WEBVTT

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I have a confession to make.

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I'm a business professor

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whose ambition has been
to help people learn to lead.

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But recently, I've discovered

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that what many of us
think of as great leadership

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does not work, when it comes
to leading innovation.

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I'm an ethnographer.

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I use the methods of anthropology

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to understand the questions
which I'm interested.

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So along with three co-conspirators,

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I spent nearly a decade observing
up close and personal,

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exceptional leaders of innovation.

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We studied 16 men and women,

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located in seven countries
across the globe

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working in 12 different industries.

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In total, we spent hundreds of hours
on the ground, on-site,

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watching these leaders in action.

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We ended up with pages
and pages of field notes

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that we analyzed, and looked
for patterns in what our leaders did.

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The bottom line?

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If we want to build organizations
that can innovate time and again,

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we must unlearn our conventional
notions of leadership.

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Leading innovation is not
about creating a vision,

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and inspiring others to execute it.

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But what do we mean by innovation?

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An innovation is anything
that is both new and useful.

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It can be a product or service.

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It can be a process
or a way of organizing.

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It can be incremental,
or it can be breakthrough.

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We have a pretty inclusive definition.

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How many of you recognize this man?

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Put your hands up.

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Keep your hands up,
if you know who this is.

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How about these familiar faces?

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(Laughter)

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From your show of hands,

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it looks like many of you
have seen the Pixar movie.

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But very few of you recognized Ed Catmull,

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the founder and CEO of Pixar

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- one of the companies
I had the privilege of studying.

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My first visit to Pixar was in 2005,

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when they were working on 'Ratatouille',

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that provocative movie
about a rat becoming a master chef.

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Computer generated movies
are really mainstream today,

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but it took Ed and his colleagues
nearly 20 years

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to create the first full length CG movie.

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In the 20 years hence,
they've produced 14 movies.

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I was recently at Pixar,
and I'm here to tell you

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that number 15 is sure to be a winner.

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When many of us think
about innovation though,

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we think about an Einstein
having an 'Aha!' moment.

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But we all know that's a myth.

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Innovation is not about solo genius,

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it's about collective genius.

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Let's think for a minute about
what it takes to make a Pixar movie:

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no solo genius, no flash of inspiration
produces one of those movies.

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On the contrary, it takes about
250 people four to five years,

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to make one of those movies.

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To help us understand the process,

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an individual in the studio
drew a version of this picture.

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He did so reluctantly,
because it suggested

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that their process
was a neat series of steps

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done by discrete groups.

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Even with all those arrows,

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he thought it failed to tell you
just how iterative, interrelated

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and, frankly, messy their process was.

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Throughout the making of a movie
at Pixar, the story evolves.

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So think about it.

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Some shots go through quickly.

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They don't all go through in order.

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It depends on how vexing
the challenges are,

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that they come up with, when
they're working on a particular scene.

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So if you think about that scene in 'Up'

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where the boy hands the piece
of chocolate to the bird,

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that 10 seconds took one animator
almost six months to perfect.

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The other thing about a Pixar movie

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is that no part of the movie
is considered finished

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until the entire movie wraps.

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Partway through one production,
an animator drew a character

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with an arched eyebrow
that suggested a mischievous side.

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When the director saw that drawing,
he thought it was great.

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It was beautiful, but he said,

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"You've got to lose it,
it doesn't fit the character."

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Two weeks later,
the director came back and said,

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"Let's put in those few seconds of film."

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Because that animator
was allowed to share

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what we refer to as his slice of genius,

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he was able to help that director
re-conceive the character

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in a subtle but important way
that improved the story.

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What we know is at the heart
of innovation is a paradox.

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You have to unleash the talents
and passions of many people

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and you have to harness them
into a work that is actually useful.

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Innovation is a journey.

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It's a type of collaborative
problem solving,

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usually among people
who have different expertise

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and different points of view.

