The New Leadership Structures that Unblock Innovation

What It Covers

Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill, author of Genius at Scale, explains why innovation fails at most organizations and outlines three distinct leadership roles—architect, bridger, and catalyst—that companies must deliberately build to consistently generate, test, and scale new ideas across teams and ecosystems.

Key Questions Answered

• •Three Innovation Muscles: Organizations need three specific capabilities to innovate repeatedly: creative abrasion (collaborating across difference), creative agility (running rigorous, efficient experiments), and creative resolution (making clear decisions with ambiguous data). Most companies lack all three. Leaders should audit which muscle is weakest before launching any innovation initiative.
• •Architect-Bridger-Catalyst Framework: Hill identifies three leadership roles essential for scaling innovation. Architects design the organizational environment. Bridgers work across internal silos and external partnerships—a role Hill says is critically scarce in most companies. Catalysts build movements across ecosystems. Leaders should assess whether their current talent covers all three roles explicitly.
• •Mastercard's 50/50 Resource Split: When Ajay Banga took over Mastercard in 2010, he mandated that 50% of resources go to the core business and 50% to diversification and new growth. Any budget submitted without that division was sent back. This structural rule forced innovation investment rather than leaving it to discretionary spending decisions.
• •Rewarding Idea Termination: Three leaders Hill studied gave bonuses to employees who killed their own failing ideas. Because people resist abandoning projects they championed, organizations must create explicit incentives for termination. Pairing this with clear decision-making authority—everyone knowing who makes the final call—prevents experimentation from becoming a stalling tactic.
• •Pull vs. Push Leadership Stance: Leaders operating across partnerships, ecosystems, or cross-functional teams have no formal authority over collaborators. Hill argues leaders must shift from pushing directives to pulling participation through trust, shared purpose, and demonstrated respect for others' contributions. A sparring partner who tracks whether intent matches actual impact accelerates this behavioral shift.