Labs
Immersive sessions with short presentations and group discussions / exercises facilitated by professors and corporate experts
Five Key Digital Transformation Themes – Assessing and Impacting Digital Transformation at Your Organization
Sam Dickinson will lead a lab on digital transformation. He will start the lab off with a brief introduction to the five key themes for digital transformation. This will be followed by group discussion.
Lab participants will learn about and work on the following:
- Understanding the five key elements of digital transformation
- Assessing digital transformation at own organizations by completing an online organizational transformation survey
- Working in groups to compare and discuss the autogenerated report on five key digital transformation themes
- Harvesting the learnings
- Marketing Lab
- Innovation Lab
- Digital Innovation & Transformation

Jeffrey Sampler
Professor of Practice in Strategy and Technology
China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)
Jeffrey L. Sampler is a Professor of Practice in Strategy and Technology at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Previously he was a faculty member of London Business School and the University of Oxford for over 20 years. In addition, he has been a collaborator with MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) for over two decades. His research interests include the strategic implications of new technology, and the management of information as a strategic resource. His work has appeared in such journals as Accounting, Management, and Information Technology, Fortune, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Management Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, Sloan Management Review, and Strategic Management Journal. His paper with John Cross and Michael Earl on the “Transformation of IT at British Petroleum Exploration” won first prize in the Society of Information Manager’s paper competition. He has written two books on the economic transformation of Dubai, Sand to Silicon and Sand to Silicon - Going Global. Dr. Sampler’s research straddles the intersection between strategy and technology. He is currently researching digital technologies as a driving force in the transformation of many industries. His other area of focus is exploring the nature of strategic planning in very turbulent and rapidly growing markets – his recent book, Bringing Strategy Back, gives companies insights for planning in such environments. He is also a frequent speaker at conferences and corporate management retreats and has travelled over 4 million miles giving lectures in over 35 countries. He has advised and been a board member of both FTSE 100 corporations and start-ups. Notable assignments include being advisor to the former president of Nokia for 5 years and advising 2 Heads of State. Also, he was a non-exec director of an internet travel company for four years and during that time annual revenue increased from $16M to over $1B. In addition, he has extensive experience advising family business and has worked with top family groups in India, Thailand, and China for many years. Also, he has been featured in Newsweek, BBC Television, BBC World Service, BBC Radio, CNBC, Economic Times, Financial Mail, and IT Web.
Competing on Information – Leveraging Information as a Competitive Asset and Revenue Source
Jeff Sampler will lead a lab on competing on information. He will start the lab off with examples to illustrate how to use information as an asset. This will be followed by group discussion.
The Lab participants will learn about and discuss the following:
- Understand how to leverage information as a competitive asset and why customer data and risk is what matters most
- Identify potential hidden competitors from different industries with the same data as your organization
- Look at information as a revenue source and identify potential unexploited revenue streams
- Work in groups to discuss how to move towards leveraging information as a competitive asset and revenue source
- Harvest discussion results
- Marketing Lab
- Innovation Lab
- Gamechanging Innovation & New Business Models
- Digital Innovation & Transformation
Leveraging Digital Business Modelling with the Digital Canvas
Abstract tba.
- Innovation Lab
- Gamechanging Innovation & New Business Models

