774: What Innovative Leaders Do Different, with Linda Hill

About this episode

Linda Hill discusses how innovative leaders drive innovation and create a culture for collaboration.

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…

People in this episode

Host: Dave Stachowiak

Guest: Linda Hill

Topics covered

• innovation
• leadership
• organizational culture
• team dynamics
• management strategies

Keywords

• innovation
• leadership
• organizational culture
• team dynamics
• management

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Harvard Business School, Mastercard, Pfizer, Cleveland Clinic

Books & works: Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation

More episodes of Coaching for Leaders

• 786: The Problem with Reorgs and How to Do Better, with Phil Le-Brun · June 8, 2026 · 37 min
• 785: Make Your Task List Work for You, with Liane Davey · June 1, 2026 · 39 min
• 784: How to Protect the Organization You Love, with Eric Ries · May 25, 2026 · 38 min
• 783: How to Take Back Your Evenings, with Guy Winch · May 18, 2026 · 39 min
• 782: How to Help a Team Get Unstuck, with Gustavo Razzetti · May 11, 2026 · 39 min
• 781: Bonni and Dave Reflect on Recent Episodes · May 4, 2026 · 40 min