.png)
Outthinkers
The Outthinkers podcast is a growth strategy podcast hosted by Kaihan Krippendorff. Each week, Kaihan talks with forward-looking strategists and innovators that are challenging the status quo, leading the future of business, and shaping our world.
Chief strategy officers and executives can learn more and join the Outthinker community at https://outthinkernetwork.com/.
Outthinkers
#162 — Linda Hill & Jason Wild: The Leadership Model Behind Innovation That Scales
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In a recent Outthinkers episode sponsored by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff is joined by Linda Hill (Havard Business School) and Jason Wild (WISE) to discuss what it takes to move innovation beyond isolated efforts and into something that can work across an entire organization
They explore how strategy is shifting, from control to adaptability, what's actually driving advantage in 2026, and why progress depends on more than just advancing technology.
The conversation covers:
• Why ecosystems, not individual teams, are becoming the unit of innovation
• The role leaders play as architects, bridgers, and catalysts—and what breaks when those roles are missing
• Why culture is often the difference between ideas that scale and those that don't
Episode timeline:
00:00 — Cold open: why no company can go it alone
00:30 — Sponsor: LHH
02:00 — “If you really know me…” (Linda + Jason)
03:35 — Definitions of strategy (optionality, choices, and adaptability)
08:40 — Why they wrote Genius at Scale
12:30 — Why ecosystems are rising (speed, capability gaps, AI)
17:00 — Can incumbents adopt an ecosystem approach?
22:30 — ABC framework: Architect, Bridger, Catalyst
28:40 — The most underappreciated role: the Bridger
33:30 — Why bridging is a career risk (and how to fix incentives)
41:45 — A practical tool: a “constraints dashboard” + radical transparency
45:30 — Where leaders should start
54:50 — How to keep learning from Linda + Jason
59:20 — Closing + thanks
Additional Resources:
Linda Hill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-hill-hbs/
Jason Wild: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonwild/
Book: Genius at Scale — https://geniusatscale.com/
Sponsor: LHH Executive Solutions — https://www.lhh.com
Thank you to our sponsor, LHH
Thank you to our executive producer Zach Ness, our producer Nazanin Homayoun Jam and our editor James Pearce. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening.
Follow us at outthinker.com/podcast
