Vanessa Colella is the former Chief Innovation Officer at Citi Ventures and Citi Productivity. Her goal there was to accelerate and discover new sources of value by championing innovation so Citi can compete more effectively in a world of technological, behavioral, and societal change. She left Citi in early 2022 and will be announcing her next move. We can’t wait to hear! 

 

She was a former partner at McKinsey & Company, and a junior high and high school science teacher. She has her Ph.D. from MIT media lab, as well as master's degrees from both Columbia University and MIT and an SB degree in molecular biology.

 

In our conversation, Vanessa passionately talks about the importance of diversity in leadership, and how it can help you create solutions and promote innovation. We also discussed: 

 

• What it means to be a Chief Innovation Officer
• The myths about ideas
• “The Generosity of Interpretation”
• Why diversity and inclusion are so important
• How motherhood has changed her leadership approach
• How her Ph.D. shaped her leadership style and perspective

 

Quotes

 

“The enemy of leadership is ego.”

 

“No one has all the answers anymore, leaders need to know how to ask the right questions, now more than ever.”

 

“As chief innovation officer, always have an eye towards what's not working and what's missing and how do you change the portfolio of what you do over time.”

 

“If you want to be the architect of solutions with staying power, they have to be crafted by people who come at those solutions with different experiences”

 

“Leadership is not just about the individual. It’s about the space that you can create for your team and organization, for them to accomplish things that might not be possible without that space.”