THE 100 MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE IN BUSINESS 2017
01 FOR LEADING CITIES TOWARD SOLUTIONS
James Anderson
Head of government innovation programs, Bloomberg Philanthropies
When James Anderson arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel, in October 2014, the city was in the midst of an immigration crisis. Tens of thousands of Africans, having fled the poverty and conflict of their native countries, now resided in the southern neighborhood of Neve Sha’anan. In less than a decade, the area’s population had grown four-fold, resulting in overcrowding, unemployment, and cultural rifts between some members of the migrant community and native Israelis. “It was the opposite of vibrant city life,” Anderson says tactfully, recalling a flea market set up inside a former bus depot as a particular bright spot of the trip.
City officials had ramped up trash collection and were maintaining the overloaded sewage system, but these kinds of measures only treated the symptoms. A couple of months later, Anderson invited Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai to join the new “i-team” program he had launched in 2012: Bloomberg Philanthropies would fund and coach a cross-disciplinary innovation squad (project manager, analysts, designer, etc.) for three years to help local officials address systemic issues.
Today, that once-depressing bus terminal has a kindergarten on one floor, a city-backed business accelerator on the next, and an international food market in the parking lot. Various Neve Sha’anan community groups share a Facebook page, where officials and service groups post information in multiple languages about how to register for school or what emerging sports, chess, and music programs are available to, say, Eritrean or Sudanese transplants. The i-team keeps detailed records of all of these efforts, so that other cities can learn from them.
As global leadership has fractured—and people migrate more and more to urban centers—mayors have arguably become the most high-impact players in government. Their frontline efforts in civic engagement, social service, environmental action, and economic development have never been more central to our future. What Anderson and his crew at Bloomberg Philanthropies are doing is creating an ecosystem to help mayors become “much more agile, creative, and in partnership mode [with other mayors],” Anderson explains.
Today, most local governments are aware of only 3% of the various interventions being applied around the world, according to Citymart, a public-solutions procurement firm. (Eco-friendly, traffic-decongesting bike-sharing programs, for instance, have virtually no downsides, yet have been adopted in fewer than 30% of the world’s largest cities.) Anderson’s goal is to “Bloombergize” urban development, as he puts it, empowering municipalities to create models that others might later adopt. “Cities should not have to reinvent the wheel time and time again,” he says. “I am obsessed with the notion that [cities and mayors] can serve as distribution networks for ideas that work.”
Since joining Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2010, Anderson has devised and led ambitious programs that have channeled more than $215 million to urban projects reaching 290 cities across 25 countries. They include the Mayors Challenge, which awards cash prizes to metro areas with the most forward-looking and potentially replicable plans to improve city life, and What Works Cities, which provides smaller cities with data-driven ways to improve services and planning. These efforts pay ongoing dividends around the world. In December, Stockholm began implementing its 2014 Mayors Challenge–winning project, which uses plant waste to reduce carbon emissions and produce alternative energy. Mysore, India, and Parma, Italy, are planning to incorporate the Stockholm model this year. Meanwhile, Aspen, Colorado, has implemented Santa Monica, California’s Wellbeing Index, a tool for measuring citizens’ quality of life that won in 2013.
“One of the things that I learned from Mike Bloomberg is that borrowing ideas is a badge of honor,” says Anderson, a onetime activist with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network who spent eight years working alongside the former mayor of New York City, first as a senior adviser in the homeless division and then as communications director. During that time, the Bloomberg administration was actively searching for solutions that other mayors had successfully pioneered elsewhere, including conditional cash transfers, bike lanes, and bus rapid transit. The concept for New York’s successful community-action hotline, for instance, was based on a project that originated in Baltimore; New York improved it by mapping the complaints received to reveal the underlying issues—and then systematically addressing them. On the flip side, when other mayors asked about copying one of Anderson’s own programs, called CoolRoofs—covering rooftops with reflective white paint, which lowered building cooling costs and carbon emissions—he founded a nonprofit called Cities of Service so everyone could share their precise blueprints and lessons. It’s now part of Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Anderson continues to use data to guide problem-solving efforts, but he also recognizes that numbers alone cannot cure all of the uncomfortable realities of running a city: Mayors must admit it’s on them to find the answer. “Cities can basically do anything except declare war and sign treaties, and that gives you a whole lot of room to rip and run,” says New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, whose i-team has managed to dramatically reduce the city’s murder rate and has sped up the process for getting permits and business licenses.
