Sebastien Brion

Sebastien Brion is a full professor in the Department of People Management in Organizations at IESE Business School. His academic expertise lies in organizational behavior, with a specific focus on power dynamics, leadership, and group behavior within organizations.

Professor Brion's educational background includes:

• PhD and Master's in Organizational Behavior from the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley
• Bachelor's in Psychology from Tufts University

Professor Brion's research primarily centers on the psychological effects of power within organizations. His work examines how power is acquired, maintained, and lost in group settings. He has made significant contributions to understanding how individuals' perceptions of their alliances affect their power retention, how overconfidence impacts leadership effectiveness, and the crucial distinction between leadership emergence and leadership effectiveness. His research bridges psychological theory with practical organizational applications, offering insights that help managers navigate complex power dynamics in the workplace. Through his publications in prestigious journals and contributions to media outlets like The Economist, Le Monde, and Die Welt, Brion has established himself as a thought leader in organizational behavior.

Professor Brion's publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on power, influence, and leadership dynamics. His recent work explores the intersection of traditional power structures with modern challenges like virtual work environments and data-driven decision making. The recurring themes across his articles include organizational decision making under ambiguity, CEO power dynamics, social transmission of cognitive biases, and the application of power principles in contemporary business contexts. His research increasingly incorporates insights from behavioral economics and social psychology to explain complex organizational phenomena.

At IESE Business School, Professor Brion teaches Leadership and Human Resources Management core courses as well as Power and Influence elective courses in MBA and executive education programs. He has also taught executive programs for major organizations including L'Oréal, Santander, Nissan, NLNG (Lagos, Nigeria), and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (Kazakhstan's national railway network). Additionally, he has served as a visiting professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and has taught in executive programs at the Haas School of Business and MDE (Abidjan, Ivory Coast).