DR. MICHELE SAGAN
CEO, Optimal Insight | Author, Future Shaping | PhD, University of Nottingham
ABOUT MICHELE SAGAN
About Michele
Michele has 25 years of expertise in leadership and management across the UK and Malaysia. Having held key positions in renowned organizations such as the Asia School of Business in collaboration with MIT Sloan, UBS, HSBC, and CIMB, she brings critical insights in areas such as future of work, strategic thought, change management, and human capital development.
Michele's impact extends through her work as a future of work scholar, certified human capital strategist, and international speaker, where she has consulted, taught, and facilitated on topics including Future of Work Solutions, Change, Emotional Intelligence, Cultural Transformation, Wellbeing, and Leadership Development. As a certified coach, psychotherapist, and EQ practitioner, she has supported clients from diverse industries, including Oil and Gas, Finance, Telecommunication, and more.
Michele Sagan holds a BSc and MSc from the London School of Economics and earned her PhD in the Future of Work from the University of Nottingham in 2025.
Her remarkable contributions led to her recognition as one of Malaysia's most successful individuals in 2021.
Future of Work Specialist
Michele is a future of work scholar and is passionate about shaping the future. She is working on a generative model that incorporates both agile and sustainable strategies to help transform organizations and people in navigating the future of work.
She supports organisations in their business and workforce transformation initiatives and provides people solutions to help organisations future-proof their organisation, leadership and employees.
Key Note Speaker
Michele has spoken in multiple conferences as a key note speaker and panelist including for the Economist, the Economic Times, Amcham, and many more. She has spoken on the Future of Work, Future of Jobs, Upskilling and Reskilling, Future-Proofed Leadership and Culture, Organisational Transformation and Innovation, DEI, ESG and Sustainability as well as Wellbeing and Mental Health.
Author & Editor
Michele writes none ficition and non-fiction books. She is represented by Jamie Cowen from The Ampersand Agency and was a student at both Curtis Brown Creative and Faber Academy where she completed both their Six-Month Novel Writing Courses. She has written columns and articles for magazines and journals and won the London Book Fair’s The Write Stuff competition in 2018.
Future Shaping: Leadership for Generative Organisations by Dr. Michele Sagan
Published by Penguin Random House
The future of work is not arriving evenly. Organisations across Asia-Pacific are navigating disruption, workforce disconnection, deepening discontent, and environmental degradation all at once. Most leadership frameworks were not built for that combination.
Future Shaping is a practical book for leaders who want to understand what is actually changing — and build organisations capable of performing through it. It introduces the concept of the Generative Organisation: one that creates value while developing its people, sustaining its environment, and remaining genuinely purposeful. It shows what Generative Leadership looks like in practice, and it gives HR professionals and people leaders a framework — Generative HRM — for building human capital strategy that holds up under real conditions.
The book draws on extensive research across Asia-Pacific, Dr. Sagan's doctoral work at the University of Nottingham, and more than two decades of practice with boards and senior leaders across the region.
Foreword by Professor Joseph Cherian.
Get in touch with Dr. Michele!
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I want to take a moment to acknowledge Michele for her outstanding presentation at our recent Thomas Learning Event. Her knowledge, insights, and passion for the topic "Leading & Engaging the workforce of the Future" were truly inspiring, and the feedback we received from attendees has been overwhelmingly positive. Michele's expertise and insights are invaluable, and we are grateful for the knowledge and inspiration she shared with our audience. If you need a great and inspiring speaker at your event, please invite Michele!