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Innovations rarely get created full blown.

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As many of you know, they are usually
the result of trial and error.

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Lots of false starts,
missteps, and mistakes.

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Innovative work can be very exhilarating,

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but it also can be really downright scary.

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So when we look at why it is
that Pixar is able to do what it does,

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we have to ask ourselves,
what's going on here?

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For sure, history
and certainly Hollywood

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is full of star-studded teams
that have failed.

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Most of those failures are attributed

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to too many stars or too many
cooks, if you will, in the kitchen.

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Why is it that Pixar,
with all of its cooks,

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is able to be so successful
time and time again?

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When we studied
an Islamic Bank in Dubai,

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or a luxury brand in Korea,
or a social enterprise in Africa,

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we found that innovative organizations

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are communities
that have three capabilities

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- creative abrasion, creative agility,
and creative resolution.

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Creative abrasion is about being able

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to create a marketplace of ideas
through debate and discourse.

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In innovative organizations,
they amplify differences,

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they don't minimize them.

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Creative abrasion
is not about brainstorming

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where people suspend their judgment.

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No, they know how to have very heated
but constructive arguments

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to create a portfolio of alternatives.

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Individuals in innovative organizations

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learn how to inquire,
they learn how to actively listen

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but - guess what?

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They also learn how to advocate
for their point of view.

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They understand
that innovation rarely happens

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unless you have both
diversity and conflict.

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Creative agility is about being able

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to test and refine that portfolio of ideas

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through quick pursuit,
reflection, and adjustment.

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It's about discovery driven learning

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where you act as opposed to plan
your way to the future.

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It's about design thinking

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where you have
that interesting combination

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of the scientific method
and the artistic process.

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It's about running
a series of experiments,

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and not a series of pilots.

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Experiments are usually about learning.

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When you get a negative outcome,

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you are still learning something
that you need to know.

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Pilots are often about being right.

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When they don't work,
someone or something is to blame.

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The final capability
is creative resolution.

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This is about doing
decision making in a way

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that you can combine
even opposable ideas

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to reconfigure them in new combinations

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to produce a solution
that is new and useful.

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When you look at innovative organizations,
they never go along to get along.

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They don't compromise.

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They don't let one group
or one individual dominate,

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even if it's the boss,
even if it's the expert.

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Instead, they have developed

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a rather patient and more inclusive
decision-making process

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that allows for both end solutions
to arise

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and not simply either/or solutions.

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These three capabilities are why we see

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that Pixar is able to do what it does.

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Let me give you another example.

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And that example
is the infrastructure group of Google.

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The infrastructure group
of Google is the group

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that has to keep the website
up and running 24x7.

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When Google was about to introduce
Gmail and YouTube,

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they knew that their
data storage system wasn't adequate.

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The head of the engineering group
and the infrastructure group at that time

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was a man named Bill Coughran.

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Bill and his leadership team,
who he referred to as his brain trust,

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had to figure out what to do
about this situation.

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They thought about it for a while.

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Instead of creating a group
to tackle this task,

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they decided to allow groups
to emerge spontaneously

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around different alternatives.

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Two groups coalesced.

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One became known as Big Table,

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the other became known
as Build it From Scratch.

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Big Table proposed
that they build on the current system.

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Build it From Scratch proposed
that it was time for a whole new system.

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Separately, these two teams
were allowed to work full time

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on their particular approach.

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In Engineering Reviews,
Bill described his role

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as injecting honesty into the process
by driving debate.

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Early on, the teams were encouraged
to build prototypes so that they could

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"Bump them up against reality
and discover for themselves

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the strengths and weaknesses
of their particular approach."

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When Build it From Scratch shared
their prototype with the group

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whose beepers would have to go off
in the middle of the night

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if something went wrong with the website,

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they heard loud and clear about
the limits of their particular design.