“Jim is a great interrogator,” says Louisville, Kentucky, mayor Greg Fischer. “One, I think he is a lifelong learner. But, two, he’s heard a lot of BS in his days.” Fischer, through Bloomberg’s What Works Cities program, has been able to apply new methodologies that have led to a boost in parking-violation collections, the repurposing of vacant lots, and more animal shelter adoptions.
Anderson, who has at times held private, closed-door meetings with mayors to answer their most basic questions, is now investing further in their potential. In July, his organization will launch the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, a sort of mayoral MBA program for top city officials that will offer free virtual classes and executive coaching sessions developed in tandem with Harvard Business School and its Kennedy School of Government. Jorrit de Jong, who leads Harvard’s government innovation studies and will oversee the program, says that modern city planning without data analysis is like driving a car blindfolded. “It’s really important that the mayor gets it,” de Jong says.
Last fall, Anderson returned to Tel Aviv to attend a pitch session for community projects designed by people living in Neve Sha’anan. An art center had been cleared out for the hackathon-style event, and the city’s i-team director, Itai Eiges, and other officials were on hand to award microgrants. “I think things are changing there, but it will take time,” Eiges says.
Not long after, a delegation from Tel Aviv visited Seattle to gather information about economic-stimulus opportunities: Tel Aviv learned how homegrown powerhouses like Amazon, Boeing, and Starbucks are scaling successfully, while Seattle received tips about nurturing a thriving startup culture. Tel Aviv mayor Huldai has also joined nine other mayors in a joint initiative by Bloomberg and the Aspen Institute to explore how the driverless-car revolution can be harnessed to improve citizens’ lives. The work these leaders are doing will go toward solving their own issues—and others’ as well. After all, Anderson says, “every elected official needs to produce results.” —BEN PAYNTER
02 FOR UNLOCKING THE EMOTION—AND VALUE—OF LIVE VIDEO
Fidji Simo
Vice president of product, Facebook
Fidji Simo is responsible for virtually everything Facebook’s almost 1.9 billion users see when they open the big blue app, from news to advertising. For each new feature, Simo starts by asking her teams a simple question: “What is the feeling you want people to have?” she says. “Feelings are universal.” Last year, when Simo launched Facebook Live, the breakthrough streaming-video application, the goals were “excitement” and “anticipation.” That’s why Simo inserted a feed of viewers’ real-time comments and encouraged video creators to integrate them into their broadcasts. The interactivity was such a hit, she’s rolling out a feature called “go live with a friend,” enabling two users to broadcast together, no matter where they are. All of this has helped turn Live into a global phenomenon.
Simo brings the same user-first mind-set to advertising products, which Facebook integrates closely with its consumer ones. Her approach has worked here too: Eighty percent of Facebook’s ad revenue comes from mobile ad products that Simo has helped create.
03 For figuring out how the world watches
Todd Yellin
Vice president of product, Netflix
“If you’re not falling on your face,” Todd Yellin tells his team at Netflix, “you’re not leaning far enough forward to take risks.” Last year, Yellin helped bring Netflix into more than 130 new countries, each with unique bandwidth capabilities and user behavior. Here’s how he figured out how to deliver content everywhere from India to Brazil to the Philippines.
1. After seeing how slow the internet is in some regions—leading to annoying glitches—Yellin led Netflix to reverse its decision not to offer downloads. The company’s download feature launched in November.
2. Yellin learned that national identity doesn’t equal viewing identity. “My taste doppelgänger might be in Munich or São Paulo,” he says. As a result, Netflix replaced its country-specific personalization algorithms with a global one.