John Mullins
Associate Professor of Management Practice, Marketing and Entrepreneurship
London Business School
John Mullins is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at the London Business School. He has published five books, dozens of cases and more than 50 articles in a variety of outlets, including Harvard Business Review, the MIT Sloan Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal. He is a sought-after speaker and educator for audiences in entrepreneurship and innovation.
John’s first trade book, The New Business Road Test: What Entrepreneurs and Executives Should Do Before Launching a Lean Start-Up, has become the definitive work on the assessment and shaping of entrepreneurial opportunities and is widely employed in universities worldwide.
His second book, the critically acclaimed Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model, co-authored with Randy Komisar, a partner at the esteemed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, was named to “Best Books of 2009” lists by BusinessWeek and INC Magazine.
John’s third book, The Customer-Funded Business: Start, Finance or Grow Your Company with Your Customers’ Cash, was named one of five “not-to-be-missed books” for 2014 by Fortune magazine. It challenges the commonly held assumption that among an innovator’s first and most important tasks is that of raising capital. Its material provides the foundation for John’s widely viewed online course on Coursera.
John’s forthcoming book, Counter-Conventional: How the Six Break-the-Rules Mindsets of Entrepreneurs Can Help Anyone Change the World, enables practitioners to apply these entrepreneurial mindsets to their innovation challenges.
John has done executive education on five continents for a variety of organizations both large and small and has served on the boards of fast-growing companies in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia.
Become Counter-Conventional: How the Six Break-The-Rules Mindsets of Entrepreneurs Can Help You Change Your Company and Change the World
Every business these days wants its people to be more “entrepreneurial,” it seems. Rarely, however, do their leaders know exactly what they mean. Do they want more out-of-the-box thinking? Probably. More innovation? For sure. Do they want more risk? Not so much!
This Lab, based on John’s forthcoming book, Counter-Conventional, will bring to life the six break-the-rules mindsets of entrepreneurs that can help anyone to challenge assumptions, off-load risk, and overcome obstacles that stand in their way to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves. Surprisingly, perhaps, these mindsets run counter to the conventional wisdom that’s typically found in large and well-established companies. They fly in the face of what’s taught in business schools about strategy, core competencies, target marketing, financing and more.
Working in small breakout groups, Lab participants will:
- Apply one or more of these mindsets to an innovation challenge they currently face
- Develop a one-page action plan for putting one or more of their new mindsets to work to resolve that challenge.
- Innovation Lab
- Gamechanging Innovation & New Business Models
- Agile Organization, Culture & Leadership for Innovation

Carsten Linz
Distinguished Fellow ESMT and Member of Expert Network WEF
ESMT Berlin
Top 100 Digital Influencer, Author Radical Business Model Transformation, Global Head Center for Digital Leadership. Carsten Linz is an entrepreneurial leader with more than twenty years of business experience and a proven track record for driving innovation, growth, and transformation.
He serves as digital advisory board member, advises CEOs of fast-growing companies, is an active business angel and member of the investment committee of Europe’s largest seed stage fund. He successfully built-up several €100 mio. businesses and led company-wide transformation programs affecting more than 60.000 employees. He is a sought-after keynote speaker (listed at London Speaker Bureau) and panelist at conferences around the world.
As adjunct faculty member, he teaches in Executive Programs at Mannheim Business School, University of St. Gallen and Stanford Graduate School. He published several books including his recent best-seller “Radical Business Model Transformation: Gaining the Competitive Edge in a Disruptive World” (Top-Business Book 2017, Translations: Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Hungarian). His articles appeared in renowned journals such as Forbes, Harvard Business Review/Manager, ZDNet, CIO Magazine, Computerwoche, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, D!gitalist Magazine.
As Business Development Officer at SAP SE he repeatedly leads the build-up and scale-out of new businesses. In his role as Global Head of the Center for Digital Leadership, he drives SAP’s own digital transformation and acts as advisor to other CEOs, Chief Digital Officers, and CIOs by showcasing next-generation digital innovation and transformation approaches.
Dr. Linz holds a PhD in Innovation Management from University of Bern/Switzerland (“summa cum laude”) and a Diploma degree in Economic Engineering from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (“with honors”). He studied System Dynamics and Entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management, Leading Change and Organizational Renewal at Harvard Business School, and Corporate Strategy at INSEAD Fontainebleau.
He was named “Top-100 Digital Influencer”, awarded as “Innovation Landmark” by the German President, honored with the coveted “Award of Excellence” from the Global Institute of Logistics and ranked as “Leader” in the Gartner Magic Quadrant. He is an advisory member of the World Economic Forum’s “Digital Enterprise” and “Digital Platforms and Digital Ecosystems” projects.
He supports Social Entrepreneurs as Advisory Board Member of Social Impact, Berlin.
He is married, has one daughter, and lives in Frankfurt/Main.
Gaining the Competitive Edge in a Disruptive World: How to Craft & Lead a Radical Business Transformation?
It is a critical time for most incumbent organizations: their existing business models are failing, and they struggle to adapt to the fast-paced technological change. Corporations need to fight back as they have a big unfair advantage with their deep domain expertise, large customer base, strong brands and vast intellectual property.
This lab offers inspiration and a proven blueprint to upgrade business models and get it fit for the digital economy. It kicks-off with a 20 min foundational presentation and is followed by break-outs with groups of 6-8 participants. The format is based on Carsten Linz’s best-selling book ‘Radical Business Model Transformation: Gaining the Competitive Edge in a Disruptive World’, which is considered a standard reference in business model and transformation literature. Join the movement to innovate for the future instead of digitizing the past!
Lab participants will:
- Get to know a highly effective strategic framework and learn through numerous case studies the patterns of successful business model and digital transformations and what separates the winners from the losers.
- Work in groups on own innovation-led transformation challenges and develop a (first) transformation path for one of the participants real-world cases with the help of the Business Transformation Board.
- Explore how project, team and organization leaders need to rethink leadership to pioneer the fourth industrial revolution. Learn how to apply the next-practice capabilities of NewLeadership and get your firm’s executive team on board.
- Marketing Lab
- Innovation Lab
- Gamechanging Innovation & New Business Models
- Digital Innovation & Transformation

