Robin Glasco joined Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts as Chief Innovation Officer in 2015. The health insurer serves almost three million members, and in 2015 its revenues were $6.8 billion. Glasco says that in business school, you’re taught to focus on areas with the biggest problems and toughest challenges. For internal innovation groups like hers, though, that isn’t always the smartest first move.
Instead, she says, “We just go where the love is… [because] we represent change, and that’s hard for a lot of people. We just started with having conversations and found where we have some similarities and synergies around willingness to change and try something new. Literally, it has just infected the organization, where we [now] have other leaders coming to us, asking us to help with their challenges…”
Glasco also started a two-day bootcamp that teaches design thinking skills, and invites colleagues from around Blue Cross to bring the business challenges they are currently grappling with. “No one says no when you offer that to them,” she says.
