The Art of Innovation
It’s not a question often considered: what could business leaders learn from artists?
If your goal is to create an innovative company, leaders need to employ a way of thinking that fosters creativity, involves all of the senses, and uses whole-brain skills in new ways. This event will explore what today’s business leaders can gain from approaching the world through the lens and empathetic perspective of an artist, one that enables us to observe our organizations, our customers and ourselves from an unfamiliar, yet powerful, position.
Eva Maddox is the consulting principal of Eva Maddox Design Strategies, LLC, former design principal and board member of Perkins+Will, and founder of Perkins+Will / Eva Maddox Branded Environments. Maddox has received more than two hundred design excellence awards for innovations in Interior Architecture, Design and Brand Communication. She was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame in 1992 and was honored with the Contract LEGEND Award in 2011. Maddox was named “Chicagoan of the Year” by Chicago Magazine in 2001 and was selected as a Purpose Prize Fellow in 2007 and 2008. In 1994 Maddox and Stanley Tigerman co-founded ARCHEWORKS, a multidisciplinary design school that provides innovative design solutions to address social needs. She has written extensively, taught and lectured at schools of architecture and design worldwide. She is past chair of The Chicago Network and a long-time member of the International Women’s Forum and the Economic Club of Chicago. She is an Emeritus Trustee of the University of Cincinnati Foundation, and board member of Architecture & Design Society of the Art Institute of Chicago, Archeworks, and Studio Arts College International in Florence, Italy.
Kelly Leonard is the Executive Director of Insights and Applied Improvisation at Second City Works, overseeing The Second Science Project with the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. His book, “Yes, And,” was published to critical acclaim by HarperCollins. Kelly has spoken at Aspen Ideas Festival, Microsoft and TEDxBroadway and hosts the podcast “Getting to Yes, And” for WGN and Second City. For over twenty years, he oversaw Second City’s live theatrical divisions working with such talent as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Keegan Michael Key and others. @KLsecondcity
Howard A. Tullman is the Executive Director of the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Tullman is the former CEO of 1871 – where digital startups get their start and the General Managing Partner of G2T3V, LLC and of Chicago High Tech Investment Partners, which are Chicago-based early-stage venture funds. He is a member of Mayor Emanuel’s Chicago NEXT and Cultural Affairs Councils; the Innovate Illinois Advisory and Arts Councils; an Adjunct Professor at Kellogg; and an advisor to many start-ups. He is the former CEO of Tribeca Flashpoint College and Kendall College. Over the last 50 years, he has successfully founded more than a dozen high-tech companies. @tullman
Ashley Wheater has dedicated his life to dance. He was born in Scotland and trained at The Royal Ballet School in England. He worked with world renowned dancers and choreographers and has performed with the London Festival Ballet, Australian Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the Joffrey Ballet. In 2008, Mr. Wheater was the recipient of the Boeing Game-Changer Award in recognition of his commitment to community engagement in Chicago and to the celebration of diversity through dance. In 2010, Mr. Wheater, representing The Joffrey Ballet, was named Lincoln Academy Laureate, the highest honor presented by the State of Illinois, and in 2013 the Chicago Tribune named him “Chicagoan of the Year”. In 2015, Mr. Wheater received the University of Chicago Rosenberger Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Creative and Performing Arts. He also serves as the Artistic Director of the Joffrey Academy of Dance, the Official School of The Joffrey Ballet.