March 16, 2026

774: What Innovative Leaders Do Different, with Linda Hill

35 minutes

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).

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The Way Innovators Get Traction, with Tendayi Viki (episode 512)

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By Dave Stachowiak

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