Tomoyoshi Noda

Dr. Tomo Noda is the founder of the Institute for Strategic Leadership (ISL) and Shizenkan University, two Tokyo-based institutions dedicated to cultivating next-generation leaders with the willpower, integrity, and creativity to drive both social and business innovation.

He previously served on the faculties of London Business School (1996–1997), INSEAD France (1997–2000), and INSEAD Asia in Singapore (2001–2003), where he taught organizational strategy and transformational leadership. During his tenure at INSEAD, he received the Best Teacher Award for three consecutive years.

In 2000, Dr. Noda returned to Japan and established ISL with the support of approximately 300 top corporate executives, management professionals, and social leaders. Since its founding, more than 2,400 corporate managers and social entrepreneurs have completed ISL’s flagship Whole-Person Leadership Programs.

Building upon the experience, resources, and networks developed through ISL, Dr. Noda founded Shizenkan University, which was officially approved by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2018. Shizenkan offers a distinctive Executive MBA program—conducted in both Japanese and English—that integrates Western business and design methodologies, the intellectual depth of the liberal arts, and the introspective wisdom of Asian spiritual traditions.

Shizenkan aspires to be a catalyst for change in the global paradigm of management and leadership education. Together with IESE Business School in Spain, it leads a global leadership development consortium exploring new roles and responsibilities of business enterprises and leaders in this critical time of humanity. Members of the consortium include the School of Inspired Leadership (India), Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (UK), National University of Singapore Business School (Singapore), Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil), and more than fifteen partner institutions across five continents.

As a scholar, Dr. Noda published research in leading journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, and Harvard Business Review. His major works in Japanese include the bestseller The Journey of Leadership, Social Systems Theory for Business Leaders (co-authored with Shinji Miyadai), Context Management: Enhancing the Quality of Management by Empowering Individuals and Mobilizing the Organization, and the forthcoming Philosophy for Business Leaders: The Future of Capitalism, Democracy, and Human Existence (co-authored with Seiji Takeda).

In addition to his academic and educational leadership, Dr. Noda chairs the Future of Capitalism project team at the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai)—one of Japan’s most prominent business organizations. In this project, he explores institutional and legal reforms aimed at realizing a more inclusive and sustainable form of capitalism through the renewal of capital markets and corporate systems.

Dr. Noda earned his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Tokyo, his Master of Science in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and his Doctor of Business Administration (Business Policy) from Harvard University. Born in Kyoto, Dr. Noda was an Inamori Fellow of the Inamori Foundation.