Business leaders today have no choice: Whether they like it or not, they must navigate an array of headwinds and challenges that are as novel as they are unpredictable — from geopolitical unrest and climate change to artificial intelligence and economic inequality. But there’s no dependable guidebook for how to steer a company or team through these unchartered waters in which it often seems the tides change every minute.
To tackle new problems, we can’t rely on old tools and old solutions. We need to come up with new ideas and approaches. We must resist the urge to default to the tried and tested and instead embrace a more innovative and creative way of thinking. We need to think bigger.
Columbia Business School’s Think Bigger Innovation Summit provides an opportunity to do this. Hosted by Sheena Iyengar, the S.T. Lee Professor of Business, in collaboration with Shivaram Rajgopal, the Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing, the annual summit brings together academic and industry experts, as well as innovators, entrepreneurs, and other professionals from across sectors and geographies.
It provides a forum to ask questions that few of us have hitherto dared ask: What would happen if we went back to the drawing board and thought about things in an entirely different way? What might we achieve if we forget about what we’ve so far considered to be the realm of possibility? What if we question everything? What if we take nothing for granted?
The Think Bigger philosophy encourages innovation that will fuel necessary societal and technological change. It does this by inspiring us to consider the interconnected nature of individuals and organizations so that we can redesign and improve solutions to the world’s most complex problems. It also empowers us to be creative and curious and gives us permission to come up with new ideas without fear of failure or setback.
Since the summit launched in 2023, attendees have heard about innovative ways in which we can pave the road to net zero. They’ve learned about new approaches to protecting consumer privacy in a digital-first world and how breakthroughs in neuroscience can help us all make better, smarter decisions. Attendees have heard from rocket scientists and broadcast journalists, venture capitalists, accounting gurus, and engineers. Every speaker has added a fresh insight and an invaluable perspective — a novel way of thinking and challenging established beliefs and theories.
Think Bigger is an ideation methodology and approach, but it’s also an imperative: It’s a call to action. We can no longer afford to confine our ideas and initiatives to familiar parameters. We must dare to be bolder and braver. Thinking bigger is an excellent place to start.