A conversation with Linda Armbruster, Partner at Bluemorrow

Open innovation has become a strategic imperative for many organizations, but success isn’t just about launching startup partnerships or running hackathons. At the heart of it lies something far more complex: internal leadership and culture.

In this conversation, we sit down with Linda, Partner at Bluemorrow, to explore how leadership shapes open innovation success: from overcoming internal resistance to creating the conditions for real collaboration to thrive. With deep experience in strategic design and venture building, Linda shares her perspective on what makes openness work inside organizations and why culture is the true innovation frontier.

Linda, open innovation has been around for over two decades now. Why do so many companies still struggle to make it work?

Linda Armbruster: Because too many leaders still treat open innovation as a tactical layer. Something you bolt on, rather than something you build into the foundation. You can launch a startup collaboration or a scouting initiative, but if your organization isn’t prepared to absorb what comes back in, it creates friction or worse, nothing happens. The challenge isn’t out there. It’s in here. Siloed structures, unclear ownership, and cultural resistance often block the very openness companies are trying to achieve.

So in your view, what does leadership in open innovation actually look like? You studied organizational leadership at Oxford’s Saïd Business School - how does that shape your perspective?

Linda Armbruster: What I took from my time at Oxford is that leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about creating the conditions for others to succeed. That applies directly to open innovation. Leaders need to move from control to orchestration. From being gatekeepers of ideas to enablers of collaboration. That means giving teams permission to work across boundaries, encouraging experimentation with external partners, and being okay with not having all the answers internally. But it’s not just about vision, it’s about structure. Leadership must define how open innovation fits the company’s strategy, who owns what, and how progress is measured. Otherwise, it stays in the realm of “innovation theatre.”

You mentioned culture as a barrier. How can leaders shift that from within?

Linda Armbruster: Culture change doesn’t happen in slogans, it happens in systems. If teams are evaluated purely on internal KPIs, they won’t prioritize partnerships. If procurement or legal isn’t aligned with innovation, even a promising collaboration will stall.
Leaders need to model openness themselves: show curiosity, give visibility to external input, and celebrate when teams learn something from the outside – even if it doesn’t lead to immediate ROI. Over time, those behaviors scale. But it starts with leadership being brave enough to challenge the status quo.

Some critics say “open innovation” has become a buzzword. Is it still relevant?

Linda Armbruster: It’s more relevant than ever – just misunderstood. The world is more complex, connected, and fast-moving than when Chesbrough came up with the term in the early 2000s. No company can move fast enough on its own. Whether it’s digital ecosystems, sustainability challenges or emerging tech, value creation is increasingly collective.
But here’s the catch: open innovation today isn’t just about sourcing ideas externally. It’s about building ecosystems and integrating what’s out there in a way that creates value for your business and customers. That’s hard to do without leadership alignment and cultural readiness.

Are there any examples that inspire you? Companies who are getting it right?

Linda Armbruster: Yes, of course. Though many are still learning. I admire companies that don’t just experiment on the fringes but embed open innovation into how they build and scale. Philips, for instance, has developed clear governance around external innovation and digital health partnerships. Unilever’s Foundry is another great example, it started as a matchmaking platform but evolved into a more integrated way to collaborate with startups.
What sets these examples apart is not just the programs. It’s how aligned they are internally. Their leaders have created space, structure, and culture for openness to work.

Finally, what would you say to a senior leader who’s unsure whether their organization is ready for open innovation?

Linda Armbruster: Start by asking: are we genuinely open to ideas from the outside? And if so, are we set up to act on them? You don’t need a flashy initiative, you need clarity on what openness means in your context, and where it creates value.
And don’t try to do it all at once. Start with one strategic opportunity, align your teams around it, and make the process visible. If you get that right, the culture begins to shift. The most successful open innovation journeys I’ve seen weren’t launched with a bang, they were built with intent.

Open innovation doesn’t succeed because of big ideas, it succeeds because of brave leadership. As Linda reminds us, it’s not just about opening up to the world, but opening up within: shifting mindsets, breaking silos, and building the cultural muscle to collaborate at speed.

At Bluemorrow, we partner with leaders who are ready to make that shift. Because when openness is led well, it doesn’t just fuel innovation, it transforms the organization itself.

Want to explore what open innovation could look like inside your company? Let’s start the conversation with Linda and the team.