InnoLead case studies, interviews, book excerpts, and contributed columns.
InnoLead interviews Sun Life exec Laura Money about how she prioritizes AI projects; some of the concrete outcomes they’re seeing so far; and why Sun Life has joined other Canadian companies to form the AI Consortium.
Speakers at our recent Impact conference share advice on getting new tech across the gap from demo to deployment.
How can AI be useful in business-to-business innovation? By identifying the right problems to solve, write Ranjan Dash and Suresh Chandran.
Remember the emergence of e-commerce in the 1990s? Keep an eye on the horizon for agentic commerce, says Carol Juel, executive vice president and CEO of Synchrony Financial’s Digital Platform.
In a session at the most recent Impact conference last month, we looked at some of the reasons why it might make sense to partner with a startup rather doing everything in-house — and a few metrics and indicators that can let you know whether or not your approach is working.
If AI software is going to take over a bevy of repetitive tasks and processes, then what should organizations be doing with the time that frees up? We talk with business school prof David Schonthal.
We talk with Perdue Farms CIO Mark Booth about the company’s AI journey, including what future concerns are keeping him up at night.
R&D teams tend to understand their products with precision — but not always the people those products are designed for. Deirdre Walters explains how to address that…
When digital transformation gets stuck, the reason is rarely a lack of technology, writes Marcus East. More often, new technology is being added to organizations that still operate through outdated systems, rigid structures, and old assumptions about how work should get done.
We talk to the music retailer’s CEO and CIO about innovation and AI — and maintaining a strong connection to customers.
In this excerpt from the new book How Change Really Work, the authors caution that “take up” of change and new ideas among your colleagues is never automatic, but must be earned. Then they present five steps for earning it.
This month, Mitsubishi Electric U.S. is opening a new innovation hub in Boston. What’s the goal? We talk to two leaders…
To survive in an environment where average business model lifespans have collapsed, corporate innovators must move from unstructured ideation to the rigorous discipline of successful venture capitalists, write Ranjan Dash and Suresh Chandran
From supersonic aircraft to heavy trucks to robotic surgical assistants, this year’s Impact Awards focus on companies that are moving their industries forward. Here are the 15 finalists…
Innovation can’t exist in a culture that doesn’t allow for playfulness, says Piera Gelardi, author of the new book The Playful Way. Yet the environment in many workplaces today is shaped by plenty of non-playful dynamics. So what do you do?
Corporations are diverting resources from innovation to fund AI initiatives. What does this mean for innovation managers? The co-authors of a new book explain.
Corporations are diverting resources from innovation to fund AI initiatives. What does this mean for innovation managers? The co-authors of a new book explain.
GenAI isn’t just about creating new efficiencies, writes Itai Green in this excerpt from his new book. It’s about shifting the company’s DNA toward an innovation mindset.
Every project in a big organization projects attract layers of stakeholders, each with their own interests, fears, and mental models. In this excerpt from his new book, Misha de Sterk offers advice on managing that dynamic.
The design process as we knew it is most certainly dead, writes Todd Reily in his latest piece for InnoLead. What’s replacing it?
Because the cost of “making it real” has dropped to near zero, you can stop prototyping just the “best” idea, writes Todd Reily. Instead, you can prototype a whole portfolio of potential solutions.
Innovation at scale requires three different leadership roles, says author Linda Hill: architect, bridger, and catalyst. One is in especially high demand…
In this excerpt from their new book, Diana Joseph, Dan Toma, and Esther Gons discuss two kinds of antibodies that often emerge to attack open innovation initiatives.
We talk with Jason Gowans, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, about digital strategy and AI case studies at $6 billion Levi Strauss & Co.
Todd Reily explains why awarding badges to ideas can work better than dot voting.
“We need a new paradigm for corporate innovation,” writes Sokwoo Rhee of LG Nova. “One that actively builds and scales new businesses and ecosystems, creating self-sustaining cycles of innovation.” More inside…
OpenClaw, and its creator Peter Steinberger, have been the stars of the latest AI news cycle. Here’s the significance of Steinberger’s recent move to OpenAI.
