---
id: "entity-linda-a-hill"
type: "entity"
entityType: "person"
canonicalName: "Linda A. Hill"
aliases: ["Linda Hill"]
source_timestamps: ["¶5", "§ The Key Skills of a Bridger", "¶28"]
tags: ["author", "researcher", "leadership-scholar"]
related: ["entity-emily-tedards", "entity-jason-wild", "concept-bridger", "claim-formal-structure-insufficient"]
speakers: ["Linda A. Hill"]
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2026/03/why-great-innovations-fail-to-scale"
source_title: "Why Great Innovations Fail to Scale"
sources: ["futures", "tail2"]
isSpeakerEntity: true
---
## Segment 2 — futures

## Article 102 — a102

# Linda A. Hill

**Role in this source:** Lead author of *Why Great Innovations Fail to Scale*. Harvard Business School professor and a leading researcher on leadership and innovation.

**Profile:** Originator of the **Architect / Bridger / Catalyst (ABCs)** model of innovation leadership and co-author of *Collective Genius* and *Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation*. Her research program frames innovation as a social, co-created capability that leaders must design conditions for rather than command.

**Attributed contributions in this vault:**
- Co-author of the central argument that [[claim-formal-structure-insufficient|formal structure is insufficient]] and that [[concept-bridger|bridgers]] supply the missing relational capability.
- Attributed quotes: [[quote-trust-and-risk]] ('people don't take risks with those they don't trust…') and [[quote-innovation-voluntary]] ('Innovation is a voluntary act').
- Framing of the [[framework-three-functions-of-bridgers|three functions]] and the [[concept-mutual-trust-influence-commitment|trust/influence/commitment triad]].

Works alongside co-authors [[entity-emily-tedards|Emily Tedards]] and [[entity-jason-wild|Jason Wild]].

## Segment 2 — tail2

## Article 125 — a125

# Linda A. Hill

**Profile.** Linda A. Hill is a professor at [[entity-hbs|Harvard Business School]] whose research focuses on scaling innovation and digital leadership [10]. She is the principal scholar behind the co-creation / collective-genius framing of innovation leadership and the originator of the [[framework-abcs-leadership|ABCs of Leadership]] (Architects, Bridgers, Catalysts).

**Role in this source.** She is the sole author/voice of the [[entity-org-harvard-business-review-d2|Harvard Business Review]] Executive Masterclass "What Makes an Innovative Leader?" — the primary text this vault is built from.

**Attributed contributions in this vault:**
- Framework: [[framework-abcs-leadership]]
- Concepts: [[concept-co-creation]], [[concept-collective-genius]], [[concept-ecosystem-acceleration]]
- Claims: [[claim-co-creation-over-following]], [[claim-speed-scale-external]]
- Quotes: [[quote-leading-today-co-create]], [[quote-innovation-central-to-strategy]]
- Action items: [[action-build-experimentation-systems]], [[action-forge-external-partnerships]], [[action-align-ecosystem-stakeholders]]
- Contrarian insight: [[contrarian-visionary-obsolete]]

**Related work.** Her earlier book [[entity-product-collective-genius|Collective Genius]] and the [[entity-product-genius-at-scale|Genius at Scale]] program are the conceptual foundations for this masterclass [5][10]. She has co-authored related HBR pieces with [[entity-emily-tedards|Emily Tedards]], [[entity-jason-wild|Jason Wild]], [[entity-karl-weber|Karl Weber]], and [[entity-taran-swan|Taran Swan]].