Total Innovation Podcast

20: Jayshree Seth: Innovation Thought Leadership

• Wazoku Team • Season 2 • Episode 20

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 Jayshree Seth is a Corporate Scientist at 3M and currently holds 80 patents for a variety of innovations, with several additional pending. She joined 3M in 1993 after an MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University, New York. She is a Distinguished Alumni Award recipient from her alma mater REC Trichy India, now NIIT Trichy, where she earned a B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering.

Jayshree was appointed 3M’s first ever Chief Science Advocate in 2018 and is using her scientific knowledge, technical expertise and professional experience to advance science, communicate its benefits and the importance of STEM fields to drive innovation.

She is also a member of Carlton Society which is the 3M Science and Innovation “Hall of Fame.” Jayshree is the fourth woman and first female engineer to be inducted. In 2020, she was awarded Society of Women Engineers (SWE) highest Achievement Award. She is also the first-ever winner of a Gold Stevie® Award in the new Female Thought Leaders of the Year – category in the 18th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business in 2021. In 2025 she was named to the prestigious Thinkers50 Radar list featuring 30 people those whose ideas will help shape the future of orga

Welcome everyone to the Total Innovation Podcast, where we delve into the leadership strategies and insights that fuel innovation. As always, I'm your host, Simon Hill. Today's episode is entitled, why A Focus On Thought Leadership is a critical component to Leadership for Driving Innovation. Our guest today is a corporate scientist at 3M and currently holds 80 patents for a variety of innovations and has more pending to. She joined 3M in 1993 after an MS and PhD in chemical engineering from Clarkson University in New York. In 2018, she was appointed three M's. First ever chief science advocate and is using her scientific knowledge. Technical expertise and professional experience to advance science, communicate its benefits and the importance of the STEM field to drive innovation. She's a member of the Carlton Society, which is the 3M, science and Innovation Hall of Fame, and is the fourth woman and first female engineer to be inducted. In 2020, she was awarded the Society of Women Engineers. SWE Highest Achievement Award is the first ever Winnie of the of a Gold Stevie Award in the female thought leader of the year category, and has hit the ground running already in 2025. Being named the Prestigious Thinkers 50 Radar List, featuring 30 people whose ideas will help shape the future of organizations and leadership. She's a sought after speaker, as I'm sure you can guess globally on a multitude of topics such as innovation, leadership, and STEM advocacy, and is featured in local, national and international media, as well as having a fantastic, uh, having given a fantastic TED Talk and been featured quite uniquely in a docuseries entitled, not the Science Type that premiered during the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, as well as participating. An event at the Sundance Film Festival. Very eclectic, clearly never sleeping. She's also the author of several books, which we will share the links to for listeners during the episode, um, which all were published by the Society of Women Engineers. Amazingly, all proceeds that are made from this trilogy of books that she's written are given to a scholarship for women in stem. Wow. And I thought that I was busy, so it is an absolute honor to welcome to the podcast, JRI. Seth, welcome Jri. Thank you, Simon. Thank you for having me. It's amazing to have you. And I started this podcast coming up to a year ago now. Never quite sure how it would roll and how it would land and. As the episodes and months have gone by, it's been really amazing to get this feedback from an engaged audience around the world. And actually, that's how me, we, we met. We have some common friends, you've done some incredible podcasts with, with others. And you reached out to me, which is, which is always a nice endorsement for the stuff that I'm doing, and I'm super excited, especially with that introduction. To, to have you on. So I've told our audience a lot about us, but why don't you help set the stage from your perspective, right? How, how do you come to have this great roll call of amazing achievements behind you from that, from, from, from the, from the background and the start that you come from. Let's talk a little bit about who, who you are and what got you here. Well, um. I'm not sure how far you want me to go back, but my, uh, journey is, is, is from not the science type to chief science advocate, let's just say. So I grew up in India on the campus of an engineering institution and it was strongly encouraged that, that, uh, I pursue an engineering pathway. Um. The reason was, you know, you're on the campus of this great institution, why wouldn't you wanna go here? Right? That's the logic. Now, I didn't think, um, you know, necessarily think of myself as this. Engineering type, you know, because I wanted to help people and I wanted to improve lives, and I wanna make the world a better place. And really, as a kid, I was not sure how STEM fields would allow me to do that, because that connection was never made. But, you know, strong parental encouragement. I pursued it nonetheless, and I did all right. You know, my heart wasn't in it, but I've always liked, you know, working hard and, and doing good at whatever it is that I'm doing. My heart really came into it when I got to