Shirt a Phobia

Sample Page

Howard Yu is a Hong Kong-born academic and author who is the LEGO professor of management and innovation at IMD Business School.[1] He is also the director of Advanced Management Program and Future Readiness Strategy open program of IMD.[2]

Yu is the author of the book, Leap and was the recipient of the Thinkers50 Strategy Award in 2023.[3]

Early life and education

Yu was born in Hong Kong. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Hong Kong in 2001. Before pursuing his doctorate, Yu worked in the banking industry in Hong Kong and earned a Doctor of Business Administration in general management from Harvard Business School in 2011.[4] His doctoral research was supervised by Clayton Christensen and Joseph Bower, and it focused on disruptive innovation.[5][6]

Academic career

Yu joined the faculty of IMD Business School in 2011. In 2017, Yu was appointed director of the Advanced Management Program, and he co-directs the Strategy for Future Readiness program alongside the Future-Ready Enterprise initiative. In 2020, Yu became the director of the IMD Center for Future Readiness, which was established with the help of The LEGO Group.[7]

In 2021, Yu led the development of the Future Readiness Indicator, a rule-based methodology that uses publicly available data to assess organizational resilience.[8]

In May 2025, MIT Sloan Executive Education and IMD jointly launched the Future Ready Enterprise Academy, a two-module executive education program delivered at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts and at IMD in Singapore. Yu serves as faculty for the program alongside IMD colleague Mark Greeven.[9][10]

As of 2026, Howard is the LEGO professor of management and innovation at the IMD Business School.[11]

Writing

In June 2018, Yu published Leap: How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can Be Copied, which received a Gold Medal at the 2019 Axiom Business Book Awards[12] and was named among the best business books of the year by Inc. and Strategy+Business.[13][14][15] The book was published by PublicAffairs, New York, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.[16] It was also selected as an FT Business Book of the Month in the same month of 2018.[17]

Research

His research focuses on the dynamics of innovation and sustainable growth, specifically examining how organizations build capabilities to navigate technological disruption and commoditization. A theme of his scholarship is the “leap” strategy,[18] which details how firms can jump to new knowledge frontiers to maintain a competitive advantage over imitators.[19][20] His research also focuses on Asian economies.[4]

His recent work includes Future Readiness Indicators for several industries to gauge industry incumbents’ preparedness.[7][21]

Bibliography

  • Yu, Howard H.; Shih, Willy C. (2018). Taiwan’s PC Industry, 1976–2010: The Evolution of Organizational Capabilities.
  • Yu, Howard (2018). Leap: How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can be Copied
  • Yu, Howard (2018). Leap: How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can Be Copied. PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1610397609.

Honors and awards

Yu is recipient of the Thinkers50 Strategy Award in 2023 and the 2015 Poets & Quants “Top 40 Business Professors Under 40” ranking.[22][19] He was also included in the Thinkers50 Ranking of the world’s top management thinkers in both 2023 and 2025.[23] He has also received multiple EFMD Gold Awards and Case Centre accolades for his research on digital transformation and organizational development.[24]

References

  1. ^ “Howard Yu, a professor with a profound message for educators”. Australian Financial Review. July 8, 2018.
  2. ^ “How Companies Can ‘Leap’ Ahead of their Competition”. August 2, 2018.
  3. ^ Schachter, Harvey (June 21, 2018). “Why fruitless debates occur over, and over … and over again” – via The Globe and Mail.
  4. ^ a b “Reinvent rules of the game to beat copycats: Howard Yu”. The Business Times. October 9, 2018. Archived from the original on May 29, 2026. Retrieved May 29, 2026. […] A former banker from Hong Kong, Prof Yu received his doctoral degree in management from Harvard Business School, […] Prof Yu has worked on hot-button issues such as the risks and opportunities for companies presented by Big Data, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. […] Throughout the years, Prof Yu’s research and consulting work has largely focused on Asian economies […]
  5. ^ Geller, Laura W. “Howard Yu Disrupts Disruptive Innovation”. Strategy+Business.
  6. ^ Carter, Andrea (April 17, 2015). “2015 Best 40 Under 40 Professors: Howard Yu, IMD Business School”.
  7. ^ a b Warner, Kelsey (December 15, 2021). “How future-proof are Apple, Twitter and Spotify? Not very, researchers find”. The National.
  8. ^ “Using creativity to foil copycats”. Business Times. October 9, 2018. Retrieved June 2, 2026.
  9. ^ “The Future Ready Leadership Academy”. MIT Sloan Executive Education.
  10. ^ “Future-Ready Enterprise Program | IMD Business School”.
  11. ^ “Why fruitless debates occur over, and over … and over again”. The Globe and Mail. June 21, 2018. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  12. ^ Roberts, Allison (October 31, 2019). “2019 Medalists”.
  13. ^ Lancefield, David. “Best Business Books 2018: Strategy”. Strategy+Business.
  14. ^ Kaplan, Soren (September 14, 2018). “Inc.’s Best Strategy Books of 2018”. Inc. Retrieved May 29, 2026.
  15. ^ Lancefield, David (November 5, 2018). “Making The Leap”. Strategy+Business. Retrieved May 29, 2026.
  16. ^ Khanna, Vikram (July 10, 2018). “Business professor has message for educators”. Australian Financial Review. Retrieved June 1, 2026. […] Leap – How to Thrive in a World Where Everything can be Copied, by Howard Yu, was published in June by Public Affairs, New York. […]
  17. ^ Hill, Andrew; Janina, Conboye; Berwick, Isabel; Matsa, Nassia (June 4, 2018). “FT business books of the month: June edition”. Financial Times. Retrieved May 29, 2026.
  18. ^ “Tesla most ‘future-ready’ carmaker, China’s BYD rising: Report”. Aljazeera.
  19. ^ a b Geller, Laura W. “Howard Yu Disrupts Disruptive Innovation”. Strategy+business.
  20. ^ “How Companies Can ‘Leap’ Ahead of their Competition”. Mack Institute for Innovation Management. August 2, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2026.
  21. ^ Lun, Tan Nai (December 15, 2021). “Tesla, Lululemon, Mastercard among top future-ready companies on aggressiveness, digitisation: IMD”. The Business Times.
  22. ^ Andrea, Carter (April 16, 2015). “2015 Best 40 Under 40 Professors: Howard Yu, IMD Business School”. Poets & Quants. Archived from the original on May 29, 2026. Retrieved May 29, 2026.
  23. ^ “Announcing the New Thinkers50 Ranking and Distinguished Achievement Awards 2025 – Thinkers50”.
  24. ^ “Howard Yu – IMD business school for management and leadership courses”. July 7, 2022.