Michael A. Pirson

Michael A. Pirson (born 1973) is a German humanistic management scholar and author. He is a professor and the James A.F. Stoner Endowed Chair in Global Sustainability and a professor of Global Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship at Fordham University, while also being a Research Associate at Harvard University's Human Flourishing Program (HFP). He is the co-founder of the organizations Humanistic Management Network and the Humanistic Leadership Academy (HLA), Founder and President of the International Humanistic Management Association (IHMA), and leads the Humanistic Management working group at the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UNPRME).

Pirson is known for his research on humanistic management, psychological and social psychological work on individual differences in mindfulness, trust, and well-being, organizational analysis of corporate governance, stakeholder trust, and social innovation, and conceptual and philosophical study on freedom, dignity, and well-being, as he investigates the role of higher education in positive change-making and social innovation. He has authored and co-authored multiple research articles, a book titled Humanistic Management: Protecting Dignity and Promoting Well-Being, and edited and co-edited 10 books including Humanistic ethics in the Age of Globality, Banking with Integrity: The Winners of the Financial Crisis? and Case Studies in Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability. He has received numerous awards such as the 2014 Academy of Management Best Paper Award, the 2018 Academy of Management Best Book Award, and the 2019 Association of Jesuit Universities Book Award.

Pirson is a full member of the Club of Rome and Editor-in-Chief of the Humanistic Management Journal.

Education and early career Pirson earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Erlangen–Nuernberg in 1996, and later obtained a Master of Public Administration (Diplome de Sciences Po) from the Institute of Political Sciences, Strasbourg, France in 1997 and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg and Indiana University in 1999. In 2005, he founded Humanet, a humanistic management research network, and is the Founder and President of the International Humanistic Management Association (IHMA). and a Research Fellow at Harvard University Psychology Department from 2008 to 2018, where he serves as a Research Associate at Harvard University's Human Flourishing Program (HFP). along with being an Editor of the Humanism in Business Series and the Humanistic Management Book Series. He is a member of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Steering Committee, a Full Member of the Club of Rome, and the Editor-in-Chief of the Humanistic Management Journal.

Awards and honors 2014 – Best Paper Award, Academy of Management 2018 – Best Book Award, Academy of Management 2019 – Book Award, Association of Jesuit Universities