Stéphane J. G. Girod
Stéphane JG Girod is Professor of Strategy and Organizational Innovation. His research, teaching, and consulting focus on the transformation of large businesses to suit more volatile and fast-changing environments. He focuses on strategy formulation, organizational and cultural change, business agility, sustainability, and the formulation and execution of digital strategy.
He sets out this thinking in his book Resetting Management: Thrive with Agility in the Age of Uncertainty, which shows how agility can release a new level of energy, innovation, and entrepreneurship that enables organizations to better respond to disruption. As an expert in the upmarket sectors, he helps executives navigate all the transformations marking contemporary luxury. His forthcoming book with Wiley (2026), will focus on the formulation and execution of strategies for positive- impact sustainability across six luxury sectors.
Girod designs customized learning journeys for numerous businesses who appreciate his creative and hands-on approach to delivering organizational and individual impact, including strategy workshops for C-suite teams at Richemont, La Prairie, Midea and Mazda. He is the client director of the ING Leadership Accelerator Program. He has also directed programs for Cartier, PUIG, and Telenor.
His research has appeared in leading journals such as Harvard Business Review, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Long Range Planning, Journal of Business Strategy, and European Business Review. He writes a column in Forbes on innovation and transformation in luxury industries and co-edited the Summer 2023 California Management Review special issue on business agility.
Girod, who speaks seven languages, is regularly invited as a public speaker (Leading Hotels of the World, World Economic Forum in Davos, Dagora eLuxury Summit, etc.). His thought leadership has been featured by media outlets including BBC News, Télévision Suisse Romande, Corriere della Sera, China Daily, The Economist Intelligence Unit, Women’s Wear Daily, Valor Econômico, La Vanguardia, Tribune de Genève, Luxury Society, HandelZeitung, and the Times. He is also the author of numerous case studies, including ING (organizational agility in retail banking), Rabobank (agile leadership), Lamborghini (future-readiness and transformation), CHANEL, and Chloé (both on sustainability).
At IMD, Girod leads the Luxury 2050 initiative. He is also a director of the open programs Reinventing Luxury Lab and Leading Digital Execution. In 2022, he was instrumental in the launch of IMD’s luxury alumni community.
Before joining IMD in 2016, he was Assistant Professor of International Business and Strategy at Henley Business School and a Manager of the Accenture Institute for High Performance in London. He previously occupied several international development roles in leading luxury goods companies for markets such as France, Italy, and the Middle East.
He holds a DPhil from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, an MBA from Aalto University (Helsinki School of Economics), and an MSc from Toulouse Business School.