“Good enough” ideas are a death sentence, writes Todd Reily. So how do you get truly great ideas? Not by brainstorming…
“People react in two ways to Gen AI,” writes Mohan Nair in his latest book. “One is what I call AI-afraid, and the second is AI-obsessed.” The third way is learning how to be AI-enabled.
We talk with the Chief Product Officer at Coursera about recently-launched products — and how AI is impacting the business.
We’ve all been in that meeting: The strategy is presented. The team leader looks around the room and asks if everyone is on board. And then it happens… The Bobblehead Effect. Todd Reily explains how to avoid it.
The first part of a six-part series on how the innovation process is evolving in the age of AI, by former Bose director of visioneering Todd Reilly.
The new AI platform, MetIQ, allows the insurance giant to plug in emerging technologies such as generative AI and agentic AI, to help the company scale its capabilities and serve as a force multiplier in advancing its strategies. We talk to EVP Bill Pappas.
Qmarkets helps large organizations move beyond fragmented innovation initiatives and deliver measurable business impact at scale. Built for the realities of enterprise innovation, the platform enables organizations to manage innovation end to end, from early exploration to execution and impact tracking.
From bespoke software development to decentralized innovation, experts lay out 10 things that should be on the agenda of big organizations in 2026.
We talk with the CTO of the global asset management firm about AI training, use cases, measuring return-on-investment, and more.
Tom Donaldson, Head of the Creative Play Lab at the LEGO Group, discusses the company’s culture; his belief in the importance of prototyping and “silent demos”; and how the company measures innovation.
Here’s our collection of the 12 best Custom GPTs that allow you to use specific innovation-related datasets or methodologies on top of OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform.
Rana el Kaliouby talks about how she defines human-centric AI; how vibe coding is being used in large organizations; the sci-fi movie “Her”; and her biggest concerns about the AI age.
With the holiday movie-going season upon us, we assembled a list of anti-innovation quotes from notable Hollywood executives, inventors, and directors — just to show that no industry is without its nay-sayers who can rationally explain why change will never come.
Helen Riley of Google X talks about the organization’s mission; several current projects; how they deal with failure; and their efforts to systematize innovation.
One of the mainstage sessions at our recent Impact conference in Boston featured Jit Kee Chin, Chief Technology Officer at Suffolk Construction, and Gabriele Ricci, Chief Data and Technology Officer at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Here are seven key themes they discussed…
During a session at the 2025 Impact conference in Boston last month, five leaders from organizations that won Impact Awards shared how they are using artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies to produce measurable business impact.
We talk with VP Tyler Smith to get his advice on driving innovation in the built environment.
SharkNinja CEO Mark Barrocas explains how he fosters innovation at the company — and how they leverage social media as part of their marketing.
Daniela Petronic, the head of AI Transformation for Adecco, discusses the company’s early AI deployments; employee training initiatives; and the five principles that guide the use of AI at Adecco.
Since its founding in 2004, Silicon Valley-based ServiceNow has been all about automating business workflows. So in the current AI era, the $11 billion company is focused on how various types of AI will support that automation. And often, ServiceNow’s own employees are “customer zero” for new offerings — early adopters for the products and services it builds.
Healthcare AI trends according to the Mayo Clinic, Oracle, UCLA Health, and a former partner at Mass General Brigham’s AI and Digital Innovation Fund.
With annual revenues of nearly $21 billion, the human resources software and services is looking to artificial intelligence to help it maintain — and build on — an already strong position in the market. We talk to the company’s Chief Product and AI Officer.
From supersonic aircraft to heavy trucks to robotic surgical assistants, this year’s Impact Awards focus on companies that are moving their industries forward. Here are the 15 finalists…
“AI may be the most powerful technology that our company has ever seen,” and other quotes from CEOs about the impact of AI.
The Ai4 2025 conference in Las Vegas was a good opportunity to take the temperature of the AI sector, including agentic AI, spatial intelligence, and AI-powered genetic engineering.
