How the Best Leaders Drive Innovation

HBR On Leadership

If you’re leading innovation, you need very specific leadership skills.

Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill has studied leadership and innovation for decades and is the coauthor of Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation. She says that leaders who shepherd innovation can’t rely on formal authority. Instead, they need to understand how to get people to co-create with them, which requires mastering three key roles —architect, bridger, and catalyst—or the ABCs of innovation.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to fill each of these roles—from how to assemble the right team to how to build real connections and mutual commitment. As Hill says, “You cannot tell people to innovate. You can only invite them.”

Key episode topics include: leadership, innovation, power, commitment, talent management, resources, teams, collaboration.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Watch the original HBR Quick Study episode: What Makes a Great Leader? (2022)

· Find more episodes of the HBR Quick Study series on YouTube.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.