George Yip
Emeritus Professor of Marketing and Strategy
Imperial College Business School
George Yip is an expert on China innovation and strategy, having conducted research about China for over 20 years and served on the faculty of the top Chinese business school, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), from 2011 to 2016. Previous academic positions include Dean of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University; and at Harvard, UCLA, Cambridge Judge, and London Business School. Previous business positions include Vice President and Director of Research & Innovation at Capgemini Consulting, senior manager at Price Waterhouse (USA), manager at Unilever, and various boards. Author or co-author of Pioneers, Hidden Champions, Change Makers, and Underdogs: Lessons from China's Innovators (2019), China’s Next Strategic Advantage: From Imitation to Innovation (2016), Strategic Transformation (2013), Managing Global Customers (2007), Asian Advantage: Key Strategies for Winning in the Asia-Pacific Region (1998), and Total Global Strategy (1992 and 2012).
The Rise of Innovation in China and Implications for Non-Chinese Companies
While China has long had a reputation for imitation, Chinese companies are now starting to innovate. Well known Chinese innovators include Alibaba, Haier, Huawei and Tencent, but there are also thousands of smaller Chinese innovators, as yet unknown to the world.
This Lab will begin with a presentation on:
- Characteristics of China’s environment that foster innovation, both on the supply and the demand side.
- The specific nature of Chinese companies’ approach to innovation and the factors driving their foreign expansion.
- An insiders’ view of China’s under-the-radar, globally competitive innovators
- How non-Chinese companies can participate in the Chinese national innovation system, not only for China but also for the world.
The Discussion portion of the Lab will focus on (1) identifying the threats to your company from Chinese innovation, and (2) how your company can innovate in China for both China and the world.
- Innovation Lab
- Innovation in China and Globalization of R&D

Chris Brauer
Director of Innovation, Institute of Management Studies
Goldsmith
Dr. Chris Brauer (Dr. Chris) is Director of Innovation and founder of the Centre for Creative & Social Technologies (CAST) at Goldsmiths, University of London where he teaches innovation, project management, and behavioural economics. His research specialises in the intersections of emerging technologies and human behaviour, socio-economic and socio-cultural life. His projects focus on public engagement and impact and have been covered extensively in over 400 media outlets worldwide. Current research focuses include industrial internet, artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, blockchain, driverless cars, emotion tracking, and the psychology of openness and common ground.
5 Things You Need to Do Now to Augment Your Human Workforce with Automation
Augmented businesses perform better than their counterparts on multiple levels – including business, finance and employee engagement. By freeing people from the repetitive and mundane tasks, but also by enabling human-machine collaboration, augmented businesses further enhance innovation and creativity. This lab offers a framework for organizations to augment their workforce through optimizing work for people and machines, and encouraging collaboration between people and machines. Dr. Chris Brauer will start off the lab with a foundational presentation followed by group discussions, based on his making-work-human framework. Lab participants will:
- Get to know the five main challenges in augmenting work, and learn how organizations can tackle these to develop augmented services, data, and culture
- Work in groups to assess a real job description filtering the role’s tasks using the making-work-human framework in order to redefine the job for the purpose of increasing creativity and innovation via human-machine collaboration
- Future of Work, Agile HR, HR Tech & People Analytics
- HR Lab
- Innovation Lab
- AI, Internet of Things & Emerging Technologies