According to Anna James, Research & Operations Lead at Asana’s Work Innovation Lab, companies that qualify as “AI scalers” are approaching AI as a new kind of infrastructure that is not optional to build. Here’s our interview…
From Claude to Lovable to Windsurf, we take a look at the current market for “codegen” tools that can create software from scratch. What’s the ROI and what are the risks of using them?
The AI-based customer service agent Melli has reduced waiting time from several minutes to zero, increased the number of languages offered, and has an 85 percent approval rating from customers. Here’s what the Berlin Airport has in store for the second phase of the project.
This week, news broke that Amazon had acquired Bee, an AI wearables startup best known for a $50 wristband and companion app that records and transcribes nearly everything a user (and anyone within earshot) says. Here’s our take on what it means…
Norfolk Southern is investing in artificial intelligence to reshape how it moves freight across its 28,000-mile rail network. And one of the people driving that train is Mabby Amouie, Assistant Vice President of Enterprise Data and Analytics, who oversees the company’s AI strategy — from making use of sensor data to deploying machine learning models that optimize safety and efficiency. Here’s our in-depth interview…
We’ve been talking to the InnoLead community and scouring the web to assemble a list of the best AI events in 2025 and 2026 around the world. Here’s our list…
The world of AI agents is still evolving, but Atlassian, a collaboration software company headquartered in Sydney, Australia, has been putting agents to work for more than a year, and offering agentic AI technology to customers since April. We talk to Shihab Hamid, Head of Product for Rovo Agents at Atlassian, about what they can do.
Which corporate customers are using which AI platforms in 2025? We take a deep dive — with an assist from AI, of course.
David Lloyd, Chief AI Officer at the software company Dayforce, talks about the company’s AI Innovation Lab — and how he thinks about measuring ROI.
“Because we can move faster with AI tools, we can actually test ideas in market quite quickly,” says Evan Schnidman. “That allows for that user feedback loop to accelerate.” More from our interview inside…
Over the past year, Thierry Saint Denis, Senior Vice President of Research and Development for Chobani, led a yogurt relaunch proving less is more in innovation. Saint Denis recently spoke to InnoLead about the product relaunch and its impact on the company.
Former DreamWorks and Disney exec Jeffrey Katzenberg discussed the similarities between the arrival of AI technologies in the business world today and the arrival of computer-generated animation technologies in Hollywood in the 1990s.
We talk to GE Vernova’s Chief Corporate Officer Roger Martella about how the company is forging strategic alliances — from a $50 million partnership with MIT that fuels research and talent development to global collaborations aimed at expanding energy access and advancing decarbonization.
We talk to Entergy’s Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Andy Quick about how the company is applying AI — from predictive models that prevent power outages to generative tools that support customer service.
The co-authors of this case study realized that many of their colleagues weren’t yet comfortable implementing GenAI into their daily work. Here’s how they designed a training program to get them up to speed — quickly.
At the KPMG 2025 Boston AI Executive Accelerator, one thing became clear. Most enterprise AI programs are being evaluated with the wrong lens. Executives are chasing short-term validation when they should be designing for long-term advantage.
Dr. Walter Sun talks about bottom-up innovation, SAP’s internal GenAI hub, hackathons, and more, in our exclusive interview at SAP’s Sapphire conference in Orlando.
In this excerpt, marketing and innovation executive Tina Lambert calls the idea of an innovation funnel “very unrealistic,” and proposes an alternative — the three-year calendar.
The OnRamp program at the US Military’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) got started in 2023 as an effort to lower the barriers for non-traditional technology companies that wanted to work with the Department of Defense (DoD) — but weren’t already suppliers. We talk with Cassie Muffley, Acting Director of the OnRamp Hub Program.
“Stakeholder Whispering requires identifying your stakeholders,” writes Bill Shander. “But it is also about making sure your stakeholders identify and recognize (and prioritize) their stakeholders.” Read our exclusive excerpt…
We talked to AllianceBernstein’s Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Andrew Chin about how the firm is applying AI — from traditional machine learning to generative tools — to improve investment decisions and employee efficiency.
We examine the new report from Monitor Deloitte, which surveyed 200 transformation executives from a range of industries. Budgets are growing, but execution focus remains a challenge.
