774: What Innovative Leaders Do Differently, with Linda Hill

Linda Hill: Genius at Scale Linda Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration and Faculty Chair of the Leadership Initiative at Harvard Business School. Globally recognized as a top leadership and innovation expert, Linda has been named by Thinkers50 as one of the world’s top five management thinkers. She is the co-author, along with Emily Tedards and Jason Wild, of Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation (Amazon, Bookshop)* We all want to think of ourselves as innovative, but it’s often not easy to know exactly what that means in practice. In this conversation, Linda and I explore what her research shows that leaders do to drive innovation successfully – and how each of us can get just a bit better. Key Points Rather than coming up with a vision and asking people to follow it, innovation is about creating the culture and capabilities to create the future together. Innovation leadership shows up in three ways within organizations: the Architects, the Bridge Builders, and the Catalysts. Instead of setting the stage for themselves, innovative leaders set the stage for others. Often, we view horizontal relationships through the lens of organizational politics. The most effective innovation leaders view these relationships as leadership opportunities. Traditional team structures are a starting point, but not an ending point. Leaders at Mastercard, Pfizer, and Cleveland Clinic all brought in team members from both inside and outside the organization. Rather than thinking about a decision as final, it’s helpful for innovation leaders to frame it as a “working hypothesis.” Resources Mentioned Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation by Linda Hill, Emily Tedards, and Jason Wild (Amazon, Bookshop)* Interview Notes Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes How to Build an Invincible Company, with Alex Osterwalder (episode 470) The Way Innovators Get Traction, with Tendayi Viki (episode 512) Doing Better Than Zero-Sum Thinking, with Renée Mauborgne (episode 641) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.