Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 10, 2026

Howard Yu

Howard Yu is a Hong Kong-born academic and author who is the LEGO professor of management and innovation at IMD Business School, where he is also the director of Advanced Management Program (AMP) and Future Readiness Strategy (FRS) open program of IMD. He is also the director of Advanced Management Program (AMP) and Future Readiness Strategy (FRS) open program of IMD.

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Jul 10, 2026
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Howard Yu
Howard Yu in 2022
Born
Hong Kong
OccupationProfessor
Known forFuture Readiness Indicator
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Hong Kong
Harvard Business School
Academic advisors
Clayton Christensen and Joseph Bower
Academic work
DisciplineManagement and innovation
Notable works
Taiwan's PC Industry, 1976–2010: The Evolution of Organizational Capabilities
Leap: How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can be Copied
Websitehowardyu.org

Howard Yu is a Hong Kong-born academic and author who is the LEGO professor of management and innovation at IMD Business School, where he is also the director of Advanced Management Program (AMP) and Future Readiness Strategy (FRS) open program of IMD.1 He is also the director of Advanced Management Program (AMP) and Future Readiness Strategy (FRS) open program of IMD.23

Yu is the author of the book, Leap and was the recipient of the Thinkers50 Strategy Award in 2023.4

Early life and education

Yu was born in Hong Kong. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from the University of Hong Kong in 2001. Before pursuing his doctorate, Yu worked in the banking industry in Hong Kong.3 He earned a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in general management from Harvard Business School in 2011.5 His doctoral research was supervised by Clayton Christensen and Joseph Bower, and it focused on disruptive innovation.67

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.3

In 2020, Yu became the director of the IMD Center for Future Readiness, which was established with the help of The LEGO Group.3

In 2021, Yu led the development of the Future Readiness Indicator, a rule-based methodology that uses publicly available data to assess organizational resilience.89

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.1011

As of 2026, Howard is the LEGO professor of management and innovation at the IMD Business School.12

Writing

In 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 Awards13 and was named among the best business books of the year by Inc. and Strategy+Business.141516 The book was published by PublicAffairs, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It was also selected as an FT Business Book of the Month in June 2018. Leap has been translated into eight languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Portuguese, Vietnamese, and Russian.1718

Yu is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review,19 MIT Sloan Management Review,20 Channel News Asia,21 and Inc.com22. In 2022, Yu co-authored the Harvard Business Review article "What Makes a Company 'Future Ready'?", which set out a framework for assessing large companies on adaptability and their ability to find new sources of growth.23

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, which details how firms can jump to new knowledge frontiers to maintain a competitive advantage over imitators.2425

His recent work includes Future Readiness Indicators for several industries to gauge industry incumbents' preparedness.82627

Bibliography

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.2824 He was also included in the Thinkers50 Ranking of the world’s top management thinkers in both 2023 and 2025.29 He has also received multiple EFMD Gold Awards and Case Centre accolades for his research on digital transformation and organizational development.30

References

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. "Howard Yu". www.imd.org.
  4. Schachter, Harvey (June 21, 2018). "Why fruitless debates occur over, and over … and over again" – via The Globe and Mail.
  5. "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.
  6. Geller, Laura W. "Howard Yu Disrupts Disruptive Innovation". Strategy+Business.
  7. Carter, Andrea (April 17, 2015). "2015 Best 40 Under 40 Professors: Howard Yu, IMD Business School".
  8. Warner, Kelsey (December 15, 2021). "How future-proof are Apple, Twitter and Spotify? Not very, researchers find". The National.
  9. "Using creativity to foil copycats". Business Times.
  10. "The Future Ready Leadership Academy". MIT Sloan Executive Education.
  11. "Future-Ready Enterprise Program | IMD Business School".
  12. "Why fruitless debates occur over, and over … and over again". The Globe and Mail. June 21, 2018. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  13. Roberts, Allison (October 31, 2019). "2019 Medalists".
  14. Lancefield, David. "Best Business Books 2018: Strategy". Strategy+Business.
  15. "Inc.'s Best Strategy Books of 2018".
  16. Lancefield, David (November 5, 2018). "Making The Leap". Strategy+Business. Retrieved May 29, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. https://www.ft.com/content/07180750-64e5-11e8-a39d-4df188287fff
  18. 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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. Yu, Howard; Shan, Jialu; Boutalikakis, Angelo; Tempel, Lawrence; Balian, Zuriati (March 21, 2022). "What Makes a Company "Future Ready"?" – via hbr.org.
  20. Meister, Howard Yu and Alyson. "How Future Thinking Can Derail Your Company's Present". MIT Sloan Management Review.
  21. "Howard Yu". CNA.
  22. "Howard Yu". Inc.com.
  23. Yu, Howard; Shan, Jialu; Boutalikakis, Angelo; Tempel, Lawrence; Balian, Zuriati (March 21, 2022). "What Makes a Company "Future Ready"?" – via hbr.org.
  24. Geller, Laura W. "Howard Yu Disrupts Disruptive Innovation". Strategy+business.
  25. "How Companies Can 'Leap' Ahead of their Competition". August 2, 2018.
  26. "Tesla most 'future-ready' carmaker, China's BYD rising: Report". Aljazeera.
  27. Lun, Tan Nai (December 15, 2021). "Tesla, Lululemon, Mastercard among top future-ready companies on aggressiveness, digitisation: IMD". The Business Times.
  28. 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.
  29. "Announcing the New Thinkers50 Ranking and Distinguished Achievement Awards 2025 - Thinkers50".
  30. "Howard Yu - IMD business school for management and leadership courses". July 7, 2022.
External links