IMD Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change Ina Toegel has been named one of the top MBA professors globally.
Poets & Quants, the business education-focused publication, has announced its Best 40 Under 40 professors for 2021, which recognizes the best business school teachers under the age of 40 who have been nominated by students, alumni, faculty and staff. The editorial team sifted through nearly 2,500 nominations for almost 200 professors from around the world before selecting this year’s honorees.
Toegel received over 100 nominations, making her one of the most nominated professors in the history of the 40 Under 40 recognition. Among the other factors the Poets & Quants team highlighted as contributing to her selection are Toegel’s structured and inspirational approach to working with team dynamics, organizational change management, top management teams during corporate renewal, founder influence and empathy.
“We are thrilled – but not surprised – that Ina has made this highly anticipated Poets & Quants list,” said IMD Dean of Faculty and Research Anand Narasimhan. “Ina’s interventions on leading both self and high-performance teams are much appreciated by students and participants, and are worthy of wider recognition.”
Toegel – nicknamed by some of her participants “Our Socrates” – teaches the courses Exploring Culture for Strategic Impact and High Performance Teams in IMD’s MBA program. She also works with a range of corporate clients including Tetra Pak, Beiersdorf, Société Générale, DNB and DENSO.
Her teaching activities employ experiential learning and focus on a range of topics – from change management to aligning organizational culture with strategic priorities. Toegel’s strong interest in the creative industries inspire her to incorporate interactive tools from the fields of film, sports, music, and the arts in her teaching.
Toegel earned an MSc in Management Research from Saïd Business School, Oxford University (UK), and a BA degree in Economics from Columbia University (USA), before completing a PhD in Strategic Management at INSEAD. She was previously based at the World Bank, where she worked on projects for structuring public – private partnerships in the transport, energy and waste sectors in Southeast Europe, and taught at the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne.
When asked to describe Toegel in their nominations, faculty colleagues, administrators and participants said:
“Love the way she makes people reflect and go deeper. She is our Socrates.”
“Present, empathetic, and quoting research, she managed to create a safe space for the class to share experiences and have constructive conflict as necessary. She is also an accomplished academic with a focus on leading self and leading high-performance teams, emotion management, and leading organizational change.”
“The Culture stream was delivered with mastery by Ina! Deep and meaningful application in the real world.”
“I really enjoy Ina’s energetic style and her willingness to get involved. I was thoroughly impressed with the assignment feedback quality.”
“Energy booster and gets you thinking.”
“Excellent facilitation with a tremendous amount of practical learnings. Change management is so critical to continuous improvement and the discussion showed what basic strategies can help us drive change through the organization.”
