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About Hila Lifshitz-Assaf
How do organizations keep an innovative edge in the face of technological disruption? Hila Lifshitz-Assaf argues that companies keeping the innovation process solely in-house are missing out on vast resources of knowledge. Her three-year field study inside NASA's Space Life Sciences Directorate found that an open innovation model that brings in outside voices produced faster technological solutions than a traditional internal-only model. "By opening the process of innovation, you create a distributed network model," she explains. "Doing so will allow organizations to be leaders in knowledge work innovation instead of responding to what competitors are doing."
That NASA research was featured in Harvard Business Review and published in Administrative Science Quarterly, and her research is taught to executives and MBA students at institutions including MIT, Harvard, Stanford, INSEAD, Wharton and London Business School. Before academia, Lifshitz-Assaf worked for seven years as a strategy consultant in telecommunications, consumer goods and finance.
Hila's Keynote Topics
Emerging technologies can be disruptive in a number of ways, including through causing individuals to question their roles at work. How can leaders keep workers’ mindsets positive when their work is being disrupted by new technology? In this engaging session, technology strategy expert Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, Warwick Business School professor of management and Harvard Laboratory for Innovation Science visiting faculty, explains that before adopting new technologies, leaders should zoom out of the question of “how” work is done within an organization to focus on the fundamental “why” of the organization’s mission. By applying a three-step framework, leaders will be able to reframe conversations around adopting new technologies to focus on organizational purpose instead of threatening individual identity.
Few technology topics have been as top-of-mind lately as artificial intelligence. The impacts of AI on the future of work are already being felt in a myriad of ways, so how can organizations leverage AI and human expertise to create more innovative results? In this eye-opening presentation, innovation management expert and Warwick Business School professor Hila Lifshitz-Assaf uses vivid examples from a variety of industries to show how the future of work won’t be about replacing humans with AI systems, but will be driven by allowing AI to augment and maximize human efficiency. Lifshitz-Assaf will apply her “You Have a Choice” framework to illustrate how work is already changing thanks to remote teams, online labor markets and AI. Attendees will walk away with a new appreciation for the ways productivity, quality and speed will continue to be enhanced by embracing AI systems alongside human expertise.
According to Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, Warwick Business School professor of management and Harvard Laboratory for Innovation Science visiting faculty, whether or not to trust AI systems with critical decisions is the wrong question for leaders to ask. In this informative session, she explains why it’s vital for leaders to evaluate and interrogate different AI tools. Organizational leaders will learn that moving from a passive mode of just consuming AI to a more proactive mode of demanding the ways they want the AI to be designed, especially when handling critical decisions, will lead to the best results and optimal system performance.
When emerging technologies disrupt industries, organizations don’t have to be relegated to following in the footsteps of their competitors. In this engaging presentation, Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, professor of management at Warwick Business School and Harvard Laboratory for Innovation Science visiting faculty, reveals that organizations can maintain innovation leadership by adopting simple principles. By opening the process of innovation and leveraging new technologies like AI, leaders can create a more innovative knowledge work process that will set their organization on a path of leadership in the ever-changing landscape of emerging technologies and innovation competition.
With emerging technologies appearing at the forefront of business at breakneck speed, being a leader in knowledge work is more strategically important than ever. Through open innovation models, multiple types of knowledge boundaries are dismantled to facilitate learning, cross-disciplinary collaborations and real-time access to research results. In this informative session, Warwick Business School professor of management and Harvard Laboratory for Innovation Science visiting faculty Hila Lifshitz-Assaf uses real-world examples to show that being a leader in technology change requires an opening of the innovation process. Leaders will gain valuable insight into how embracing outside voices will advance organizational knowledge and lead to breakthroughs that wouldn’t have been possible with an internal-only innovation approach.
Articles by Hila Lifshitz-Assaf
Algorithms Trap Us in the Familiar. Can They Also Spark Breakthroughs?
August 2026MIT Sloan Management ReviewThe No. 1 Question to Ask When Evaluating AI Tools
March 2023Harvard Business SchoolNavigating the Jagged Technological Frontier: Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of AI on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality
2023Brookings InstitutionDismantling the Ivory Tower’s Knowledge Boundaries
May 2022MIT Sloan Management ReviewHow Maker Tools Can Accelerate Ideation
January 2022NYU Stern School of BusinessThe Digital Economy Runs on Open Source. Here’s How to Protect It.
September 2021Information and OrganizationCrisis as Opportunity, Disruption and Exposure: Exploring Emergent Responses to Crisis Through Digital Technology
2021Management Information Systems QuarterlyIs AI Ground Truth Really ‘True’? The Dangers of Training and Evaluating AI Tools Based on Experts’ Know-What
2021NYU Stern School of BusinessEmbrace a Little Chaos When Innovating Under Pressure
September 2020Academy of Management JournalMinimal and Adaptive Coordination: How Hackathons’ Projects Accelerate Innovation without Killing it
2020NYU Stern School of BusinessScaling Up Search for Analogies Could Be Key to Innovation
February 2019Organization ScienceTo Engage or Not to Engage with AI for Critical Judgments: How Professionals Deal With Opacity When Using AI for Medical Diagnosis
2019Hila in the Media
How to Cultivate the Human-AI Sweet Spot for Innovation
So You’ve Automated Everything — What’s Left For Your Employees?
20220418 Hila LifshitzAssaf ISSIP Interview
Accelerating Innovation in High-Tech Teams
Open Up to Innovation
Tech Talk: Accelerating Work and Innovation
Minimal and Adaptive Coordination
Innovation Due To Covid: Yes, But How?
Stern & the 2020 Small Business COVID Strategy Hackathons
How to Manage Innovation Even Remotely: The Art of Balancing Autonomy and Control
Dismantling Knowledge Boundaries At Nasa: The Critical Role Of Professional Identity In Open Innovation
How Hila Works with Organizations
Each engagement is built around your goals and audience.
01 · WORKSHOPThe Impact of New Technologies on Experts and Their Work
Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, award-winning researcher on innovation strategy and the future of work, Warwick Business School Professor of Management, and Harvard Laboratory for Innovation Science visiting faculty, helps organizations plan for work disruptions from new technologies and open the innovation process to advance organizational knowledge that can lead to new breakthroughs. With engaging interactive workshops designed for all leadership levels, from senior executives to “high potentials” being groomed for the C-suite, she empowers leaders to improve the innovation and AI system adoption processes. Each session can be customized to meet the needs and goals of your organization with the added option of meeting virtually or in person. Topics covered in Lifshitz-Assaf’s half- and full-day workshops can include:
- Tech Leadership Through Open Innovation
- Embracing AI to Augment Human Expertise is the Optimal Future of Work
- Evaluating New Technology Through “Why” Not “How”
- Evaluating AI Tools For Critical Decisions
- Maintaining a Competitive Edge in the Face of Technological Disruption
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