Leaders Unplugged

What does it mean to lead in a world where the United States — the anchor of the post-war order — has become "the biggest disruptor in the world"? 
In this episode of Leaders Unplugged, IMD's David Bach sits down with Jake Sullivan, former National Security Advisor to President Biden, for a frank, wide-ranging conversation on the forces reshaping global business, geopolitics, and the social compact. From the collapse of allied trust to Iran's newly proven ability to close the Strait of Hormuz, this is the geopolitical briefing every senior executive needs.
Sullivan argues that Trump "does not believe that allies are assets — he thinks they are liabilities," that the Iran war was "entirely a war of choice, an elective war," and that the era of assuming innovation dominance without industrial strength is over: "The United States has to concern itself with being able to build." 
On AI and the future of work, he warns that we need "fundamentally new answers" to the question of "where does the human fit in, in an age of exploding technology?" — and that no political leader has yet emerged to deliver them. 

Our guest:
Jake Sullivan served as National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025, helping shape U.S. responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, strategic competition with China, the wars in the Middle East, and the growing intersection of technology and geopolitics. A longtime adviser to both Biden and Hillary Clinton, Sullivan was also one of the architects of the Iran nuclear deal during the Obama administration and a leading voice behind the idea of a “foreign policy for the middle class.”
Today, he is the inaugural Kissinger Professor of the Practice of Statecraft and World Order at Harvard Kennedy School, a faculty affiliate at Harvard’s Belfer Center, a Senior Fellow at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy, and co-host of the foreign policy podcast “The Long Game” alongside his former deputy Jon Finer.
Harvard Kennedy School faculty profile: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/jake-sullivan 
X: @jakejsullivan 

Resources
Jake Sullivan, “The Tech High Ground,” *Foreign Affairs:    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/tech-high-ground-jake-sullivan
Kurt M. Campbell and Rush Doshi, “Underestimating China”:    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/china/underestimating-china 
The Long Game with Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer:
https://podcasts.voxmedia.com/show/the-long-game
Dan Wang, “Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future”:
https://danwang.co/breakneck/

Kati ter Horst leads Outokumpu, the world's leader in sustainable stainless steel, at a moment when the old assumptions of globalization are breaking down.
In this episode of Leaders Unplugged, she joins IMD President David Bach to discuss her transition from board member to first-time CEO, and how she is building a new strategy for her colleagues in nearly 30 countries, while navigating tariffs, AI, and geopolitical conflicts.
Kati’s warning is direct: “the rules are gone.” Her call to action is equally clear: “Europe can compete.” And one of her key learnings from the first 18 months as CEO? “You have to protect your time.”

Our guest:
Kati ter Horst is President and CEO of Outokumpu, the Helsinki-based global leader in sustainable stainless steel. She has been in the role since October 2024, after nearly a decade on the company’s board. Before Outokumpu, she held senior leadership roles at Stora Enso and Aliaxis, gaining deep experience in manufacturing, sustainability, and large-scale transformation.

Oona Hathaway on war, global rules, and why business leaders may regret staying silent as international law is violated.

Why does international law matter? How illegal is the Iran war? And what does business have to do with it? 

In this episode of Leaders Unplugged, IMD President David Bach hosts Yale professor Oona Hathaway for a candid conversation about war, international law, and the growing strain on the post-war global order.

Hathaway argues that international law is often most important when it is least visible: it works “in the background,” shaping what states know they can and can’t do. But when leaders start treating the rules as optional, even the unthinkable suddenly seems possible. As she puts it, “international law tends to be fairly invisible when it’s working well,” but now “the Trump administration is putting this all on the table.”

She also warns that “business leaders have been really quiet,” even as the erosion of legal norms introduces new volatility into global markets. Her message to them is clear: “If they don't speak out and if the president actually does what he's threatening to do, we're going to be in a much more unstable world where business is going to be extraordinarily risky.”

 Our guest
Oona Hathaway
Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law, Yale Law School
Oona Hathaway is one of the world’s leading experts on international law and global governance. She is a professor at Yale Law School and Yale University, and president-elect of the American Society of International Law. She is co-author of The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World, and author of the upcoming book, Citizens.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oona-hathaway
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/oonahathaway.bsky.social
Yale profile: https://law.yale.edu/oona-hathaway
Personal website: oonahathaway.com

Resources
Over 100 International Law Experts Warn: U.S. Strikes on Iran Violate UN Charter and May Be War Crimes: https://www.justsecurity.org/135423/professors-letter-international-law-iran-war/ 
The Internationalists (Hathaway & Shapiro): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/561345/the-internationalists-by-oona-a-hathaway-and-scott-j-shapiro/  
UN Charter: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter 
Geneva Conventions: https://www.icrc.org/en/war-and-law

In this episode of Leaders Unplugged, David Bach sits down with IOC President Kirsty Coventry to explore how she is navigating one of the most complex leadership roles in global sport today.
From the IOC’s new transgender policy on women’s sports – “it's very clear on the medical and scientific proof that transgender athletes have an advantage” – to the success of Milano Cortina and the future relevance of the Olympic Games, Coventry offers a candid look at how she makes decisions under pressure.

As the first woman and first African in her role, Coventry also describes a strategic shift she is pushing for inside the IOC: away from trying to be “everything to everyone… but a little bit unrealistic” and toward a sharper focus on the core of the Olympic Games. Her message for leaders everywhere is clear: “If everyone's happy then you're probably not doing the right thing.”
Drawing on her experience as an Olympic champion, she makes the case that athletes may offer a blueprint for modern leadership: “We are consistently good at getting criticism – because it's the one way we get better.”

 Our guest

Kirsty Coventry
President, International Olympic Committee

Kirsty Coventry is the President of the International Olympic Committee, the first woman and first African to hold the role. A Zimbabwean former swimmer, she is a multiple Olympic medalist, served as Zimbabwe’s Minister of Sport, and previously chaired the IOC Athletes’ Commission.
LinkedIn: https://zw.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-coventry
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialkirstycoventry/
IOC profile: https://www.olympics.com/ioc/mrs-kirsty-coventry
Athlete profile: https://www.olympics.com/en/athletes/kirsty-leigh-coventry

A decade ago, NIO was an idea. Today, the Chinese startup is one of the most innovative electric mobility brands in the world. On this episode of Leaders Unplugged,  Mark Zhou, Executive VP and Chairman of NIO’s Product Committee, shares how they did it – and what’s next.
Mark recalls that NIO’s founder William Li “only gave us like 36 months… to set up a company, grow the organization, deliver the vehicles, set up the power swap stations.” For him and other early hires who joined the company from legacy competitors, accustomed to carefully sequenced five-year plans, this wasn’t just ambitious — it was radical.

But NIO’s real differentiation comes from its founder’s background in mobile apps, with an obsession for community and experience design. It led the team to build lounge-style “NIO Houses” instead of traditional car dealerships. Instead of charging stations, NIO developed three-minute battery swaps that Mark calls “very addictive. Once you get used to the battery swap, you don’t want to go back.” It also led to resilience. When NIO entered a crisis, ”our users really stood up and said, let’s save this company.”

Western carmakers can learn a lot from NIO’s story – about founder-led conviction, busting stereotypes, and the uncomfortable truth of innovation: “People love to talk about the bright side of innovation”, Mark says. “They try to avoid the uncertainty.”
 Our guest:
Mark Zhou
Executive Vice President & Chairman of the Product Committee, NIO
Mark has helped scale NIO from a Shanghai startup to a global EV challenger, overseeing product strategy, global R&D, and international expansion.