my, I. PhD program. That's where I really understood, oh, you can work on things that can help people, improve lives, make things better, et cetera. So that's when I really thought, oh, this is something I can do. And then I ended up at three MI came in through the back door as a summer intern, and then they offered me a full-time position. I graduated and, and came back there and it really worked out for me because I guess. I didn't realize that what I really needed was, one, a culture of empowerment. Two, an emphasis on collaboration, and three, that communal context of improving lives. And I had all of that at 3M. And so I've been here for 31 years. I've worked on many, many different product platforms and technologies and roles and different markets. And then currently I have this additional position, um, you know, called Chief Science Advocate. And I also am the corporate scientist at 3M, which is the highest level you can attain as a scientist at 3M. So really blessed, um, along this journey and this additional role came about in 2018, and this really broadened my horizons, if you will. Allow me to develop what I think is, is a thought leadership platform because to me it is all connected. And the idea here is, is advocating for science and innovation, and that's not a passive ad. It takes authentic passion. And innovation is important. It's not optional, it's the only option. So I reach out to everybody like yourself who are, you know, evangelists for innovation because that's what the world needs, and you pull it all together. What really drives all of this is leadership, and that's not a quality, but an earned qualification. So to me, it's all tied together and that's what makes this thought leadership platform for me very real. It's, it's an incredible journey. I said to you in the, in the buildup to this that I've been a long time admirer 3m, and you know, the business gets a lot of. Recognition. I don't think he quite gets the recognition it should for the culture of innovation. And so talk to me a little bit about what it means from your perspective. 30 odd years there a whole journey from intern to this plethora of different achievements now. What does, what does innovation look like at 3M Or maybe this culture of innovation maybe is another way of thinking about it. And you just touched on this, this idea of leadership. So what role do you see leadership playing in driving and enabling what I perceive as one of the, the world's greatest cultures of innovation? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, innovation as a powerful word, it's, it's synonymous with progress, but it has become like. Reduced in a tri trite way, you know, because cliched existence, because everybody uses it, misuse, overused. And the point is, we need to really revive innovation to its original stature because we know the world needs innovation. And so what does it really mean? And. Fundamentally at the core, I agree, um, with what I read somewhere, innovation is, is doing better things or doing things better. And I think that definition works well for me, given the need for innovation in the current times. And at 3M we understand that it, it, it puts the emphasis on. What I have been calling the three Cs of innovation, and it's not, uh, you know, curiosity, creativity, and courage and all that good stuff that is all still needed. But right now it is more about a focus on constraints, the context and the commitment that is needed to drive innovation. And that's why at 3M we're focusing on all these elements. We look at sustainability as a constraint that frees us to be. Innovative. It's just a scaffolding. We're looking at how to have this boundless curiosity that can enrich our context as it relates to innovation. And finally, innovation requires commitment and people stepping out of neat little boxes to bring it to life. And so commitment is extremely important. And at 3M, like you said, our structure, our culture, our vision. Our mission, they all bring it together for us. And that is where leadership can really help drive it. And the critical element of leadership these days that I believe is, is also important, is thought leadership because. Gives you the understanding of the constraints that are giving you those boundary conditions for innovation. It gives you the context that can facilitate this boundless curiosity given those boundary conditions. And then empowerment is so important in the organization because you need that boundaryless behavior that transcends individual initiative. And that's what's important. So when you ask about the culture, we have things like sustainability, value, commitment. We have things like, so basically what that means is no product will be launched without a strong sustainability value commitment. We have 3M Technical forum, which is a forum. By the technical people. For the technical people, it brings people together with a very consistent cadence and it lowers the barriers. And for calling someone and saying, Hey, what about this? So it really encourages collaboration. And then of course, of course the inimitable 15% culture at 3M. Which means you can spend your time thinking about a problem that is not necessarily something that your day job is asking you, but something that you think can create a business or an opportunity or a product or a platform for 3M that is another key to unlocking innovation because that's a culture that recognizes, uh, the, the continuous quest for knowledge and what is the lifeblood of, of. Sort of sustained innovation. You know, I like to go back to the root of words and innovation comes from the Latin for renewal. So it is time to accept that challenge and renew