Interview: Frode Odegard

Frode Odegard began his career in theoretical computer science and founded his first software start-up in the late 1980s. After immigrating to Silicon Valley from Norway in 1990, he founded a small R&D lab, but gradually began helping organisations accelerate innovation and product development. "I discovered that as important as engineering was, there were deeper causes for why firms evolved so slowly" he said.

Odegard researched Toyota's 'Lean' philosophy, which had revolutionised manufacturing by engaging employees as problems solvers. In 2004 he founded the Lean Systems Institute (LSI), modernising Lean for knowledge work to help leaders redesign their organisations for breakthrough performance. Odegard eventually concluded this was insufficient. "Technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, distributed