LBS Professors feted in 2025 Thinkers50 Ranking
Professors Herminia Ibarra and Michael G Jacobides have been recognised as two of the world’s greatest management thinkers
London Business School (LBS) is delighted to confirm that professors Herminia Ibarra and Michael G Jacobides have been named as two of the most influential management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. The Thinkers50 ranking, which takes place every two years, celebrates those management thinkers the public considers to be the best of the best.
Herminia Ibarra, Charles Handy Chair in Organisational Behaviour and Professor of Organisational Behaviour at LBS, has been in the Thinkers50 ranking of the world’s best management thinkers since 2011. She also appeared in the ranking in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023. Her book Working Identity featured on the Thinkers50 Management Classics Booklist in 2024, and Professor Ibarra took the Thinkers50 Leadership Award in 2013. Her latest Thinkers50 ranking reflects her status as a thinker who is considered “essential reading for anyone stepping up to a leadership role”.
Reflecting on this latest ranking, Professor Ibarra commented:
“It’s an incredible honour to be named to the Thinkers 50 list for the eighth time. My heartfelt thanks to founders Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove and to the entire Thinkers50 community for their dedication to championing ideas that develop leaders and grow organisations.”
Michael G Jacobides, the Sir Donald Gordon Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at LBS, has been ranked in the list since 2019 when he was shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Strategy Award. He also appeared in the list in 2021 and 2023. Crainer and Dearlove believe that his work making sense of the new world of ecosystems “will help shape the future of organisational behaviour”.
Expressing his joy at featuring in this year’s ranking, Professor Jacobides remarked:
“I am delighted to be recognised by Thinkers50, and to be in the company of so many people I admire. My focus remains research that travels: evidence-led, rigorously thought-through, practice-tested, hype-resistant thinking on AI, strategy and ecosystems – so leaders can separate signal from noise, make better strategic bets, and strengthen their organisations.”