that commitment to, to innovation that the world needs. And that you spoke earlier around authentic passion. You can feel that coming across in the way that you talk about. The role and the, the, you know, the opportunity that that's been given to you over the years. At, at 3M you spoke also about this platform, right? The role of thought leadership in storytelling and in, and in pushing the, the message I. You know, as you said to me, I think maybe it was earlier in the, in this conversation or, or in advance, like helped to make the voice of the scientist count, right? So I read an article in preparing for this that you gave last year, or that you wrote in, in Authority Magazine talking about the steps to becoming a great thought leader. Um, which clearly you are doing, and, and as I said, I would encourage others to not just listen to this episode, but your TED Talk and many others, oth others as well. How has your journey as a thought leader at VM empowered you to drive innovation and innovation outcomes, I think is, is the piece here as well, right?'cause as you said, it's quite trite. Um, and I think it somehow lost its. Feeling of impact and outcomes as well. And why is thought leadership such a vital part of, of leadership in this broad innovation skill sets and space, do you think? Yeah, it's a very important point. Um, and the simplistic way I view this is everybody has thoughts. Somebody's gotta put them out there and that gets the discussion going. It's the simplest way to think about thought leadership. Is like bringing those thoughts to life. Now, if you think about it, well, how do you know it's credible? How do you know it's believable? How do you know it's authentic? Those are the things that really bring the element to thought leadership to make it come alive. So that designation or distinction or label is often debated and perhaps rightfully so because people say, well. At some level, every leader should be a thought leader because leaders are expected to deliver, you know, develop and deliver a perspective or a point of view about a um, trend or an issue or a challenge, and they need to be influencing others with their ideas and insights. But thought leadership is not about selling products and services. It is about. Empathy and education and engagement with an issue that many care about. And then the idea is to raise awareness to foster that conversation and move it forward with credibility and authenticity. So to me, it's a very important topic. As the world is navigating through these complex global challenges and disruptions, you really need to have the ability to inform, to influence. And to inspire, and that is important for leaders at all levels. So it's no longer this luxury that is reserved for a few top executives, you know, ordained leaders or industry veterans. I think it is now, Simon, an essential skill for anyone aspiring to be in any position where they want to influence and it's just an incredible asset for driving. Eventually driving action towards whatever innovation is needed. But you have to start with the thoughts. And organizations can face like unprecedented problems. And it's thought leaders who can guide their teams through this uncertainty, right? Because you can shape your strategies, you can foster a culture, you can prompt people to think, and that's the important. Piece to me is that you can facilitate better decision making because you now have this industry knowledge or you provide a unique perspective that can enable, let's say a more, uh, informed decision, more strategic decision. You are able to improve your team motivation because you go, oh my gosh. Here's the vision, depending on all these insights that we have gathered. And so suddenly you can inspire and engage your teams more effectively. So there's so many benefits to thought leadership. You know, you can, you can gain more credibility, you can help the ecosystem. So for me personally, it has been a journey to put. Like I always say the voice of a scientist in prominent places where what I work on is important to me, but I wanna influence what it is that I work on. So how do I do that? So I have knowledge or know-how or research that I can authentically own. I try to develop a point of view that merits attention. Like why should anybody give attention to me? Right? So I need to make my point of view or my vantage point that makes it insightful for others. I take the initiative to inform, influence, inspire, and to have that impact. And then I consistently share and socialize by simply putting myself out there, whether it's on podcasts, whether it's external events, whether it's internal events, because I wanna advocate for what I'm thinking about. So I've collected my thoughts. I've thought of this and thought of that. I've thought through, I've done thought experiments. I just think about it and I, and you get that sense as well, right? This authenticity, but also. Um, this fluidity of thought as you come through, but it evolves as well. Right. You know, there's an element of, of where we started with this. Everyone has an idea to where you come to in your, uh, thought leadership around those ideas has a, has a fluidity to it. So for anyone thinking about, well, I have ideas and I could build on my platform and create that platform. Is there a, a, a framework or are there some steps that people might, might take to get you from Yeah, I could do this. I've got my authenticity. I'm super passionate about it, to start to build into that thought leadership space themselves. And I do agree. I think this art of, of leading, sharing, inspiring is absolutely fundamental to building the, the, the wave of people that we need