Frederic Godart

Frédéric Godart is a Full Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France. His research examines the social and organizational foundations of creativity, with particular attention to how novel and valuable ideas emerge and take hold in organizations and industries. He is known for his work on social networks and power relations, as well as on cultural dynamics, and for showing how these forces shape leadership processes and organizational identity.

His research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Management Science, Social Forces, and the Annual Review of Sociology. His work also appears in practitioner-oriented outlets such as Harvard Business Review. These publications address questions related to coordination and leadership in organizations operating under uncertainty and strong cultural constraints.

At INSEAD, Frédéric teaches across MBA, PhD, and Executive Education programs. In the MBA, he teaches Organizational Behavior II (Leading Organizations), Power and Politics, and Value Creation in Luxury and Fashion. In the PhD program, he teaches Organizational Sociology, Social Networks, and Advanced Topics in Organizational Behavior and Organizational Theory.

In Executive Education, Frédéric works closely with senior leaders and leadership teams. In 2023, he published Leadership Team Alignment: From Conflict to Collaboration at Stanford University Press (with Jacques Neatby). The book draws on his research to examine how leadership teams handle conflict, build alignment, and translate social dynamics into organizational outcomes.

He has directed or been involved in programs with companies across multiple industries. In financial services, these include ABN AMRO, Bank Al Jazira, Euronext, and Visa; in technology and digital services, Google, Digital China, and Pure Storage; in luxury, fashion, and consumer goods, LVMH, Puig, and Pernod Ricard; in industrial and manufacturing sectors, Schneider Electric, Kingspan, Michelin, KONE, NSG, Westinghouse, and Roquette; in energy, utilities, and infrastructure, Etisalat, HEDNO, and NMDC; in healthcare and life sciences, Chiesi and Uriach; and in professional services, Allen & Overy and Oliver Wyman.

He is the Academic Director of the IPO Ready Program at Euronext, where he works with leadership teams preparing organizations for the challenges associated with going public. He also serves as a jury member of the Best Managed Companies France program developed by Deloitte, contributing an academic perspective on leadership quality and governance. He has authored a number of case studies used in executive and MBA teaching across business schools. These examine real organizational challenges such as leadership transitions, growth strategies, organizational change, and IPO journeys

He is also the author of several books on fashion and culture. His book (in French) Sociologie de la mode (A Sociology of Fashion) has been translated into Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish (Argentina). Its extended English edition was published as Unveiling Fashion: Business, Culture, and Identity in the Most Glamorous Industry (Palgrave MacMillan). His work has been featured in international media such as The New York Times, The Financial Times, El País, and Women’s Wear Daily, as well as in French outlets including Le Monde, Les Échos, and Le Figaro.

Frédéric received his PhD in Sociology from Columbia University. He also holds an MPhil in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge (Trinity College) and an MSc in Management from Sciences Po, Paris. He is a former fellow of the École Normale Supérieure de Paris-Saclay and holds accreditation to supervise doctoral research in management at Université Paris-Dauphine. His research has received several distinctions, including the Academy of Management Organizational Behavior Division’s Best Paper Award (2012) and the International Fashion Science Award (IFSA) at ISEM in Madrid (2023).

Before pursuing an academic career, Frédéric worked for three years at McKinsey & Company in Belgium, where he developed experience in competitive intelligence and organizational analysis.