If there was a universal takeaway from this week’s Momentum AI conference in New York, it was this: AI literacy is now the new baseline for competitive advantage. Here’s our dispatch from the event…
The former Head of Business Technology at ServiceTitan, Pranav Shahi, shares his framework for evaluating new technologies, structuring startup pilots, and scaling innovation with measurable business impact. He also explores how enterprises can engage with emerging tech while maintaining commercial discipline.
As CIO of Workiva, Kim Huffman leads enterprise technology strategy with a focus on innovation, scalability, and responsible AI. In this conversation, Huffman outlines her three-pillar framework for evaluating startup partnerships, her four-part approach to AI governance, and the evolving role of the CIO as a business strategist.
Isabel Parker joined White & Case as Chief Innovation Officer in 2024. She now leads global innovation efforts at the $3.2 billion firm. We spoke with her about building a culture of innovation, integrating GenAI into legal services, and how the firm balances bold experimentation with responsible AI use.
At the Imagination in Action AI Summit held at MIT this week, there was no mistaking the mood: we’re no longer on the verge of a major transformation, we’re in the middle of it. Contributing writer Sue Liang reports…
Since launching for call center customers in 2017, cloud-based contact center optimization service Amazon Connect has been on an upward trajectory, becoming one of the fastest-growing AWS services by revenue. We talk with Pasquale DeMaio, Vice President of Amazon Connect at Amazon Web Services about integrating AI.
“We’re integrating AI into vehicles thoughtfully, prioritizing safety and customer value over technological novelty,” says GM SVP Dave Richardson. Here’s our exclusive interview…
We talk with HPE VP Sadie Bell about shifting to skills-based recruiting and training.
With 109 qualified responses, here’s survey data on how innovation and R&D professionals say about how the use of GenAI tools is impacting their work.
Experian Assistant is a GenAI-enabled tool that helps financial services companies explore Experian’s treasure trove of data, build and deploy analytical models, monitor their performance, and accelerate new product and service offerings to the market. Here’s how it came to life…
Consumers want you “to solve a problem for them, and money is the most personal thing they have,” says Satish Muthukrishnan, Chief Information, Digital and Data Officer at Ally Financial. We talk with him about the company’s mobile experience, AI, and hyper-personalization.
Just as AI is transforming human healthcare, veterinary medicine is undergoing a similar shift. Animal health company Covetrus is integrating AI into its platform to streamline workflows, enhance clinical decision-making, and improve patient care. Chief Product and Technology Officer Scot Gillespie explains…
Understanding your competition means predicting how they will react, write Stuart E. Jackson and Ilya Trakhtenberg in Predictable Winners: A Handbook for Developing, Forecasting, and Launching New Products and Services. Success requires defining your competitive set, recognizing direct and indirect competitors, and anticipating market shifts. By using competitive intelligence and wargaming, leaders can avoid underestimating rivals and overestimating their own advantages. Read our exclusive excerpt.
Defining what AI progress looks like is still a challenge, writes Sue Liang, who attended this week’s HumanX conference in Las Vegas. She discusses the vendor landscape, AI adoption, and the path forward.
You may have heard of omnichannel retail, or experiential retail. But one of the world’s biggest retailers, Arkansas-based Walmart, is now working to popularize the concept of “adaptive retail.” Tech Strategy VP Anupriya Sharma explains….
Kristen Milchanowski joined BMO Financial Group as Chief Artificial Intelligence and Data Officer at the BMO Financial Group in October 2024. We spoke with Milchanowski recently about how the firm has been leveraging AI internally, as well as its recent decision to join IBM’s Quantum Network to access quantum computing infrastructure.
With 105 qualified responses, here’s what we’re seeing from innovation and R&D professionals in March 2025. The question we asked: “Which AI tools are you consistently using as part of innovation-related activities (partnerships, scouting, product development, prototypes, experiments)?”
As the leader of ADP Ventures, Usman “Oz” Khan oversees strategic investment and innovation initiatives at one of the largest HR technology companies. Khan discusses the importance of startup partnerships, the role of AI in HR tech, and how ADP Ventures supports innovation across a large and complex enterprise. This conversation is part of our ‘Early Adopters’ series.