Amit Joshi
Professor of AI, Analytics and Marketing Strategy
IMD
Amit Joshi is a Professor of AI, Analytics and Marketing Strategy at IMD. He is the Program Director of the Digital Analytics open program, and the co-director of the program on Artificial Intelligence. In 2020, he was named a ‘Digital Shaper’ in Switzerland, as one of a handful of individuals who would shape the digital economy in the future.
Amit is an award-winning professor and researcher and has interacted with a variety of corporate clients in several industries, including telecom, banking and financial services, media, manufacturing, retailing, pharma, education and automobiles. Previously, he worked for Cadbury India Ltd., a company that is now a part of the Mondelez International group.
Amit’s research, which focuses on long-run marketing strategy, analytics and AI applications, has been published in top journals, including Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Culture, Journal of Cultural Economics and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His research has twice won the MSI / H. Paul Root Award, for the best paper in the Journal of Marketing (2010 and 2015) the Robert D. Buzzell Best Paper Award (2006) for the MSI publication with the most long-term impact and bee nominated for the Sheth Foundation Award for long-term contributions. His dissertation won an honorable mention in the 2004 Alden G. Clayton Dissertation Proposal Competition. He is also an award-winning case writer.
His research and opinions have been extensively covered in the popular press and media, appearing in outlets including NPR, CNN, NBC, Nikkei, Fast Company, Business Standard, Fox News, Bloomberg, Forbes, Investor Relations Magazine, The Conversation, and Science Daily.
Amit earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pune, a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (P.G.D.M.) from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India, and a Ph.D. is from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Ethical Boundaries in Leveraging Machine Learning for Marketing – Making Tradeoffs and Minding the Slippery Slope of Data Use
Machine learning can help marketers make forecasts and assess innovation adoption. Amit Joshi will lead a lab on the ethics of data gathering and use – and resulting tradeoffs. He will start the lab off with a short introduction to the slippery slope in crossing the ethical boundaries to making predictions more accurate, followed by a hands-on group simulation exercise and discussion. The lab participants will learn and discuss the following:
- How data can lead to a slippery slope, crossing ethical lines, albeit not legal ones
- Making a projection on earnings, in the form of a simulation exercise, and determine the accuracy of data needed at each stage
- Discuss the issues and ethical boundaries from the exercise, and resulting tradeoffs
- Digital Marketing, Martech & Multichannel
- Marketing Lab
Brand & Reputation: Learning the Ten Rules of Crisis Management
Nicola Kleyn will lead a lab on managing a brand crisis. She will start the lab off with a presentation explaining the ten rules for managing a crisis. Then there will be a group discussion session during which the Lab participants will do some of the following:
- Discuss and evaluate recent examples of crisis management relative to the 10 rules
- Identify and discuss examples of crisis management from the media where the rules were not properly applied
- Conduct mock press interviews in response to a specific crisis situation
- The discussion enables participants to understand and assimilate the ten rules of crisis management
- Brand Strategy & Purpose
- Marketing Lab

Danielle Jones-Hunte
Global Head of Employee Advocacy and Engagement
BP
Danielle Jones-Hunte is an agile storyteller with over a decade of executive experience in marketing and communications.
She led the people and culture communication for the largest transformation in bp’s history and was the communication strategist for the agile transformation of the company’s Upstream business. Danielle has also led and coached teams on 3 continents while working for multinational corporations, conglomerates changing India and start-ups poised to change the world. She now leads the global employee advocacy efforts for bp – harnessing the passion of teams across the globe to reimagine energy for people and the planet.
In addition to her corporate pursuits, Danielle is also an author, television host, university lecturer and a motivational speaker. She has designed for a fashion label, was a finalist at Miss Universe, has been featured on reality TV and is a passionate advocate for breast cancer awareness.
Danielle holds a Master of Arts in Communication and Culture from Howard University and has a certificate in leadership from Stanford University but is most proud of her role as a wife, boy mom and career coach. Danielle is a proud Trinidadian who and is always up for a conversation about culture over great cuisine.
Leveraging Communication to Drive Transformation at Each Stage of the Change Curve
Danielle Jones-Hunte will lead a lab on driving transformation. She will start the lab with a short introduction on how to map the change journey and pair each stage with communication initiatives to drive transformation that sticks. This will be followed by group discussions.
The lab participants will learn and discuss the following:
- Understand the stages of the change curve
- Map the change journey to determine communication interventions at each stage of the change curve
- Identify and discuss the commonalities in interventions among participants
- Determine what measurements to take to track progress of the transformation
- Discuss challenges and potential solutions for each stage of change
- Harvest the discussion’s results
- Organizational Development & the Role of HR
- HR Lab

