Scott Kirsner
Scott Kirsner is the CEO and Co-Founder of Innovation Leader. He also has written a weekly column for the Boston Globe since 2000, and before that helped the Globe launch its digital publishing division with Scott Cohen and Frank Hertz, his co-founders at Innovation Leader.
Scott has also been a contributing writer for Wired Magazine, Fast Company, Variety, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, and other publications. He is the author of several books on innovation and technology, including “Inventing the Movies,” which explores the challenge of bringing new ideas to a century-old, change-resistant industry: Hollywood.
Scott has presented leadership strategies to corporate leaders, technologists and entrepreneurs at Harvard Business School, the MIT R&D Conference, South by Southwest, the Consumer Electronics Show, HubSpot Inbound, Tijuana Inovadora, the Connected Health Symposium, and the NAB Futures Summit. Scott has also appeared on NBC's Today Show, NPR's Science Friday, the Discovery Channel, and WBUR's Radio Boston.
ArticleFormer LEGO Exec: 5 Habits of Successful Corporate Intrapreneurs
David Gram, formerly a leader at LEGO Ventures and LEGO Creative Play Lab, outlines five habits that set corporate intrapreneurs up for success. The first one: Accept that people will hate your project.
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How Innovators Can Prepare for Tough Times
To help you plan for (and survive) challenging times, we sought advice from seven people who have guided innovation, insights, and incubation groups through difficult stretches, at companies like Starbucks, Whirlpool, Intel, and Levi Strauss & Co. What can you be doing to put yourself and your team in the best possible position? Read on…
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Customer Focus, Culture, and Decision-Making at Amazon and Google
Faisal Masud has held senior roles in a range of organizations, from Staples to eBay to Amazon. He was most recently Chief Operating Officer at Wing, a drone aviation business that is part of Google. In several videos, he shares his perspective on attracting the best talent, and why a commitment to innovation at the top doesn’t always trickle down.
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Connecting Startups in a Portfolio with Business Units
Ayal Somech, Director of Portfolio Development, Boeing Horizonx Ventures, shares how his team executed a quick win.
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Getting Scientists Thinking More Like Businesspeople
Alex Byelashov, VP of Innovations & Brewing Solutions at John I. Haas, shares some insights on quick wins.
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15 Slide Presentations from Big Company Innovation Executives
These 15 slide presentations offer insights into innovation strategy at organizations like NASA, Google, Nike, Mastercard, and Procter & Gamble. Get them all here…
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What Can Go Wrong with Corporate Venture Capital Initiatives
Hunter Ashmore, co-founder of IndustrialML, laid out nine things that can go wrong when companies decide to set up a corporate venture capital group.
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How TeakOrigin Survived the Death of Two Innovation Labs
It’s rare that a project survives the death of the innovation lab that hatched it. But a handheld scanner that could analyze the freshness of a piece of fruit or fish created in the Hong Kong offices of the multinational grocer Tesco, survived not one but two near-death experiences.
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How Tiffany & Co. is Turning Prototypes into Products Faster
The legendary jewelry-maker Tiffany & Co. dates back to 1837. A new Jewelry Design & Innovation Workshop is changing how the company creates products…
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Inside Intel’s New VC Strategy: Fewer, Bigger Bets
Intel Capital has put over $12 billion into 1,500 startups since it was founded in 1991. Mark Rostick offers explains how it has endured.
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Five Truths about Amazon
No one there is going to tell you to stay in your lane, explains former Amazon program manager Jerry Gupta. He shares other insights about the corporate culture inside…
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Play the Game of Urgency Bingo
How much urgency is there surrounding innovation in your organization?
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Top 15 Global Hotspots for Corporate Innovation
For our list of the top cities for corporate innovation around the world, we examined an array of factors that create a constructive context for big companies that want to engage in ecosystems outside of their home turf.
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How Construction Giant Bechtel is Building the Future
David J. Wilson of Bechtel says, “It’s becoming…a necessity to find ways to improve construction productivity…” Wilson explains what Bechtel is doing, including its “Future Fund.”
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The PGA’s First Chief Innovation Officer on His 2019 Agenda
The PGA of America represents 29,000 golf professionals and runs top golf championships. The PGA’s Chief Innovation Officer discusses his plans for catalyzing innovation.
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How Coca-Cola Created the Soda Fountain of the Future
The inside story how how a skunkworks team of Coca-Cola engineers created the Freestyle soda fountain back in 2007 — and what they’re working on and imporving for the second iteration.
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50+ Corporate Innovation Hubs in Boston and Cambridge
Boston houses a fertile innovation scene that attracts corporates who want to keep an eye on the latest research; hire recent grads; and invest in startups. See 50+ hubs here…
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How Management Systems Can Support Innovation
How do companies become innovative for the long haul? Nancy Tennant, an adjunct professor at Notre Dame and UChicago, addresses this question in her new book.
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How Long Do Corporate Innovation Jobs Last, and What Happens Next?
How long do people typically stay in corporate innovation roles — at all levels? And where do they go next? We analyzed data from over 150 LinkedIn profiles to find out.
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Advice on Innovation Governance, Budgeting, Metrics
In his new book, former Transamerica exec Aaron Proietti talks about innovation not as an outcome, but as a competency that helps organizations escape the status quo.
