#345 How to Drive Innovation with Brian Solis, Head of Global Innovation at ServiceNow

2026-02-09 · Source: DataFramed · Field: Business & Management — Corporate Strategy & Leadership, Operations & Process Management, Project & Product Management · Depth: Intermediate, extended

Summary

Brian Solis, Head of Global Innovation at ServiceNow, discusses the challenges of keeping pace with rapid AI advancements and the necessity of mindset shifts for fostering innovation. He emphasizes that true innovation goes beyond mere iteration, requiring a deliberate approach to create new value rather than just improving existing processes. Solis highlights the critical role of storytelling in driving organizational change, drawing parallels to Pixar's methods for building empathy and relatability to a vision. He also introduces a "Six Stages of Mind Shifting" framework (receive, perceive, weave, conceive, believe, achieve) designed to help individuals and organizations systematically identify trends, make sense of them, and translate them into actionable strategies. The discussion also covers practical strategies for managing information overload and making time for new ideas, advocating for a proactive leadership approach at all levels.

Key takeaway

For Directors of AI/ML and CTOs navigating rapid technological shifts, proactively cultivating an innovation-first mindset and empowering teams to identify and champion new ideas is crucial. Your leadership in fostering a culture of strategic storytelling and systematic trend analysis, rather than just reacting to "uh-oh moments," will enable your organization to create new value and differentiate itself, ensuring long-term competitiveness in the AI-driven landscape.

Key insights

Innovation requires a mindset shift, strategic storytelling, and a systematic approach to identify and act on new trends.

Principles

• Innovation creates new value, iteration improves existing value.
• Storytelling builds empathy and relatability for organizational change.
• Self-awareness is crucial for an open, innovative mindset.

Method

The "Six Stages of Mind Shifting" framework (receive, perceive, weave, conceive, believe, achieve) guides individuals and organizations from signal identification to achieving transformative outcomes through structured vision and communication.

In practice

• Track daily activities to identify time for new ideas.
• Experiment with shorter meetings (e.g., 20-25 minutes).
• Use storyboarding to visualize business strategies.

Topics

• AI Innovation Strategy
• Organizational Change Management
• Business Storytelling
• AI Trend Analysis
• Leadership Development

Best for: Director of AI/ML, CTO, Executive

Related on AIssential

• How CEOs and Large Enterprises can Unlock the Power of AI — AI leadership hinges on reframing questions, organizational courage, and fostering cultural curiosity beyond mere technology adoption.
• The AI Skill Nobody’s Teaching — AI's true value lies in treating it as a conversational companion for process innovation, not merely a search engine.
• New Skills to Navigate Continuous Change — True change requires collaborative ownership and embracing discomfort, shifting from control-based leadership to adaptive co-creation.
• Brian Chesky - AI Founder Mode - [Invest Like the Best, EP.471] — AI Founder Mode requires deep engagement, simplicity, and customer empathy to navigate rapid technological and organizational shifts.
• Fostering breakthrough AI innovation through customer-back engineering — Prioritizing customer needs over technology capabilities drives greater value from digital and AI investments.
• Why Strategy? Turning Market Dominance Into A Weakness — Strategists must cultivate technical expertise and focus on disrupting foundational paradigms to remain relevant in an AI-accelerated world.

Open in AIssential →

Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by DataFramed.