# McKinsey’s Marla Capozzi & Professor Luke Williams Discuss Leadership & Innovation

As part of NYU Stern's Leadership Development Initiative, coordinated by the School's [Leadership Development Team](/portal-partners/leadership-development), Marla Capozzi, head of McKinsey & Company's Innovation practice, spoke with [Luke Williams](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/luke-williams), executive director of Stern's [Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation](/experience-stern/about/departments-centers-initiatives/centers-of-research/berkley-center), about how leaders can foster innovation.

“Innovation can happen when the leader isn’t the innovator,” explained Capozzi. However, creating what she calls “conditions for entrepreneurship,” where employees are not afraid to be creative, is critical. “Trust is the number one value in an innovative work culture.”

![Marla Capozzi & Professor Luke Williams Discuss Leadership & Innovation](/sites/default/files/assets/images/con_041405.jpg)
Luke Williams

Capozzi also stressed the importance of making leaders accountable by changing budgets. “Determine what an affordable loss is for the organization and allocate that money to the development of new ideas, data and analytics.” Most important, she explained, is for employees to feel comfortable enough to be vulnerable and to share lessons learned from their experiments.

Business and Policy Leader Events

— 4/8/2013

![](/sites/default/files/styles/480w/public/assets/images/con_041403.jpg?itok=KQUvA_80)###  Read more about past Leadership Luncheon Series events:

- [David Rock, co-founder and director, NeuroLeadership Institute](/node/7951)
- [Stephen Sadove, chairman and CEO, Saks](/node/6297)
- [Sharon Allen, former chairman, Deloitte](/node/6027)
- [Jeff Zucker, former president and CEO, NBC Universal](/node/5503)
- [Tony Alvarez, co-founder, Alvarez & Marsal LLC](/node/4886)
- [Bill Drayton, founder and CEO, Ashoka](/node/4876)
- [Mike Indursky (MBA ’90), president, Bliss World Holdings Inc.](/node/45749)
- [Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO, Women’s World Banking](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/news-events/events/mary-ellen-iskenderian-2011)
- [Larry Silverstein (ARTS ’52), president and CEO, Silverstein Properties](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/news-events/silverstein-secrets-success)

## Read more about past Leadership Development Initiative events:

- [LDI Hosts Panel With Senior Executives from Condé Nast & TD Bank](/node/47209)