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As the need for a solution
became more urgent

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and as the data
or the evidence began to come in,

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it became pretty clear
that the Big Table solution

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was the right one for the moment.

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So they selected that one.

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But to make sure
that they did not lose the learning

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of the Build it From Scratch team,

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Bill asked two members of that team

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to join a new team that was emerging

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to work on the next generation system.

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This whole process took nearly two years,

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but I was told that they were
all working at breakneck speed.

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Early in that process,

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one of the engineers
had gone to Bill and said,

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"We're all too busy
for this inefficient system

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of running parallel experiments."

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But as the process unfolded,
he began to understand

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the wisdom of allowing talented
people to play out their passions.

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He admitted, "If you had forced us
to all be on one team,

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we might have focused on proving
who was right, and winning,

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and not on learning and discovering

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what was the best answer for Google."

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Why is it that Pixar and Google
are able to innovate time and again?

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It's because they have mastered
the capabilities required for that.

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They know how to do
collaborative problem solving,

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they know how to do
discovery driven learning,

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and they know how to do
integrated decision making.

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Some of you may be sitting there
and saying to yourselves right now,

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"We don't know how to do
those things in my organization."

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So why do they know how to
do those things at Pixar,

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and why do they know how to
do those things at Google?

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When many of the people
that worked for Bill told us,

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on their opinion, Bill was one
of the finest leaders in Silicon Valley.

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We completely agreed,
the man is a genius.

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Leadership is the secret sauce.

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But it's a different kind of leadership,

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not the kind many of us think about

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when we think about great leadership.

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One of the leaders I met with
early on, said to me,

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"Linda, I don't read books on leadership.

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All they do is make me feel bad.

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In the first chapter they say
I'm supposed to create a vision.

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But if I'm trying to do something
that's truly new, I have no answers.

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I don't know what direction we're going in

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and I'm not even sure I know
how to figure out how to get there."

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For sure, there are times
when visionary leadership

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is exactly what is needed.

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But if we want to build organizations
that can innovate time and again,

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we must recast our understanding
of what leadership is about.

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Leading innovation
is about creating the space

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where people are willing and able
to do the hard work

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of innovative problem solving.

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At this point, some of you
may be wondering,

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what does that leadership
really look like?

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At Pixar, they understand
that innovation takes a village.

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The leaders focus on building
a sense of community

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and building those three capabilities.

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How do they define leadership?

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They say leadership
is about creating a world

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to which people want to belong.

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What kind of world do people
want to belong in at Pixar?

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A world where you're living
at the frontier.

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What do they focus their time on?

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Not on creating a vision.

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Instead they spend
their time thinking about,

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how do we design a studio that has
a sensibility of a public square

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so that people will interact?

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Let's put in a policy that anyone,
no matter what their level or role,

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is allowed to give notes to the director

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about how they feel
about a particular film.

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You know what,
what can we do to make sure

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that all the disruptors,

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all the minority voices
in this organization

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speak up and are heard?

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And, finally, let's bestow credit
in a very generous way.

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I don't know if you've ever looked
at the credits of a Pixar movie,

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but the babies born during
a production are listed there.

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(Laughter)

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How did Bill think about
what his role was?

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Bill said, "I lead
a volunteer organization.

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Talented people
don't want to follow me anywhere.

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They want to co-create
with me the future.

00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:51.159
My job is to nurture the bottom up

00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:54.519
and not let it degenerate into chaos."

00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:55.840
How did he see his role?

00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:58.639
I'm a role model,
I'm a human glue,

00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:01.279
I'm a connector,
I'm an aggregator of viewpoints.

00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:03.519
I'm never a dictator of viewpoints.

00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:05.639
Advice about how you exercise the role,

00:14:05.639 --> 00:14:08.600
hire people who argue with you.

00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:12.592
Sometimes it's best to be
deliberately fuzzy and vague.

00:14:14.220 --> 00:14:16.319
Some of you may be wondering now,

00:14:16.319 --> 00:14:17.840
what are these people thinking?

