William A. Fischer

Program Director

William A. Fischer is Emeritus Professor of Innovation Management.

Meet your Program Director

An engineer by training, American by citizenship, New Yorker by birth and attitude, William has lived much of his life in Asia and Europe. He co-founded the Driving Strategic Innovation program, in cooperation with the MIT Sloan School of Management.

In 2011, the UK newspaper The Independent named William “one of the most influential business tweeters”; and in 2012, InnovationExcellence.com named him one of its “Top 50 Innovation Tweeters,” while InnovationManagement.com’s included him among their 40 top innovation bloggers.

A discussion on business model innovation

By Emeritus Professor William A. Fischer

IMD Professor of Innovation Management, Bill Fischer caught up with frequent IMD collaborator and CEO of Strategyzer, Alex Osterwalder, to discuss the Business Model Canvas, a tool Osterwalder invented to help companies innovate.

Every innovation needs a story

By Emeritus Professor William A. Fischer

More often than not, it is the story that makes the innovation, rather than the other way around. Want to be successful at innovation? You need to convince others to buy into your idea.

Legacy thinking is transforming us into can’t do guys

By Emeritus Professor William A. Fischer

After more than 150 years of creating electric light, heavier-than-air, flying machines (…), gone to the moon, and so many more amazing innovations, we have become, all too often, “the can’t do guys”!

Why we can’t innovate

By Emeritus Professor William A. Fischer

Despite 41% of the respondents admitting that their firms are “at extreme risk of disruption,” 78% of innovation portfolios are allocated to continuous innovation instead of disruptive risks.