Michael Wade
Michael Wade is the Professor of Strategy and Digital, and Director of the Global Center for Digital and AI Transformation. An expert in digital and AI transformation, he has published more than a dozen books and hundreds of case studies and articles on topics such as AI, digital business transformation, innovation, strategy, and digital leadership. In 2021, he was elected to the Digital Shapers Hall of Fame by a consortium of Swiss business media and in 2025 was named a Global AI Ambassador.
Wade helps organizations with the challenges of using digital and AI technologies to drive business value. His research shows that 87% of transformation programs fail to meet expectations, so his work focuses on identifying the mistakes organizations make and best practices to overcome them. What differentiates successful from less successful organizations is how good they are at integrating digital and AI technologies into a broader organizational and cultural transformation, he says. His work also covers ways to improve innovation and creativity, leading effectively in a digital age, and the link between AI and ethics.
When it comes to digital and AI transformation, the keyword is ‘transformation’. Digital is an enabler, but it is only a means to an end. The end is always some kind of business performance benefit.
In 2025, he published two books: GAIN: Demystifying GenAI for Office and Home, which explores the transformative potential of generative AI across personal and professional contexts, and Twin Transformation, which examines how companies can simultaneously leverage AI and sustainability initiatives to achieve long-term competitive advantage. His book Hacking Digital: Best Practices to Implement and Accelerate your Business Transformation, was published in 2021. The book is aimed at helping companies to solve problems related to digital transformation. That same year, he released a book on innovation and creativity called ALIEN Thinking: How to Bring Your Breakthrough Ideas to Life. His 2016 book, Digital Vortex: How Today’s Market Leaders Can Beat Disruptive Competitors at their Own Game, won multiple awards and was a bestseller in several languages.
Wade has also been published in leading journals including Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, the Journal of Management Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, and Strategic Management Journal, and is a regular contributor to Fortune Magazine and Forbes, providing commentary on digital and AI issues and trends.
At IMD, he founded and directs Leading Digital and AI Transformation (LDAIT), Europe’s first and largest program for executives on digital. He is also co-director of several other open programs including Leading Digital Execution (LDE), Digital and AI Transformation for Boards (DTB), the Digital Transformation Sprint (DTS), and Business Creativity and Innovation Sprint (BCIS). He has also designed and directed custom corporate programs related to digital and AI strategy and transformation for dozens of organizations across industries and sits on a number of corporate boards as an advisor on AI, digitization, and business model disruption.
Before joining IMD in 2010, Wade was Associate Professor of Operations Management and Information Systems at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. As part of this role, he served as Academic Director of the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA Program and Associate Director of the International MBA Program.
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