"Innovation is the best way to move ahead and explore new frontiers…"
Fiercely independent and a whiz at identifying new opportunities, Iris specializes in making connections. In her job as ODIS leader for the IBM Haifa Research Lab, Iris spends her time networking with IBM Global Business Services professionals in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and in other IBM locations. While working to insert Haifa technologies into the gaps that can exist between IBM solutions and clients' needs, Iris noticed a need for innovation management services. Much of her energy is now being spent in generating new business fundamentals that can define how consulting engagements can be used to help empower clients to manage their own innovation.
Before beginning work at the Haifa lab, Iris's work history included positions as founder of a high-tech start up company, the personal assistant to the general manager of Israel's second largest bank, and consultant with PwC in New York. This experience, together with her M.Sc. in management of technology from MIT Sloan School of Management, gave Iris an understanding of the decisions faced by both smaller companies and large organizations. Even when teaching technology innovation to MBA students at the Tel Aviv University's Recanati Graduate School of Business—the same university from which she received her Ph.D. in physics—Iris managed to convey the importance of innovation and the underlying challenges faced by all parties involved.
When the management of the central research and development division of one of Asia Pacific's leading companies contacted IBM Research, they were interested in finding out how the two companies could work together to bootstrap their innovation. Iris was instrumental in developing a new offering for this client —a consulting engagement for innovation management. The project involved interacting with many IBM employees from New York, Haifa and Asia Pacific to find contributors. Innovation management will involve aligning the Research labs and IBM Global Business Services teams around the world to understand what the client needs and propose ways that companies can manage their central research and development differently. Iris sees this kind of work as strategic to positioning IBM as a company that not only innovates, but can help clients spark their own innovation.
Iris believes that the characteristics required for companies to be successful in innovation—being flexible, being diverse, relying more on people, and empowering them — will become the basic building blocks of modern management and the essentials required for managing organizations to meet future challenges.
Not having all the answers doesn't faze Iris. She feels right at home pioneering new strategies—even when the road ahead is fraught with unknowns and new methods. She enjoys interacting with people all over the world, and connecting with a room full of colorful individuals who have different backgrounds, cultures, accents and personalities.
When she's not busy exploring new frontiers for ODIS, Iris enjoys discovering adventure through scuba diving, putting her pilot's license to use and sculpting.
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