Webinar: Building a Resilient Culture to Navigate External Disruption
Learn how to strengthen your organization’s culture to better prepare you to weather external challenges that are difficult to anticipate. The pandemic provided us all with a quick lesson in how resilient our organizations are when hit with sweeping, unexpected change. IRI and Babson College partnered to study companies’ responses and what R&D would look like in the ‘next normal’. Drawing on these responses, we’ve been able to identify best practices for companies that weathered these changes well. Join the session to learn from these best practices to better future-proof your organization.
Gina O'Connor
Professor O’Connor joined Babson in January 2019. She conducts research, develops curricula and facilitates learning for graduate students and executives based on her research findings on Breakthrough Innovation in large mature companies. Before joining Babson Gina spent 29 years at the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she held the roles of Professor of Marketing and Innovation Management, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Director of the MBA program, Director of the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship and Director of the Radical Innovation Research Program. Prior to earning her PhD in Marketing and Corporate Strategy at NYU, she worked as a contract administrator for McDonnell Douglas Corporation and as a research analyst for Monsanto’s Department of Social Responsibility in St. Louis, Missouri. Professor O’Connor has published papers in leading journals including Journal of Product Innovation Management, Organization Science, Journal of Marketing and Journal of Business Venturing. Five of her papers have received best paper of the year awards in their respective journals. Gina has co-authored three books on breakthrough innovation. The second of those: Grabbing Lightning: Building a Capability for Breakthrough Innovation, was named one of the top three business books of the year by Strategy + Business Magazine. In 2018 she was named a Crawford Fellow by the Product Development and Management Association, one of only six recipients of that award. Gina’s professional objective is to help large established companies learn how to renew themselves through organic growth via step-out, game changing, breakthrough, strategic innovation, which introduces high levels of uncertainty into the innovation process and is typically stamped out in organizations. She is a firm believer that, to be successful, companies must develop an innovation function, complete with its own people, processes, metrics and culture that operates within the company to translate emerging science, technology and business models into whole new platforms of growth that will fuel the company’s future health in spite of itself. She is an active speaker and consultant for a number of US and European companies, and is passionate about developing the next cadre of innovation leaders. On the personal side, Gina’s permanent home is in Albany NY, where she lives with her husband. Their three children are spread across the country doing their best to make the world a better place. They are all members of the board of directors of a larger family owned operating foundation, Fostering Hope, which serves the needs of foster parents.
Sebastian Fixson
Associate Dean of Graduate Programs & Innovation
Babson College
Sebastian Fixson is the Associate Dean of Academic Programs and Innovation at the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, and a Professor of Innovation & Design at Babson College. In his role as Associate Dean, he manages existing graduate programs and spearheads new initiatives. Dr. Fixson focuses on building innovation capabilities for individuals and organizations. His research explores how innovation processes, design thinking, and digital tools impact innovation outcomes. He teaches innovation, design, and operations management at Babson College and internationally, offering executive education programs. Dr. Fixson also creates innovative teaching methods and programs. From 2014 to 2017, he was the founding Faculty Director of Babson's Master of Science in Management in Entrepreneurial Leadership (MSEL) program. He collaborates with industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and software. Dr. Fixson writes for academic and practitioner audiences, with publications in journals like Creativity and Innovation Management, MIT Sloan Management Review, and Technology Analysis & Strategic Management. His book, The Innovation Navigator, co-authored with Tucker Marion, guides executives on structuring innovation processes and was published by the University of Toronto Press in 2018. Dr. Fixson holds a Diplom-Ingenieur (MSc) in mechanical engineering from Technical University Karlsruhe, Germany, and a PhD in Technology, Management, and Policy from MIT.
Jonathan Sims
Associate Professor of Strategic Management
Babson College
Dr. Jonathan Sims is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management at Babson College, where he has been teaching since 2013. He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Management from the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business, an MBA from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, and a B.A. in Political Science from Emory University. Jonathan's research focuses on open innovation communities and teaching pedagogy. His work has been published in journals such as Innovation, R&D Management, Academy of Management Learning & Education, MIT Sloan Management Review, Industrial and Corporate Change, and Strategic Organization. He teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses, including Moonshot Innovations, Strategic Problem Solving, Strategy & The CEO, and The Global Entrepreneurial Experience in Spain. He has been inducted into the McCombs School Teaching Hall of Fame and received the Dean's Teaching Award at Babson. Jonathan has presented at the World Open Innovation Conference and the Academy of Management. At Babson College, he has served as Co-Chair of the Undergraduate Academic Policy Committee (UAPC), a Teaching Innovation Fund (TIF) member, and Faculty Advisor for the Glavin Global Fellows and Weissman Scholars Program.