Howard Yu, hailing from Hong Kong, is LEGO® Professor of Management and Innovation at IMD. He leads the Center for Future Readiness, founded in 2020 with support from the LEGO Brand Group, to guide companies through strategic transformation.
Recognized globally for his expertise, in 2023, he was honored with the Thinkers50 Strategy Award, recognizing his substantial contributions to management strategy and future readiness. His inclusion in the Thinkers50 list further elevates him among the top global management thinkers.
Today, Yu co-directs the Strategy for Future Readiness program and has delivered tailored training to global companies, including ABB, Bosch, the LEGO Group, Novo Nordisk, Electrolux, Heineken, Maersk, Booking.com, and many others.
His ongoing work has been published in prestigious journals, including Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. His case studies have won several awards from the European Foundation for Management Development and The Case Centre. He regularly appears on media outlets such as Bloomberg, CNBC, and the BBC. His book, “LEAP: How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can Be Copied,” published in 2018, has earned multiple awards, including an Axiom Business Book Awards Gold Medal and the strategy+business Best Business Book award. He joined IMD in 2011 after completing a doctoral degree at Harvard Business School. He began his career as a banker in Hong Kong.