who are actually doers and drivers and deliverers of impact and value. Yeah. And um, yeah, as you mentioned, I got the opportunity to really think through it for this article in Authority Magazine and it really made me reflect, um, on my own, you know, thought leadership journey and realize that oh, organically you do follow a process, right? And if you really think about it, you can in fact orchestrate it systematically. And, you know, I have a holistic view on these platform and thought leadership and, and my own KPIs, but, but this exercise helped me understand the mechanistic step that it entails. And I have my own examples and experiences, so I know exactly how it worked out. So to me, if you really think about it. If you're starting out, it's fairly straightforward. First thing is you need to study and understand the area or the industry landscape. You're gonna be a thought leader about a certain topic. You gotta know what the area or the landscape looks like because you need credibility. I think this is the third time we're using that word. You need to have credibility. Otherwise, why will people? Care to listen to you, right? Because there's so much noise in the system. Why you? And you have to build credibility beyond sometimes what you may have built in your functional role in a particular area. So you need to understand more than just that surface level, level knowledge. You have to scan and scope and look at the trends and the challenges and the opportunities and, and, and, and it's a continuous learning process, so your learning never gets over. That's another piece of building credibility. If something new happens, you knew about it, right? So that's the first thing. Know your stuff, stuff. Next step we can on this, it's fine. Right? Next step. Develop and provide a unique perspective. A lot of people know their stuff, but what is it that you're adding to this discussion? There's so much noise. Again, it's like what is your unique perspective or what is your vantage point? That is grounded in authenticity. You cannot speak from the perspective of a in the trenches innovator. If you haven't been there, you can interview a bunch of people, but it will not ground in authenticity your particular experience other than the fact that you interviewed them. That is in your authenticity. So you have to really understand what. Where do you wanna speak from? So the understanding of the industry you got, but true leadership, thought leadership emerges from your ability to provide a perspective. And that means you have to synthesize the information, draw the connection that others miss, and then formulate into preferably original ideas. So it is authentic, it is anchored in your own experiences, and it's innovative enough that people will go, huh? I thought about that. So it's just that little piece of authenticity. So now you know your stuff. Yep. You have given it an authentic perspective. Who are you talking to? Yep. Who are you talking to? So that's where you have to realize, ah. I'm confident in my insights now, but I need to increase my visibility. So you built your credibility, you've got the authenticity, visibility. So having those valuable insights is like half the battle. The rest is how do I reach other people? Right? So when I got into this thought leadership business, I'm like, ah. Podcast, I see how it's right. And so I reached out to everybody and said, I've got these ideas. Here are some articles. Here's what I'm writing. Here's the credibility. I've got 80 patents. That instantly gives you like, oh my gosh, you know? And I would've never known that, right? So you learn it and then you use it, and then you increase your visibility and you have to be. Sharing your perspective across various platforms and channels. So you may be writing articles, you may be speaking at events, you may be hosting webinars, you know, guesting on podcasts, uh, leveraging social media, and I had to learn to do all of the above. Remember I told you I am working in the lab. That's not what I was trained to do. This is not what I was doing. But this is again, an experiment. This is exactly like you would lay out science. You have a hypothesis and you work on it and you get the results and you look at the data and then you go, okay, this is what I need to do next. So that is very important, that idea of, um, you know, getting your visibility now and you can use whatever. Platform that works for you. So LinkedIn worked for me. I tried the other stuff, believe you me. But they just didn't work either. They didn't have the style that I wanted, they didn't have the audience that I wanted, or they just. I wasn't able to do what is needed in some of the other platforms. So it's okay to experiment and then settle on one place for visibility. And for me it's LinkedIn. I'm there every day. I love my LinkedIn community, and I reach out, I engage. So that is the last piece that is extremely important in what you need to do is to, you need to reach out, you need to build relationship. You need to reinforce your existing one. Essentially, you are somebody who is. Fostering a sense of community, and that creates a supportive network and opens up opportunities. People will go, Hey, you need to be on Simon's podcast. Hey, have you been on Aiden's podcast? Let me make an intro, et cetera, et cetera. And so these connections are very important. You have to know how to build meaningful relationships. You have to open doors for others. Others will open the door. You can collaborate co-author papers with others, et cetera. And this is what leads you. To the next opportunity and the next opportunity and the next opportunity you have to believe. And that is the