Linda Hill Discusses Innovation and Collaboration at Aspen Business & Society Summit

Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill spoke with host Ellen McGirt on the podcast DB|BD at the 2026 Aspen Business & Society Summit, where the season's theme is radical collaboration. Hill, who has taught at Harvard for 40 years and holds the Wallace Brett Donham Professorship, co-authored the new book Genius at Scale, a guide to leading innovation. She explained that leading innovation differs from leading change: it requires co-creation rather than followership. Drawing on her ethnographic studies of companies like Pixar and Pfizer, she identified three capabilities—creative abrasion, creative agility, and creative resolution—and three rules of engagement: share your evidence, question anything, and think holistically. She highlighted Mastercard's Decency Quotient (DQ) under then-CEO Ajay Banga, including a bonus for killing one's own idea. A Pfizer middle manager, Michael, ran COVID-19 vaccine trials in 266 days after six years of cultural preparation. Hill introduced the ABCs of innovation: architects, bridgers, and catalysts. She noted that AI presents a wayfinding problem—no one knows the destination—and that her research shows a shift from viewing AI as augmentation to automation. She is starting a study on how artists and creatives in Los Angeles and Singapore use AI. Hill also co-founded the AI company Innovation Force and surveyed nearly 10,000 executives over five years.