Jason Wild – Former VP Innovation, Microsoft

What is the secret to creating a great brand?

To succeed, do organizations need to choose between being either customer-centric or performance-driven?

Former Microsoft Vice President of Innovation and Customer Engagement Jason Wild is one of the world’s top growth and strategy experts.

A former strategy executive at IBM and Salesforce, he has worked with leadership teams at iconic organizations such as NASA, NATO and Disney on more than 250 projects in 38 countries to creatively problem-solve and build customer-focused initiatives that enhance loyalty and lead to organizational growth.

In small group workshops and one-on-one advisory sessions, Wild helps leaders and teams build relationships and create precision teams to solve stubborn problems and customer pain points.

He is available to discuss any or all of the following topics in programs that can be customized to meet the needs and goals of your organization with the added option of meeting virtually or in-person.

• Building Long-Term Loyalty Through Customer-Centricity
• Scaling Genius to Reenergize Organizations
• Solve Tough Challenges by Falling in Love With the Problem First
• Embrace The Human Side of AI

According to growth and strategy executive Jason Wild, great brands start with great teams, and organizations absolutely can reach performance goals while operating with a people-centric ethos.

Wild is an on-the-ground practitioner who has led strategic precision teams for some of the world’s most iconic technology brands such as IBM and Salesforce in addition to Microsoft.

By taking a humanistic approach to digital transformation and creative problem solving, he helps organizations leverage design thinking to optimize engagement and customer loyalty.

“This world is always going to have deep, stubborn customer problems, so creative problem-solving is never going to go away,” says Wild, an Investor/Entrepreneur in Residence at Emory University’s Giozueta Business School.

“We have to fall in love with the problem first, not the solution, and remember that customers are at the end of everything regardless of what business you’re in.”

The Innovation Recipe: Ingredients for Becoming a World Class Entrepreneur and Leader
In building trust with executives, leaders, and specialized teams, Wild challenges the classic view of decision-making through consensus building and shows leaders how to scale growth end-to-end across the company.

“How do you go from pockets of success to repeatedly, with predictability, understanding the ingredients it takes to be a world-class entrepreneur and innovator?”

Wild asks. “To start, every CEO should have a team they trust to help co-create the future.”

Taking his experience in building successful teams at organizations of all sizes, Wild is currently co-authoring a book with innovation leadership expert and Harvard Business School Professor Linda A. Hill.

Tentatively titled “Scaling Genuis,” it will be packed with real-world stories and case studies of the habits and characteristics of great leaders who have applied their unique styles in different ways to turn around and reenergize organizations.

Offering a practical leadership framework, the book serves as a guide for aspiring leaders, early-career executives and experienced managers alike.

Products Are Important, But Customer Relationships Are Critical

Wild, who has worked with leadership teams on more than 250 projects in 38 countries, empowers organizations to develop their digital technology capabilities and invest in customer success. Through empathy and understanding customer viewpoints and pain points, organizations are better equipped to create an ecosystem of customers that are trusted co-creation partners who feel a genuine connection to a brand beyond a single product.

His methods transform the DNA and cultures of successful companies while helping to drive business value through people-first design innovation. With projects at NASA, NATO, Disney and more, he leads specialized teams as they work through hands-on problem-solving initiatives.

“Selling the best product only takes you so far, relationships are what matter and what endures,” says

Wild, whose global customer engagement methodology and growth initiatives at Microsoft delivered more than $100B in incremental revenue over just five years. “Products and services come and go, and someone always comes along and copies the what. But it’s the how that’s very difficult to copy.”

By changing business cultures to be more outside-in and customer-centric, Wild teaches organizations to recognize today’s new customer-employee experience and how technology enables businesses to teach capabilities, not just sell products. When done right, customers forget they’re interacting with a company and feel like they’re talking to a person who is passionate about excellence.

“The return on investment in customer success is when customers become successful and grow. Then, businesses are able to grow with them.”

