Featured Briefings
Leadership for Innovation: How to Create Collective Genius
Linda Hill, Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Wednesday, 10 February 2010 - 7:30 AM Breakfast, 8:00 – 9:00 AM session
What kind of leadership is needed when innovation is how you compete? How do you make a culture change to one of thriving innovation? How do you keep innovation alive through various lifecycles?
In this session, Professor Hill talks about "creating collective genius" that produces a thriving innovation environment in any organization. Drawing compelling conclusions from studying 14 leaders of top innovative companies around the world such as; Pixar, eBay Germany, IBM, HCL Technologies, Pentagram, etc., Hill presents the results of in-depth research that sheds light on the most successful leadership practices that produce exceptional and exponential innovation.
You will learn:
* What successful leaders do to foster dynamic innovation
* How successful leaders think about their role
* What are the key community elements and the core organizational capabilities needed to foster innovation
Leading in A Connected World
Rob Cross, Professor of Management, University of Virginia
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 - 7:30 AM Breakfast, 8:00 – 9:00 AM session
Networks of both formal and informal relationships are increasingly the means by which organizations create value and drive innovation. However, most leaders have only a vague idea of the networks around them and often don’t consider the possibility of trying to manage them to boost their organizations’ performance.
Our research over the past decade has shown that leaders who are attuned to the informal networks in their organization are more successful over time. Specifically, those who are in the top 20% performer category throughout their careers tend to tap into networks to compensate for weaknesses in formal structures and obtain a multiplier effect on key talent and expertise in their organization.
In this session you will learn how successful leaders obtain performance impact through networks by:
• Managing the center of the network: Minimizing collaborative bottlenecks and acknowledging/developing high performers who also make their colleagues more effective.
• Leveraging the periphery of the network: Rapidly integrating newcomers and reengaging under-connected high performers.
• Selectively bridging organizational silos: Facilitating effective collaboration at key intersections in the network (such as across functional lines or physical distance).
• Developing awareness of colleagues’ expertise throughout the network: Ensuring that the best expertise in a network is known and brought to bear on new problems and opportunities.
• Minimizing insularity: Managing targeted relations with key internal and external clients and stakeholders.