Harvard's Tushman Speaks on the Impact of Executive Leadership during Times of Change

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Harvard’s Tushman Speaks on the Impact of Executive Leadership during Times of Change

Tushman addresses the role of senior leadership in exploiting capabilities to explore new domains

May 10, 2017 (Boston, MA) – The members of an R&D organization’s executive team have large sway over the direction of the company’s new product development pipeline. But how do these senior leaders exploit existing capabilities as well as explore into new technological domains? In his keynote address at the IRI Annual Meeting, Michael Tushman, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, addressed the challenges established firms face when dealing with technological change and the role the senior leadership plays in managing their innovation streams.

“Leading change is an increasingly important aspect of our roles as executive leaders and it can be particularly challenging in the face of complex and dynamic innovation landscapes,” said John B. Hillenbrand, Jr., Vice President of R&D at Armstrong Flooring and IRI Chairman.

The topic of organizational evolution is often addressed through the lens of change management by departmental heads and human resources. Tushman says that the actions taken by the executive leadership during this evolution have more influence over this process than many assume and reverberate through the innovation streams in play at the organization’s R&D wing. These actions, therefore, greatly affect how well a company can exploit its existing capabilities to explore new technological domains.

About IRI

The Industrial Research Institute (IRI) is an organization of nearly 200 industrial and service companies having a common interest in the effective management of technological innovation. IRI member companies span diverse industries and represent a substantial portion of our nation’s gross domestic product. IRI is the only cross-industry organization creating innovation leadership solutions and best practices in innovation management developed through collaborative knowledge creation. For more information, call 703-647-2580 or visit www.iriweb.org.