Scholar. Author. Advisor.
What stays distinctly human when machines can answer almost anything?
Johan Roos helps leaders amplify the judgment, imagination, and practical wisdom that algorithms cannot supply.
Four ways of working
Professor
Johan has taught strategy and leadership at seven international business schools, four of which he has helped lead, and now works with Hult on executive education. His work lives where rigorous research meets the realities of running an institution.
Author
From strategic alliances and knowledge management to Human Magic, Johan has written more than a dozen books across three decades on how organizations think, decide, and renew themselves.
Speaker
Johan keynotes for boards, global conferences, and executive programs on AI and leadership, the future of management, and the human capabilities that machines cannot replace.
Advisor
Johan co-founded the Imagination Lab Foundation with the 3rd generation LEGO owner. He advises leaders and institutions as a partner and investor, and serves as Senior Advisor to the Global Peter Drucker Forum.
Ideas I work on
Human capabilities in the age of AI
When machines provide instant answers, the advantage shifts to what they cannot do: ask the better question, hold competing truths, decide with wisdom. This is the territory of Human Magic.
AI-augmented leadership and wisdom
AI does not relieve leaders of their thinking. It demands more of it. The work is learning to use intelligent tools to deepen practical wisdom rather than outsource it.
Human Magic in the Loop
When machines act, judgment still has to live somewhere. This is the design principle that engineers human wisdom into AI systems at the moments that matter, so people heed what the machine produces rather than simply defer to it.
Imagination and LEGO® Serious Play®
People think with their hands. The method Johan co-invented helps teams build their way into problems that talk alone cannot reach.
The future of management education
Business schools came of age in one technological era and now face another. Johan works on what management education becomes when the old certainties no longer hold.
The Next Management
The same AI runs two ways. On the erosion curve it replaces human work and wisdom fades. On the amplification curve it sharpens human judgment instead. Next Management is the discipline of designing for amplification on purpose, from the daily choice to the boardroom.
Recent coverage
Skepticism as a daily leadership discipline
Article · SmartBrief
2026-07-08
Standing Apart Podcast with Nigel Ridpath
Podcast · Standing Apart Podcast
2026-07-06
PMI Enterprise Agility Webinar
Podcast · PMI
2026-07-02
The Missing Question in the AI Agenda
Article · Global Focus Magazine
2026-07-01
Recruiting Future with Matt Adler
Podcast · Recruiting Future
2026-07
Scaling Coach Podcast with Bill Gallagher
Podcast · Scaling Coach Podcast
2026-07
Featured in
On stage
Recent platforms include the Global Peter Drucker Forum, the QS World Conference, AACSB, EFMD, iVentiv, and CEEMAN.
Stay close to the work
A short note when there is something worth reading. Essays, new research, and where Johan will be speaking next.