Henning Piezunka  

I am a professor at INSEAD in Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprises (and a visiting professor at Wharton ( UPenn). I got a Ph.D. from Stanford University, a Master's degree from the London School of Economics (LSE), and a Diplom-Kaufmann from the University of Mannheim. I am originally from Heidelberg, Germany. 

Before I became a professor, I co-founded a company. I was the main shareholder and served as its CEO. We scaled the company to 25 employees and customers in 80 countries. After 10 years, in 2008, we decided to transfer the leadership of the company to my successor. The CEO-succession was successful. And as of 2024, the company continues to thrive. My experience as an entrepreneur shapes my (1) research, (2) teaching & speaking, and (3) my interest and focus on Founder- and CEO-successions.

RESEARCH

For an overview, see my Academic CV or my Google Scholar Profile.

My research is my focus and serves as the foundation of my teaching, speaking, and advisory work.

Studies I have published have won various awards, and I have been invited to present my research at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Chicago, London Business School, etc.

Fun fact: Many of the topics I have studied became later the theme of famous TV shows: For example, founder- and CEO-Successions (HBO: Succession), competition in chess (Netflix: The Queen's Gambit), or racing in Formula 1 (Netflix: Drive to Survive).

Summaries of my research on INSEAD Knowledge, and videos about some of my papers on YouTube.

TEACHING, WORKSHOPS & SPEAKING

I teach at INSEAD and at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. So, as a student, you can take my class. Even if you are not a student, you can come to INSEAD for one week and take my class. You can sign up here.

I often get asked to give workshops and keynotes. I run workshops at companies; typically attended by board members, top management teams, and high potentials. Simply said, I like to teach people who strive to make a difference. I also give keynotes at company and industry events. I enjoy these a lot. I have won multiple teaching awards at INSEAD and Wharton. I customize the content of my speeches and workshops to match your particular interests and situation. The focus, though, consistently revolves around the questions of (1) how to make companies more entrepreneurial, (2) how to build a fair organization, and (3) founder- and CEO-successions. Regarding my speaking style: I make my presentations enjoyable and engaging for the listeners! I speak online or in person. If you want me to speak at your company or your event, you can contact me here.

FOCUS: FOUNDER- & CEO-SUCCESSION

Getting founder- & CEO-Successions right is crucial. You know this from a relay race: You can run as fast as you want, but if you fail to pass the baton to the next runner, you and your company fail.

Mastering the CEO succession is challenging: the current CEO needs to resign, a successor needs to be found, the company must be ready for the succession, the successor needs to be onboarded, and so on. If the last CEO was unsuccessful, the next one must succeed. If the last CEO was successful, the succession can be particularly challenging: expectations are high, and the danger of disappointment is looming large.

CEO-Successions have become my key focus. Beyond pursuing various research projects, I work with companies helping them to get the CEO succession right. I have worked with

  1. the current CEO to prepare them and the company for the succession,

  2. the candidate(s) for the CEO succession to prepare them so that they are ready to take over, and

  3. the owners and the boards of companies.

Companies contact me at different points in time, sometimes years in advance, to learn about the key issues in succession and start building a pool of potential successors. Sometimes when they are in the middle of things, and the transition is not going as hoped. In any case, you can contact me here.

I also work with family firms on their founder- and CEO-successions. Family firms face particular challenges. Family dynamics need to be managed. Changes in leadership often imply changes in ownership. Children need to be coached. Founder and CEO-Successions in family firms is a topic I have worked on for a long time. My co-author and I have conducted a long-term research project and have followed 7 companies over the years - examining what made them fail or succeed in their founder- and CEO succession. If you are a family business, I am excited to work with you. You can contact me here.

WEBINAR: Between the Lines

I also run the INSEAD webinar “Between the Lines” I interview (mostly) business school professors who have written great books; for example, I have interviewed Herminia Ibarra, Erin Meyer, Ethan Mollick, Jennifer Petriglieri, Markus Reitzig, Alex Edmans, Bob Sutton, Katy Milkman, Amy Edmondson, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Scott Page. I announce new webinars on LinkedIn. So, if you are interested, just follow me there.


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