Walter Baets

Walter Baets is a professor in Values Based Leadership at the Research Centre Business Innovation of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.

Walter Baets is Emeritus Professor at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Cape Town, where he was the dean and the Allan Gray Chair in Values Based Leadership. As a consultant he has been active in six countries on two continents, in the areas of the “sensible” organization (values, purpose, impact), the creation of innovation ecosystems, business model innovation and frugal innovation. He created the first Business School in Russia in 1990, and for the EU and the League of Arab States, he created a hybrid and networked school in the Euro-Mediterranean region (based in Granada). With lots of energy and engagement, he challenges the mindsets of people on how corporate life is locked in always doing the same things, and he motivates them to break out in order to innovate and have an impact.

Walter obtained his PhD at Warwick Business School, and he received a Senior Doctorate (HDR) from the University Paul Cezanne in Aix-Marseilles. Based on 12 years of experience as an econometrician in business, he moved into academia and has developed a thorough expertise in complexity theory, exponential technologies and exponential organizations. He has deeply engaged with why it is so difficult to change and how you could use technology for the good, having a positive impact on the economy and society. He published more than 10 books and is already for two decades a highly appreciated motivational speaker.