Curtis Michelson serves up a glossary of terms related to agentic AI, as well as a look at how the AI agent space is developing in 2025.
The ABCs of Innovation gives you a map to make innovation last beyond the three-year mark, writes Robyn Bolton in her new book, Unlocking Innovation: A Leader’s Guide for Turning Bold Ideas into Tangible Results. The three elements, Behavior, Architecture, and Culture, must be built and nurtured in tandem to avoid the all-too-familiar cycle of budget cuts and stalled progress. Read our exclusive excerpt.
We spoke with Nvidia’s Kevin Levitt in February, just after the release of the company’s latest “State of AI in Financial Services” report to learn more about where AI is headed in this key sector.
As Albertsons’ GVP of Technology and Engineering, Maria Latushkin is reshaping how one of America’s largest retailers merges in-store and online shopping. We talk with Latushkin about cultivating startup partnerships that thrive at enterprise scale, the pragmatic realities of deploying GenAI across vast workforces, and her vision for smarter, frictionless retail experiences powered by IoT and computer vision.
Used often inside Amazon, “a PRFAQ (Press Release + Frequently Asked Question) is a framework for articulating in writing an innovation, capturing the key facts, assumptions, and hypotheses for strategic decision making,” writes Marcelo Calbucci. Here’s an example…
There are three essential nutrients at the heart of thriving, intrinsic motivation, engagement, and high performance at work, writes Paula Davis in her new book. They are autonomy, belonging, and challenge. Read our exclusive excerpt.
Among those who said their organizations are moving too slow, the biggest reason for moving was “talent skill gaps,” which 46 percent cited. An overview of the January 2025 report is inside…
How to use a simplified version of a Reverse Income Statement to define and value the experiment’s key assumption(s). Includes a downloadable spreadsheet example.
Milwaukee Tool, a trusted name in construction for over a century, entered the digital space in 2015 with its One-Key line of connected tools and apps for managing, monitoring, and securing equipment. Andy Lambert, VP of Digital Product, discusses the challenges of integrating software into a hardware company, how technology is reshaping construction, and the focus on metrics that prioritize customer efficiency and safety.
“While the C-suite has been slower to engage in AI implementation,” a new report from Deloitte finds, “teams across the company are developing proofs-of-concept and driving AI adoption.” More inside…
“I find that the best way to get strong leadership support is to be the first person to welcome people to the organization, to be the first person to educate them on what innovation is, to be the first person that sees eye to eye with them on how innovation might work for them,” says David Creane. Read more from our interview…
We’ve assembled this list of the top 10 US-based companies by revenue, focusing on how they’re seeking to leverage AI and generative AI in their businesses. These use cases span both internal operational and external customer-facing initiatives. AI “agents” are emerging as a theme — but they aren’t as dominant as you might expect given the […]
“To embed daily innovation as part of our culture,” says Ashley Gambhir, “we created a mission statement: We want to have 14,000 problem solvers that relentlessly improve care while loving their jobs. We started a management system to encourage daily input by asking, ‘What ideas do you have?'” Read more from our interview…
Tthe shift toward compostable and bio-based solutions is already underway, writes Bob Meers, CEO of Better for All. Those who fail to adapt risk losing relevance and market share in an increasingly eco-conscious world. Read more…
Allegion reshaped its innovation ecosystem by emphasizing deep internal engagement—from rapid prototyping in its Pin & Tumbler studio to a part-time corporate venture structure. We speak with Robert Martens, Allegion’s chief innovation and design officer and president of Allegion Ventures, about how this approach fuels successful ventures, keeps employees invested, and aligns innovation with executive priorities.
We’ve created a chatbot interface to a portion of InnoLead’s content. You can ask it anything related to corporate innovation — and like ChatGPT, you can follow up with instructions on how you’d like it to expand upon or refine its answers.
Client needs are outpacing traditional consulting models. And the rise of AI is not just changing the tools consutants use — it’s redefining the power dynamics between consultants and their clients. Humberto Salicetti explains…
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