October 21st: Working Within the System to Make Things Happen
Erik Falck — an innovator at Hershey’s, Johnsonville, and J&J — on getting new products launched inside big companies.
Erik Falck has been an innovator at Hershey’s, Johnsonville, and J&J, and in this meeting, he’ll share what he has learned about working within the system to get stuff done — and new products launched. We’ll also talk about how companies view innovation right now, and how their thinking about growth and building for the future is changing. Falck has been a member of the InnoLead community for more than a decade, and he has written several pieces for the site, including one on “myth-busting”. Bring your experiences and your questions!
We’ll talk about:
- What actually works when you’re trying to move new ideas through a big organization
- How Erik got new products launched at Hershey’s, Johnsonville, and J&J — by working within the system, not around it
- How companies are thinking about innovation, growth, and building for the future right now
- Lessons from Erik’s “myth-busting” approach to innovation
Host bio
Erik Falck is Senior Director of Innovation at Johnsonville, where he leads the innovation, product commercialization, and design team and is accountable for more than $700 million in incremental NPV. He has launched new products at Johnsonville — including a new hot dog in a $4 billion retail category — and through a record-setting Dr Pepper partnership, and he drives the portfolio reviews that prioritize the company’s innovation pipeline. Before Johnsonville, he was an innovator at Hershey’s and Johnson & Johnson, and he has been part of the InnoLead community for more than a decade, including several pieces written for the site.
