2017 Session | Creative Change: Strategies for Fostering Innovation

CEOs, top executives, and other business leaders say they need creativity and real innovation to thrive in a competitive world. But according to former Wharton management professor Jennifer Mueller, many business leaders chronically reject creative solutions and often embrace the familiar, even as they profess commitment to innovation. Mueller’s research reveals that it’s not just CEOs, but many others often struggle to accept new and creative ideas even when desired. Mueller will address the tough questions these findings raise: Could people love but also hate creative ideas? Could the mindset we use to evaluate ideas turn this love or hate on or off—in an instant? Do experts struggle even more than novices with this bias? And even more startling, could the “best practices” that organizations employ to manage innovation activate this bias, and inadvertently, kill innovation? Mueller diagnoses this hidden innovation barrier, and will share her solutions, including:

A four- step process (and a fifth lifeline) to self-disrupt your current mindset and recognize creative opportunity;
An idea-pitching framework aimed at helping you overcome other peoples’ sticky preference for the status quo;
Key organizational levers to disrupt the cultural beliefs holding your company back;
Tips to more accurately recognize creative leaders who can lead organizations in productive new directions, and
Strategies to generate ideas without harming your ability to make them count with the decision-makers.

Speaker: Jennifer Mueller, associate professor, University of San Diego & author, Creative Change: Why We Resist It… How We Can Embrace It

Emcee: Sunny Lopez, lubricants supply chain manager, Phillips 66