Innovation in Leadership
Session 1: The Innovation Crossroads: Risks & Rewards
The building sciences industry is at a crossroads. With accelerating demands from climate change, emerging technologies, and alternative project delivery methods, design and construction stakeholders face unprecedented pressures to innovate. Yet, innovation is not without risk. Too much, too fast can lead to liability from untested materials and methodologies. Too little, too late can result in claims for failing to anticipate and adapt to evolving environmental, legal, and societal expectations.
This session examines the double-edged nature of innovation in the built environment. Through real-world case studies and industry insights, participants will explore the risks associated with leading and lagging in areas such as material choices, emerging technologies, and project delivery methods. The session also will provide actionable strategies for managing these risks, including contractual protections, insurance considerations, and best practices for due diligence.
Designed for architects, engineers, and construction professionals, this session invites an interactive dialogue on striking the right balance between progress and protection. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of how to align innovation with resilience and risk management to build a more sustainable and legally sound future.
Join us to navigate the challenges and opportunities at The Innovation Crossroads, where bold ideas meet practical safeguards.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the risks of innovation - Identify potential professional liability exposures associated with adopting new technologies, materials, and alternative project delivery methods in design and construction.
- Recognize the risks of stagnation - Explore how failure to integrate evolving climate science, emerging technologies, and modern practices can lead to claims of negligence and missed opportunities for resilience.
- Develop risk management strategies - Learn practical techniques to manage risks, including contractual protections, insurance considerations, and robust due diligence processes.
- Balance progress and protection - Gain tools to navigate the tension between innovation and liability, ensuring projects meet current demands while remaining legally and ethically sound.
Session 2: Innovation: Born or Bred
Is innovation an innate gift, or can it be cultivated?
This talk explores whether individuals and organizations are naturally predisposed to creativity or if innovation is the result of intentional effort and culture. This question is increasingly urgent for the construction and data center industries because it gets to the heart of our ability to respond to and overcome urgent challenges like labor shortages, increasing costs, and productivity.
Given the challenges we face, the status quo and stagnation are not an option. And the phrase âinnovate or dieâ is more relevant than ever at a time when the U.S. government has put a spotlight on construction workforce challenges as a potential national security concern given their impact on the development of critical infrastructure and AI.
In this presentation, Compass Datacenters' Nancy Novak, Chief Innovation Officer, and Amy Marks, SVP of Innovation, will share their insights and examples of innovation frameworks that truly work. They will discuss how diversity in perspective is a major catalyst for innovation. They also will discuss how the right mindset, culture, and strategies can transform anyone into an innovator. Attendees will leave inspired and with insights to unlock and nurture innovation within themselves and their teams.
Learning Objectives:
- What is innovation and where does it come from?
- What makes an innovator?
- The difference between disruptive innovation and incremental innovation
- The importance of an innovation framework for your organization
