Jim Carroll delivered a keynote address to senior leadership at DuPont in 2012, exploring the innovation imperatives facing one of the world’s oldest and most storied science-based companies in a period of rapid industry disruption. DuPont, with nearly 210 years of history in chemistry, materials science, agriculture, and industrial biotechnology, represented exactly the kind of deep-capability organization that Carroll challenged to marry its scientific heritage with the speed and boldness of a startup. Carroll’s work with large industrial and science companies during this period consistently returned to the theme of “innovation and the 10 great words” — challenging leaders to articulate a clear, bold innovation mandate that could cascade through a complex global organization. The session reflected Carroll’s ongoing engagement with the manufacturing and materials science sector during a period when breakthrough science in genomics, nanotechnology, and advanced materials was beginning to reshape the competitive landscape of industrial chemistry.
