever’ (Forbes, 2025); ‘To Grow as a leader, try embracing these three personas’ (FastCompany, 2025); ‘Generative AI Is Coming For Business Schools – But How Exactly?’ (Forbes, 2024); ‘Why Every Leader Needs to Learn To Reframe’ (Forbes, 2024). Are we celebrating the wrong leaders? (TEDx Berlin, 2024; TED Talks podcast).
“A delightful and powerful read… Gutmann lays the foundations for a new leadership story.”
– Erin Meyer, Thinkers50 Radar Award, 2015 and Thinkers50 Talent Award, 2021; author of The Culture Map, on The Unseen Leader
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Thinkers50 Limited
The Studio
Highfield Lane
Wargrave RG10 8PZ
United Kingdom
Thinkers50 Limited
The Studio
Highfield Lane
Wargrave RG10 8PZ
United Kingdom
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