00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:19.300
They are thinking,

00:14:19.300 --> 00:14:21.840
I'm not the visionary,
I'm the social architect.

00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:25.440
I'm creating the space
where people are willing and able

00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:28.789
to share and combine
their talents and passions.

00:14:28.789 --> 00:14:31.919
If some of you are worrying now
that you don't work at a Pixar,

00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:33.559
or you don't work at a Google,

00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:36.000
I want to tell you there's still hope.

00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:38.000
We've studied many organizations

00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.960
that were not organization
you'd think of as ones

00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.360
where a lot of innovation happens.

00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:46.279
We studied a general counsel
in a pharmaceutical company

00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:49.000
who had to figure out how
to get the outside lawyers,

00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:51.759
19 competitors,
to collaborate and innovate.

00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:55.609
We studied the head of marketing
at a German automaker

00:14:55.609 --> 00:14:57.320
where, fundamentally, they believed

00:14:57.320 --> 00:14:59.879
that it was the design
engineers, not the marketeers

00:14:59.879 --> 00:15:02.159
who were allowed to be innovative.

00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:06.120
We also studied Vineet Nayar
at HCL technologies,

00:15:06.120 --> 00:15:08.180
an Indian outsourcing company.

00:15:08.180 --> 00:15:09.729
When we met Vineet,

00:15:09.729 --> 00:15:13.080
his company was about,
in his words, to become irrelevant.

00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:15.399
We watched as he turned that company

00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:19.154
into a global dynamo of IT innovation.

00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:22.720
At HCL technologies,
like at many companies,

00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:26.720
the leaders had learned to see
their role as setting direction

00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:29.309
and making sure
that no one deviated from it.

00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:34.320
What he did is tell them
it was time for them

00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:37.740
to think about rethinking
what they were supposed to do.

00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:40.600
Because what was happening
is that everybody was looking up

00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:43.759
and you weren't seeing
the bottom-up innovation

00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:46.119
we saw at Pixar or Google.

00:15:46.119 --> 00:15:47.679
So they began to work on that.

00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:51.840
They stopped giving answers,
they stopped trying to provide solutions.

00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:54.679
Instead, what they did
is they began to see

00:15:54.679 --> 00:15:58.556
the people at the bottom
of the pyramid, the young sparks,

00:15:58.556 --> 00:16:01.030
the people who were closest
to the customers,

00:16:01.030 --> 00:16:03.580
as the source of innovation.

00:16:03.580 --> 00:16:06.713
They began to transfer
the organization's growth

00:16:06.713 --> 00:16:08.236
to that level.

00:16:10.126 --> 00:16:13.879
In Vineet's language,
this was about inverting the pyramid

00:16:13.879 --> 00:16:16.919
so that you could unleash
the power of the many

00:16:16.919 --> 00:16:19.840
by loosening the strength
hold of the few

00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.960
and increase the quality
and the speed of innovation

00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:25.530
that was happening every day.

00:16:26.600 --> 00:16:30.559
For sure, Vineet
and all the other leaders that we studied

00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:33.247
were in fact visionaries.

00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:38.030
For sure, they understood
that that was not their role.

00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:43.240
I don't think it is accidental
that many of you did not recognize Ed.

00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:47.919
Because Ed, like Vineet,
understands that our role as leaders

00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:51.554
is to set the stage, not perform on it.

00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:54.960
If we want to invent a better future,

00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:58.240
and I suspect that's why
many of us are here,

00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:01.690
then we need to reimagine our task.

00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:04.799
Our task is to create the space

00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:07.440
where everybody's slices of genius

00:17:08.695 --> 00:17:11.662
can be unleashed and harnessed,

00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:14.720
and turned into works
of collective genius.

00:17:15.708 --> 00:17:16.790
Thank you.

00:17:16.790 --> 00:17:18.758
(Applause)