last piece. You have to create opportunity, not just for yourself and for your peers, but also for learning. So how are you asking those thought provoking questions that are making people learn and think? And that's where you start this positive cycle of thought leadership. You get others thinking, you stimulate their curiosity and you get it. More and more people thinking about this and. Engaging with their networks and igniting for everybody to think. So I think these are the steps that provide a roadmap for thought leadership. And I call it spark. I love, love, love, love acronyms and giving, uh, you know, frameworks and mental models. So, S is scan scope. Study P is provide perspective. A is amplify an advocate. R is reach out, reinforce relationships, and K is kindle curiosity and that's what gives the spark for thought leadership. I love that the scientist in you stepped back about when you were writing this article and actually thought about, you know, a formulaic way of thinking about, huh, I did achieve this now and I've got this goal. And whether it was a, a destination, whether it is a destination, I think it is a lifelong piece, but you do sort of get to. Mass points, right? Where suddenly you're like, yes, I can tick these boxes and I know I'm credible and I know I'm authentic. And actually people will say yes to you more often than they say no. And maybe they never say no anymore. Right? Because you built that, that, that platform. But thought leadership isn't just about personal influence, right? It isn't about just about a framework. It's also about them taking that and, and helping. To drive impact and, you know, help innovation thrive, if you'd like to put it that way. So how do you think about thought leadership and maybe from your personal experiences at 3M, your role as you know this, this ambassador for things, how do you think that then goes and stimulates and drives innovation across other teams in, in the organizations? And you kind of mentioned earlier, I've got my own KPIs or other things maybe that leans in a little bit here as well. How do you think about the impact of what you're doing? And it's not just noise for noises sake again, right. Which I know it's not. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's an important point. So I can give you an example how it can have a ripple effect, as you know, and especially it is in breaking down silos that may exist between functions. You know, I've always been in the technical community and I understand. What we do, why we do it, the frustrations, the jubilation, whatever it is, you know, you understand it 'cause you're steeped in it. Thought leadership is also about bridging. Gaps wherever they may exist and they may impact effectiveness. So technical functions and business functions are quite different. They operate quite differently. The personalities may be quite different, the mindset may be different, and a lot of people can bridge them, but sometimes people can't. And thought leadership can make things around you more thoughtful. Many leaders may not even know. What is the cultural context of each field and what is the prevailing motivation, you know, and they may not address it appropriately. So one of the things I did is I observed in my own journey in my 31 years at 3M and in listening to my other peers at other companies and, uh, business, uh, folks and technical folks, and I'm like. There is a chasm that can exist between these two communities. Some people know how to bridge it wonderfully, but has anybody nailed it down what exactly it is? That causes that chasm. And why, Simon, you're probably smiling inwardly. Why is that chasm such an important piece? Because to bring innovation to life, it's not just the lab. You have to have the business side on board and the business side and the technical people need to be in sync. That's what it takes to get it out the door and really believe in it. But we both bring. Our backgrounds and our expectations and all of that. And how do you help leaders bridge that? So your communication is such that people understand how to bridge these gaps and make things go faster. So I laid out what are some of the, the challenges. I said that for example. Time of rapid change, like let's say after Covid or during covid, that is not the time to place one large singular bet, right? Instead, organizations may be better served by focusing on small steps and experiments and uh, and providing data and building hypothesis for what is to come. So if you are a business leader who's not taking all of this in account and just coming in and saying, I wanna do that one big thing, I just arrived and I want that one big thing. That I call the hedgehog mentality one big thing, and you may not realize that this isn't the time to come and declare you want that one big thing. This may be the time to talk about some of the very important little things that we need to keep doing because it'll be more important in the long run. This is a time of great change. So that's just one example. Another issue is. Expertise. Some leaders seem to very much value this. They, they, they, they undermine the role of skill. And I'm seeing that when the baseline itself shifts, like times of change and covid, new areas and aspects just emerge. And that's when you realize how important skills are. If you just think about it in terms of expertise, nobody even has this expertise in this area. It's not a functional expertise. It's a new area. You gotta rely on skill, and I say that because technical people may not have business expertise, but given they are typically longer tenure, they have a critical thinking mindset. They want. To be involved in