Professor Miriam Muethel

Miriam Muethel is Chair of Organizational Behavior at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. From 2014 to 2015, she was a Network Fellow at the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University and, subsequently, a Visiting Scholar at Harvard's Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies from 2016 to 2017.

Miriam Muethel is a leading expert in navigating leadership through crises, change, and the complexities of a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world. Her research bridges theoretical advancement and practical application, focusing on effective crisis management and leadership in challenging situations.

Central to Professor Muethel's work is guiding digital transformation. She champions a culture of strategic risk-taking and radical honesty, essential for successful digitalization and maintaining a competitive edge. Her insights enable leaders to foster an entrepreneurial mindset and manage the high failure rate of digital initiatives. Additionally, she addresses the challenges of leading change and cultivating a positive failure culture. She teaches managers to distinguish between acceptable failures and those that compromise organizational integrity, promoting an environment where strategic risks and learning from failure are integral to success.

Professor Muethel's expertise in crisis leadership encompasses both external and internal crises. External crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, arise from events outside the organization, while internal crises result from errors or corporate misconduct. In addressing internal crises, she provides essential strategies for restoring trust, which she tailors to company needs. For example, as Senior Advisor to Volkswagen AG, she developed an ethical leadership skillset to foster behavioral integrity and prevent ethical failures. Notably, she created a globally implemented Train-the-Trainer Program on ethical leadership for Volkswagen AG, significantly impacting the company's approach to ethical leadership worldwide.

Professor Muethel offers keynotes, pep talks, and master classes, frequently providing C-level training. She has trained the Volkswagen AG Supervisory Board on ethical crisis management and advised the German Armed Forces on failure culture and trust at the invitation of then Federal Minister Dr. Ursula von der Leyen. Additionally, she has trained the Audi AG Board of Management on ethical challenges in digital transformation and worked with the Henkel HR Board on navigating the complexities of agile leadership.

Her research, published in top journals like the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Internal Business Studies, and MIT Sloan Management Review, has garnered national and international media attention, including in the Financial Times and the German Handelsblatt.