Zhike Lei
Zhike Lei is Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior and a leading authority on psychological safety, high-performing teams, organizational learning, and error management. An award-winning scholar and advisor, she helps leaders create the conditions where people can think boldly, speak candidly, and perform at their best—especially in times of pressure and change.
A central theme in her work is that psychological safety is not a “soft” concept; it is a strategic advantage. Zhike’s research shows that psychological safety determines whether teams surface critical insights, challenge assumptions, and adapt quickly when circumstances shift. It is not built through slogans, workshops, or town halls. It is strengthened through visible, everyday actions—team members asking curious questions, listening generously, challenging respectfully, and supporting one another. These micro-behaviors decide whether a team drifts into silence and guardedness, or becomes more candid, resilient, and united under pressure.
Her work with senior executives, aviation commanders and pilots, and hospital surgical teams further demonstrates that great teams don’t excel because they avoid mistakes— they excel because they learn from them in real time. Zhike’s research on in-action reviews shows how short, structured pauses to reflect, realign, and adapt while work is still in motion can prevent small issues from becoming major failures. These moments are not post-mortems; they are mid-flight course corrections that keep teams agile when the stakes are high.
Zhike has worked with clients across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia, including Allianz, BMW, Bosch, Cathay Pacific, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Dubai Falcon, Group SEB, LEGO Group, Karma Automotive, Maybank, Maersk, Nielsen, Novo Nordisk, PON, Siemens, Standard Chartered Bank, and multiple government ministries in China and Saudi Arabia.
Her research on team adaptation, psychological safety, crisis response, and learning has been published in the field’s top journals, including the Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Discoveries, Health Affairs, and Harvard Business Review. She has received prestigious best-paper awards and distinguished research grants from the European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Juran Center for Leadership in Quality. Her insights have also been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Manager, and Chief Executive. She has served on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management Review and Academy of Management Discoveries, and co-edited AMD’s landmark special issue on organizational errors.
Before joining IMD in 2023, Zhike was Professor of Applied Behavior Science at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School, where she also served as Research Director and Chair of the Management Department. She previously held faculty roles at the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin and George Mason University.
