Leaders Reframe Roles To Sustain Innovation

Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill on March 3, 2026, argues organizations' ability to sustain innovation depends on leadership structure, culture, and systems based on years of research. She outlines three leadership roles—Architects, Bridgers, Catalysts—and cites examples from Mastercard and Pixar to show leaders must create conditions for collaboration and experimentation. Her new book is Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation.
Key Points
- 1Identifies leadership structures, culture, and systems as core determinants of sustained organizational innovation
- 2Argues shifting leader focus creates collaboration, experimentation, and cross-silo decision-making to scale innovation
- 3Recommends leaders adopt roles—Architects, Bridgers, Catalysts—to build repeatable innovation systems in practice
Scoring Rationale
Research-backed leadership framework offers practical roles and examples, but article is a brief book summary lacking empirical depth.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
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