business assumptions and they want to be involved in providing key input into key decisions. And business folks may not know that, so I wanted to bring that above board and say, no, no, no, no, no. Think about it from skills level perspective and think about it from critical thinking. Think about it from people in their role for longer times. They have information and that's why they need to be part of that. Don't just subscribe to expertise. Next one is leveraging. I've seen this many times where leaders just wanna come in short tenure and I wanna leverage whatever, you know, I just wanna leverage. Right? But this can't be sustained. There's little left to leverage if leaders separately cycle through, yeah, you must invest in learning because it's the new learnings that'll give you innovation and growth. You can't just keep leveraging. It's unsustainable. And that's a frustration that technical people have sometimes. It's like, well, let's leverage this. Let's leverage that. Well, when are we gonna learn? Because, uh, last I checked, I'm here to learn. Right? And then leverage and learn. Yeah, that is an important one. And the final one is this constant prioritization model that sometimes many in leadership think, you know, holds the key to success. You know, we're gonna just prioritize better than the last person, right? And this is a issue because the important piece to more technical employees is consistent focus on execution of priorities. And that should be given fair consideration as opposed to the mayor task of constant reprioritization. And so that to me is just an example that has helped technical people and business folks understand how to. Close this gap, and I call it the help framework, the Hedgehog versus Fox mentality, the expertise versus skill management, the leveraging versus learning, and the prioritization versus focus. And so that to me, and it all came from my own personal experience of a leader I worked with who never finished a meeting with technical people without asking, how can I help you? I mean, these frameworks being drawn from real, practical lived experiences are exactly what this podcast is about, right? Like trying to get out of theory into lived real world stuff that you can run with. And so I love the acronyms. I love the fact you're bringing them to life. Let's go another level deeper than in terms of bringing it to life. Maybe you can share a few examples of how your work at 3M. Has and through your thought leadership has directly impacted on innovation outcomes, and how did those innovations or initiatives succeed? What can you share? Yeah, I mean, a lot of the stuff that I do is proprietary, so I can't get into much detail about it, but everything I have done, every one of my projects, because of the nature of what I take on, it requires me to do everything that we talked about. I have to inform myself and others. I have to influence, I have to inspire. And so each one of them really, in thinking about it, has a very strong component of thought leadership. You know, and, and some of the things that I worked on have been wildly successful, and some were pretty visible, you know, failures, if you will. But the information you gain and the technologies that you advance, that has allowed us to pivot and make it successful elsewhere. And so the bottom line is nobody knows how to pick winners really. They say they do, but they don't. So you have to try, and that's where this thought leadership piece becomes critical because it allows you to pull a compelling narrative together and it allows you to say, these are things worth trying. So. I have had, so, so 3M has, um, entrepreneurial grants that they gave internally, and they're called Genesis Grants and Discover Grants. So essentially you say, we should be working on this. Here's why we should be working on this, and can I have.$81,000 to do this. And a committee of peers gets together and decides, and they give you the money, you budget it, you work with a team and you advance it for a year. And to me that is a very tangible example of thought leadership, of being able to inform, influence and inspire to get this budget to do it. So in my 31 years, I think I've got 17 or 18 of these grants. It might even be a record. And so I can tell you that it really, really helps because it allows you to say, why this, why now, which is the informed piece. What's in it for me? What's in it for 3M? The influence piece and the what if, the inspire piece. Right. And that really has helped me push a lot of projects through and build these technology building blocks that were needed by other projects. And they were important because we thought about them ahead of time. And that's what it is. It's about like Professor Rita mc says, you know, it's about seeing around the corners. The ice melting at the edges, the snow melting at the edges, and all of that. And that's where thought leadership really comes together for anybody driving innovation. If you are driving innovation or if you are responsible for it, or if you have that sense of initiative, think about. Thought leadership and how you can start socializing this stuff ahead of time. Because what that does, it lowers the sense of risk that people feel. The more you socialize, the more you normalize. That's important and that's what I do. I think about these things. I pull together what I call a mosaic. I have tiles of information and I say, Hey, these are the tiles. This is how I have pulled it together. But these are just tiles. It's not a puzzle that it fits. Exactly. So let's move around the tiles, but let's figure out looking at this, what can we do now? Look, it's, it's phenomenally impressive, right? Like