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Olivier SIBONY

Professor (Education Track)

Strategy and Business Policy

 Profile picture

Biography

Olivier Sibony is a writer, educator and consultant specializing in Strategy, strategic decision making and the organization of decision processes.

From 1991 to 2015, Olivier was a consultant, Partner and Director in the Paris, New York and Brussels offices of McKinsey & Company. Among other roles, he served as global leader of the Corporate Strategy Practice, as a European leader of the Consumer sector, and as a member of the Firm’s global Partner Review Committee. From an industry sector perspective, he has extensive experience in Consumer Packaged Goods, Luxury Goods, Retail, and Private Equity.

Olivier Sibony teaches Business Strategy and Corporate Strategy courses in the MBA and Executive MBA programs. He also leads the Problem Solving and Communications workshop for MBA participants and teaches the Behavioral Strategy elective in the MIF program.

In addition to his role as Affiliate Professor at HEC Paris, Olivier teaches in a number of other European institutions and advises business leaders as consultant or as Board member. 

Olivier’s research interests center on the effect of heuristics and biases in strategic decision making and procedures to improve the quality of decisions.

Olivier Sibony is a graduate of HEC Paris.

Scientific articles

An exchange of letters on the role of noise in collective intelligence

Collective Intelligence, August-September 2022, vol. 1, n° 1, pp 1-5, (in coll. with D. Kahneman, D. C. Krakauer, C. Sunstein, D. Wolpert)

A Structured Approach to Strategic Decisions

MIT Sloan Management Review, March 2019, vol. 60, n° 3, pp 67-73, (in coll. with D. KAHNEMAN, D. LOVALLO)

Broadening the Frame: How Behavioral Strategy Redefines Strategic Decisions

Strategy Science, february, 3 2018, vol. 3, n° 4, pp 658-667, (in coll. with D. LOVALLO)

Decision Theory Made Relevant: Between the Software and the Shrink

Research in Economics, June 2018, vol. 72, n° 2, pp 240-250, (in coll. with I. GILBOA, M. ROUZIOU)

Behavioral Strategy and the Strategic Decision Architecture of the Firm

California Management Review, december, 2 2017, vol. 59, n° 3, pp 5-21, (in coll. with D. LOVALLO, T. C. POWELL)

L’analyse comportementale du droit

Revue Internationale de Droit Economique (RIDE), 2016, vol. 3, n° XXX, pp 315-338, (in coll. with G HELLERINGER, A. ALEMANNO)

Evidence Doesn't Argue for Itself: The Value of Disinterested Dialogue in Strategic Decision-Making

Long Range Planning, february, 3 2015, vol. 48, n° 6, pp 361-380, (in coll. with M. GARBUIO, D. LOVALLO)

Books

Stai per commettere un terribile errore! Come evitare le trappole del pensiero

Raffaello Cortina Editore

Döntéshozatali csapdák: Hogyan visznek tévútra a torzítások (és mit tehetünk ellenük)?

HVG Könyvek

Noise, A Flaw in Human Judgment

Little, Brown Spark (in coll. with D. KAHNEMAN, C. R. SUNSTEIN)

Trouvez-moi la solution !

Flammarion (in coll. with B. GARRETTE, C. PHELPS)

Vous allez redécouvrir le management

Flammarion

You're About to Make a Terrible Mistake

Little, Brown Spark

Strategor - 8ème édition, Toute la stratégie de la start-up à la multinationale

Dunod (in coll. with B. GARRETTE, R. DURAND, P. DUSSAUGE, L. LEHMANN ORTEGA, B. POINTEAU, F. LEROY)

Vous allez commettre une terrible erreur !

Flammarion

Cracked it ! How to solve big problems and sell solutions like top strategy consultants

Palgrave Macmillan (in coll. with B. GARRETTE, C. PHELPS)

Nudging and the Law: What can EU Law learn from Behavioural Sciences?

Hart Publishing (in coll. with A. ALEMANNO)

Chapters in edited books

Bias, noise and nudges

Research Handbook On Nudges And Society, Cass R. Sunstein, Lucia A. Reisch, Edward Elgar Publishing, 1, 34-55

Redefine the Problem: The Design Thinking Path

Cracked It!, Palgrave Macmillan, 139-167

Sell the Solution: Core Message and Storyline

Cracked It!, Palgrave Macmillan, 197-221

Structure the Problem: Analytical Frameworks

Cracked It!, Palgrave Macmillan, 95-116

The Five Pitfalls of Problem Solving

Cracked It!, Palgrave Macmillan, 15-34

Before You Make That Big Decision...

Hbr'S 10 Must Reads, Harvard Business Review Press, 21-40

The case for behavioral strategy

Seeing Through Biases In Strategic Decisions, McKinsey & Company, McKinsey Quarterly Special Issue

Working papers

Case Studies

Scientific articles

An exchange of letters on the role of noise in collective intelligence

Collective Intelligence, August-September 2022, vol. 1, n° 1, pp 1-5, (in coll. with D. Kahneman, D. C. Krakauer, C. Sunstein, D. Wolpert)

A Structured Approach to Strategic Decisions

MIT Sloan Management Review, March 2019, vol. 60, n° 3, pp 67-73, (in coll. with D. KAHNEMAN, D. LOVALLO)

Broadening the Frame: How Behavioral Strategy Redefines Strategic Decisions

Strategy Science, february, 3 2018, vol. 3, n° 4, pp 658-667, (in coll. with D. LOVALLO)

Decision Theory Made Relevant: Between the Software and the Shrink

Research in Economics, June 2018, vol. 72, n° 2, pp 240-250, (in coll. with I. GILBOA, M. ROUZIOU)

Books

Stai per commettere un terribile errore! Come evitare le trappole del pensiero

Raffaello Cortina Editore

Döntéshozatali csapdák: Hogyan visznek tévútra a torzítások (és mit tehetünk ellenük)?

HVG Könyvek

Noise, A Flaw in Human Judgment

Little, Brown Spark (in coll. with D. KAHNEMAN, C. R. SUNSTEIN)

Trouvez-moi la solution !

Flammarion (in coll. with B. GARRETTE, C. PHELPS)

Chapters in edited books

Bias, noise and nudges

Research Handbook On Nudges And Society, Cass R. Sunstein, Lucia A. Reisch, Edward Elgar Publishing, 1, 34-55

Redefine the Problem: The Design Thinking Path

Cracked It!, Palgrave Macmillan, 139-167

Sell the Solution: Core Message and Storyline

Cracked It!, Palgrave Macmillan, 197-221

Structure the Problem: Analytical Frameworks

Cracked It!, Palgrave Macmillan, 95-116

Working papers

Case Studies

Education

  • Doctorate, Business Administration, Strategy and Business Policy, Université Paris Dauphine - France
  • Master of Science/Grande Ecole, Business Administration, Strategy and Management, HEC Paris - France

Academic appointments

Academic Responsibilities at HEC

  • 2021- Professor (Education Track), Strategy and Business Policy HEC Paris
  • 2020- Member of GREGHEC, the joint research laboratory CNRS-HEC Paris HEC Paris
  • 2020-2020 Associate Professor (Education Track), Strategy and Business Policy HEC Paris
  • 2015-2019 Affiliate Professor, Strategy and Business Policy HEC Paris

Awards & honors

  • 2021 2020 Pierre Vernimmen - BNP Paribas Teaching Award
  • 2019 Laureat du Grand Prix du Jury de la 24eme edition du Prix RH Fondation ManpowerGroup pour l'ouvrage Vous allez commettre une terrible erreur ! (ed. Flammarion)