Roopesh Panchasra
Global Head of Executive Talent Acquisition
Uber
Roopesh has 20+ years of joy as a Talent Acquisition Leader and believes that the best is yet to come. At present he has the privilege of leading the Global Executive Talent Acquisition teams for all Uber businesses worldwide. Roopesh has had the fortune to work with incredible leaders who have pushed and challenged him over his career working for amazing brands such as SAP, Workday, Expedia and VMware. Building teams that have tangible impact and help to create optimal experiences at every touchpoint of the hiring process, that's the goal. A magnifying lens on inclusivity and data driven strategies have been the common thread across all that he has done whilst making sure to have fun along the way.
Building a High Potential Pool for Executive Hiring – Approaches and Criteria
Roopesh Panchasra will lead a lab on executive hiring. He will start off the lab off by briefly introducing a framework to guide the group discussion that follows. Lab participants will discuss and learn about the following:
- What criteria organizations use to identify internal talent with high potential for executive positions
- How do organizations establish their criteria, measure the program’s impact, and nurture and adapt it – and how do they continue to build the talent pool and reassess its members
- Talent Acquisition & Management
- HR Lab

Armin Trost
Professor of Human Resource Management
Hochschule Furtwangen University
Armin is a professor for human resource management at the top-ranked business school of Furtwangen University. Beyond being an engaged teacher, Armin is well known as a thought-leading author, inspiring keynote-speaker and trusted advisor. He is committed to a new and modern way of human resource management. In times of digitization, talent shortage, and knowledge economy, he is deeply convinced about the urgent need for new solutions to long lasting people-related challenges. Through his work, Armin makes make a valued contribution to this important field.
How You Relaunch Your Performance Appraisal System to Be More Effective within an Agile Working Environment: Better Do Not Replace an Existing Tool with Another Tool – It Won’t Help!
More and more companies struggle with their existing performance appraisal systems. They seem not to fit anymore to an environment, that is connected, self-organized and dynamic. This interactive session will give you guidance on how you might define better ways.
- Always start with the challenge. Define the benefits you intend to achieve with whatever you will do in the end
- Understand you structural and cultural context. Otherwise your approaches might not be compatible with your business environment
- Think of alternative ways of doing things. Think in terms of short-cyclic team approaches, which might be open, flexible, employee-driven and connected.
- Learn how you kick off and manage your relaunch in your organization
- Future of Work, Agile HR, HR Tech & People Analytics
- Organizational Development & the Role of HR
- HR Lab

Chris Brauer
Director of Innovation, Institute of Management Studies
Goldsmith
Dr. Chris Brauer (Dr. Chris) is Director of Innovation and founder of the Centre for Creative & Social Technologies (CAST) at Goldsmiths, University of London where he teaches innovation, project management, and behavioural economics. His research specialises in the intersections of emerging technologies and human behaviour, socio-economic and socio-cultural life. His projects focus on public engagement and impact and have been covered extensively in over 400 media outlets worldwide. Current research focuses include industrial internet, artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, blockchain, driverless cars, emotion tracking, and the psychology of openness and common ground.
5 Things You Need to Do Now to Augment Your Human Workforce with Automation
Augmented businesses perform better than their counterparts on multiple levels – including business, finance and employee engagement. By freeing people from the repetitive and mundane tasks, but also by enabling human-machine collaboration, augmented businesses further enhance innovation and creativity. This lab offers a framework for organizations to augment their workforce through optimizing work for people and machines, and encouraging collaboration between people and machines. Dr. Chris Brauer will start off the lab with a foundational presentation followed by group discussions, based on his making-work-human framework. Lab participants will:
- Get to know the five main challenges in augmenting work, and learn how organizations can tackle these to develop augmented services, data, and culture
- Work in groups to assess a real job description filtering the role’s tasks using the making-work-human framework in order to redefine the job for the purpose of increasing creativity and innovation via human-machine collaboration
- Future of Work, Agile HR, HR Tech & People Analytics
- HR Lab
- Innovation Lab
- AI, Internet of Things & Emerging Technologies