3. Voice-dubbing for foreign-language fare has a bad rep, but Yellin thought it could work as Netflix began debuting its shows around the world. Last November, it released Brazilian series 3% with an English voice-over and was happy with viewer response; Netflix will dub other programs in places where it sees potential.
04 For bringing the thunder to enterprise computing
Diane Greene
Senior vice president, Google Cloud
Google’s consumer services (Search, Mail, etc.) are built on an impressive infrastructure that features some of the world’s best data centers, analytics, machine learning, and image-recognition technology. Before Google acquired Diane Greene’s startup in 2015—and then put her in charge of cloud computing—the search giant had not prioritized using its resources to service other companies. Greene coalesced disparate teams into a single organization to showcase how Google’s tech can help other businesses. The insurance giant USAA is using Google’s translation expertise in its call centers; Airbus, the airspace company, and Planet Labs, a data-analytics startup, use Google Cloud to store and process satellite images. “When Google deploys a new service, it dispatches reliability engineers to make sure it never goes down,” Greene says. “We realized we should offer customers the same thing.” These efforts have helped turn Cloud into Google’s fastest-growing division.
05 For making it easier to stay healthy
Helena Foulkes
Executive Vice President, CVS Health; president, CVS Pharmacy
Helena Foulkes led CVS’s landmark decision in January to sell the generic version of EpiPen alternative Adrenaclick—which further established the tobacco-free drugstore chain as a leader in health care. She’s also driving these other new initiatives.
RETAIL REDESIGN: People are moving “from sick care to self-care,” Foulkes says, meaning that shoppers are being more proactive about their health. In 2015, she started overhauling stores to highlight wellness and beauty products over items like seasonal merchandise and greeting cards. She also displayed products like vitamins and probiotics more prominently near pain relievers so that while people are recovering from a cold, they can simultaneously start heading off the next one.
DELIVERY OPTIONS: Through CVS Curbside, which debuted last April, online orders (excluding pharmacy items) can now be brought directly to customers’ cars when they arrive at the store. Car delivery is currently available in 4,000 CVS locations. Same-day home delivery is next.
IN-APP SIMPLICITY: CVS’s Pharmacy app stores prescription and insurance data as well as credit cards and coupons. The info can be scanned by associates in any CVS department, shaving precious minutes off customers’ errand time.
06 For creating magic out of thin air
Isabel Mahe
Vice president of wireless technologies, Apple
AirPods, the wireless earbuds Apple released just before Christmas 2016, remain a back-ordered hit because they deliver precisely the kind of “wow” features customers expect from Apple. Isabel Mahe and her team are responsible for all of them, including the seamless way AirPods connect with an iPhone and their ability to sync with two devices at once: Users can hear their Apple Watch alarm while streaming music from their iPhone. Perhaps most impressive, Mahe figured out how to create controls even though AirPods don’t have any buttons. Take one out of your ear and it knows to stop streaming audio. Tap twice with your finger and it can control the phone. She had experimented with numerous modes of physical interaction (shaking your head yes or no was considered but rejected), but the double-tap won out as the most Apple-like solution: “It’s what [customers] are used to right now,” Mahe says, “and the most natural way forward.”
07 FOR ELECTRIFYING THE AUTO INDUSTRY
Pamela Fletcher
Executive chief engineer, GM
Pamela Fletcher oversaw the development of the breakthrough Chevrolet Bolt EV, a $37,500 all-electric hatchback that can go 238 miles on a single charge—the first electric car to achieve that kind of range at such a low price point. Fletcher explains her approach to building the well-reviewed vehicle, which is rolling out nationally this year.
How much pressure did you feel to get the Bolt to market before Tesla released its competing Model 3? We wanted to be fast, and we wanted to be first. With all the products we’ve done, we’re highly motivated—and I’m personally motivated—to make technology available to as many people as possible.
Was there a key development step? All of our experience has built to let us deliver a car like the Bolt. A decade ago, we started developing the control system—all of the software that it takes to run