you've really stepped back and really thought about this. The culture at 3M as I've said, you know, it's nice to hear some validation of this. I've spoken to many people over the years from across that your business and all say the same things, right? So it really, it really does feel very, I. Very authentic. And then you've built this incredible platform as a translator, I think between the, the science part of the business and the business part of the business, which, which is a unique skill actually. Right? And you've got to really want to, to, to take and do that. So others are probably sitting here now thinking, wow, okay. This, this lady is incredible. So, and we're gonna start to come into, into wrapping things up a little bit. For people that are, are listening and thinking, okay, I want to give this a go. Then like, what maybe would be your top three pieces of advice that you might give someone as thinking how, how do I follow in these incredible footsteps and build my own thought leadership platform in whatever space I'm working in? Yeah, so three. If I was to really simplify, to me it is listen, like truly listen, not just listen, listen. The reason why listening is important because it makes you think, it makes you identify the pulse. Like really listen what goes on around you. Who's saying what? What do they mean? Think about it. Listening makes you think. So it helps you identify the pulse. Read, reading makes you learn, and that helps to amplify your knowledge and then write. Writing makes you question because you write something and you're like, Ugh. It helps you clarify your own communication and just makes you better at asking the why question. So really, if you wanna be a thought leader, listen, read, write, same thing that we've been all told, but really living it in earnest listening will make you think. Reading will make you learn and writing will make you question, and that's what's important. You know, you can then of course observe, you may reflect, you develop, but that. To me is the crux of this. And, and if I may, one more tip. Very simple strategy. Buy my book. Yeah. My latest book has 40 actionable frameworks. Here it is. I mean, this is a, this is a thick book, 40 actionable frameworks, just like the ones I talked about. There are mental models from things I have learned. It is workbooks style, this third book engineering blueprint. And as, uh, Simon mentioned, the best part is all proceeds go to a scholarship and. Here's the thing. The reason why I feel so passionate about it is we go through our lives thinking that we cannot make a difference. Oh, what can one person do? But let me tell you this. I wrote the book, people joined in, and now we have five scholars, five scholars. Whose journeys have been supported through the sales proceeds of the book. So yeah, one person can make a difference. Think about it. Let's put the link in the show notes. That would be amazing, because it's not, yeah, I was gonna say, I'll share a link in the show notes for sure. And, um, I would act actively encourage people to, to read through the book. And I, and I agree with you, I'm living and breathing. I'm sure you still feel this sometime, that some of the post you make. You know, a bit out of your comfort zone and that pressing, pressing is still a bit right. Thought leadership expertise, and I publish a newsletter every week that's really far away from that comfort zone for me, right? I'm not a good scientist like you. And so I try and talk about those topics because I want to listen, read, and then write and see if I can articulate my learning in a really quick cycle. Every single, every single week, or sometimes in a deeper topic, partly 'cause I think it's a muscle you've gotta keep training as well. So expertise. Maybe not in some of those areas, but deep curiosity for me is a, is a part of that journey because I don't have the luxury of having spent 30 odd years inside one one focused company. I'm working across this myriad of different companies and trying to inspire from a different angle and therefore my. My playground is quite vast. Anyway, I would like to say a huge thank you, Jay. You are truly an inspiration. Um, thank you for sharing your journey. Thank you for sharing your insights and your frameworks and your spark with us as well today. Um, it highlights for me that thought leadership isn't, you know, it's not just about sharing things on LinkedIn or whichever platform you you choose, like it's, it's really about having considered influence using that authenticity. Foster creativity to foster collaboration, and ultimately to drive outcomes. Your outcomes are going beyond the work that you are doing into the STEM community and into inspiring others, not just inside 3M as well. And congratulations for that, and thank you as well. For everyone tuning in today, remember that becoming a thought leader is a process that requires curiosity, advocacy, and a deep commitment to wanting to inspire others. It's not just about you. So thank you again, Jay, and thanks to everybody for listening. As always, please share any questions or feedback you may have with us. We'll share the links to the books and other articles that we referenced in the episode today, and as always, hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Season two is a real cracker. And Season one was also great with some incredible, um, guests including nasa Unicorn founders, innovation inside the world's largest company and much, much more. So thank you, JRI. It's been a pleasure. Thank you everybody. Until next time.

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Simon Hill

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