Shake the “Us vs. Them” Mindset and Embrace The Human Side of AI

Wild’s humanistic approach extends to the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI).

With the recent explosion of news about AI – particularly generative AI, large language models (LLMs) and machine learning (ML) – he acknowledges that some technology experts are reacting strongly to the spread of the technology and the potential implications on society and the future of work.

But Wild reminds us that AI isn’t new, it’s just suddenly gone mainstream. Instead of taking an “us vs. them” view of AI, he says business leaders should instead take an “us with them” approach.

“Executives should view AI as a sort of ‘intelligent shadow’ that can help to amplify employees’ work and craft while raising the bar on the standard of quality,” he advises.

“The organizations that really understand the promise of AI are taking a very humanistic approach and thinking about artificial intelligence like a co-pilot that enhances work, collaboration and how we engage and lead.

Applied with this mindset, AI will elevate and redefine our standards of quality.”

Building Long-Term Loyalty Through Customer-Centricity

Reaching performance goals and operating a customer-centric brand doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, according to Microsoft growth and strategy executive Jason Wild, when customers become successful and grow, businesses are able to grow with them.

In this eye-opening presentation, he shows that through empathy and understanding customer viewpoints and pain points, organizations are able to create an ecosystem of customers that are trusted co-creation partners who feel a genuine connection to a company beyond a single product.

With years of experience leading growth and strategy teams at IBM, Salesforce, and now as Vice President of CEO Co-Innovation and Customer Engagement at Microsoft, Wild illustrates that by recognizing today’s new customer-employee experience, technology enables businesses to teach capabilities, not just products, leading to long-term customer loyalty.

Audiences will leave with actionable insights into how investing in customer success is, in the end, also investing in organizational success.

Embrace the Human Side of AI

With the explosion of news about artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI, large language models (LLMs) and machine learning (ML), we’re in a moment in which people are reacting very strongly to AI. According to Microsoft innovation and growth executive Jason Wild, it’s ok for us to have “good fear” and consider the implications of the emerging technology thoughtfully.
In this enlightening presentation, he’ll explain that AI isn’t new at all, it’s just now gone mainstream. With that in mind, it’s important to consider the human side of AI and how the technology will impact our daily lives.

Wild emphasizes organizations that really understand the promise of AI are those taking a humanistic approach of “us and them,” not “us vs. them.”

Audiences will gain new insight into the technology that he calls “an intelligent shadow” that will work alongside humans to enhance knowledge, productivity and efficiency.

Scaling Genius to Reenergize Organizations

Creating great products is important, but relationships are what matter most and what endures, says growth and strategy executive Jason Wild, Vice President of CEO Co-Innovation and Customer Engagement at Microsoft.

Having led specialized teams at IBM, Salesforce and Microsoft, Wild has built trust and relationships with leadership teams in 38 countries at iconic organizations such as NASA, NATO and Disney.

Drawing from his upcoming book, “Scaling Genius” with Harvard Business School Professor Linda A. Hill, Wild shares real-world stories and case studies of the habits and characteristics of great leaders who have applied their unique styles in different ways to build trust and reenergize organizations.

Audiences will leave with a practical leadership framework that serves as a guide for aspiring leaders, early-career executives and experienced managers alike.

Solve Tough Challenges by Falling in Love With the Problem First

There will always be deep, stubborn customer problems and organizational challenges.

The way to face them, according to growth and strategy executive Jason Wild, is through creative problem-solving. In this revealing presentation, he’ll share real-world examples from his time as an executive at leading tech companies – IBM, Salesforce and Microsoft, where he is currently the Vice President of CEO Co-Innovation and Customer Engagement – of building precision teams to creatively tackle stubborn challenges.

He explains that it’s vital to dive deeply into a challenge, saying, “We have to fall in love with the problem first, not the solution.”

Audiences will gain practical strategies for energizing teams to use creative problem-solving to unlock new avenues of customer and organizational success.