Innovation leadership 101: How Chief Innovation Officers shape culture and drive change with Alex Slawsby

Alex Slawsby is the Chief Growth Officer of InnoLead, an organization that creates content, events, and tools to help the world's largest network of corporate strategy, innovation, and R&D leaders drive change more successfully. Over the past 20 years, Alex has dedicated his time to researching, teaching, guiding, and leading corporate innovation strategy development, capability building, and new business incubation. Before InnoLead, Alex served as the Director of Innovation at Embraer-X and an innovation consultant for several years for organizations including Clayton Christensen’s disruptive innovation consultancy, Innosight. Alex holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Brown University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Alex joins me today to discuss why innovation leaders need to shape culture to drive organizational change. He explains why innovation is difficult to quantify and how it’s challenging for innovation leaders to argue their necessity to an organization. He outlines why innovating and change-making imply the need to build trust and relationships within an organization. Alex also discusses hybrid work in the post-COVID era and how remote work may affect organizational culture, change-making, and innovation.

“If you’re trying to move the organization, you need to build the relationships, the bonds, the trust, and perhaps the mentorship with the people who will support you.” - Alex Slawsby

This week on Innovation Talks:

• Alex’s background in corporate innovation and the history of InnoLead
• The difference between innovation and invention
• Alex’s insights on current shifts in innovation
• Current conversations around innovation, uncertainty, and the economy
• Communicating the value innovation leaders and innovation teams bring to an organization
• The innovator’s dilemma and navigating innovation and change-resistant people
• The challenge of getting people to support something that may not be in the best interest of their careers
• How innovation teams are often perceived in companies
• How to avoid and manage the clash between innovation and the core business
• Connecting with consumers to understand what’s best for them

Connect with Alex Slawsby:

• InnoLead
• InnoLead on LinkedIn
• InnoLead on Instagram
• InnoLead on Facebook
• InnoLead on Twitter
• Alex Slawsby on LinkedIn

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