Companies today increasingly rely on teams that span many industries for
radical innovation, especially to solve “wicked problems.” So leaders
have to understand how to promote collaboration when roles are
uncertain, goals are shifting, expertise and organizational cultures are
varied, and participants have clashing or even antagonistic
perspectives. HBS professor Amy Edmondson has studied more than a dozen
cross-industry innovation projects, among them the creation of a new
city, a mango supply-chain transformation, and the design and
construction of leading-edge buildings. She has identified the
leadership practices that make successful cross-industry teams work:
fostering an adaptable vision, promoting psychological safety, enabling
knowledge sharing, and encouraging collaborative innovation. Though
these practices are broadly familiar, their application within
cross-industry teams calls for unique leadership approaches that combine
flexibility, open-mindedness, humility, and fierce resolve. [ABSTRACT
FROM AUTHOR]