Howard H. Yu

Howard H. Yu is the LEGO Professor of Management and Innovation at IMD Business School, located in Switzerland. In addition to his professorship, he leads the Center for Future Readiness, which was launched with support from the LEGO Brand Group in 2020. He also serves as the Director of the Advanced Management Program (AMP), a three-week executive course, and co-directs the Strategy for Future Readiness program.

In 2018, he earned a place on the Thinkers50 Radar list of thirty management thinkers "most likely to shape the future of how organizations are managed and led." This recognition was followed by the prestigious Thinkers50 Strategy Award in 2023, a testament to his substantial contributions to management strategy and future readiness. Earlier in his career, in 2015, Yu was selected by Poets&Quants as one of "The World's Top 40 Business Professors Under 40."

Yu's work extends beyond the classroom, delivering tailored training to global companies such as ABB, Bosch, the LEGO Group, Novo Nordisk, Electrolux, Heineken, Maersk, and others. His significant work with the LEGO Group was distinguished with an EFMD Gold Award for organizational development and a Brandon Hall Group Gold Award for advancing learning strategies and competencies development in 2023.

As an author, Yu penned "LEAP: How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can Be Copied," a guide to reimagining products in a unique way, published in 2018. This work garnered multiple awards, including an Axiom Business Book Awards Gold Medal and the strategy+business Best Business Book award. His insights have also been showcased in esteemed journals such as Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review, and his case studies have won several awards from the European Foundation for Management Development and The Case Centre.

Before his illustrious academic career, Yu worked as a banker in Hong Kong. He joined IMD in 2011 after receiving his doctoral degree from Harvard Business School. Yu's perspectives are regularly sought by media outlets, including Bloomberg, CNBC, and the BBC, further establishing his influence in the field.