Jenn Azar on Communicating the Future

How do you lead people toward a future you can’t fully see yet?

Jenn Azar is CEO of Stellix, a company that helps life sciences manufacturers build the digital foundation and operating models needed to apply AI in ways that improve real-world performance. With more than two decades of leadership experience, she’s known for turning vision into reality and building purpose-driven teams.

In this episode, Jenn joins Kristen to talk about communicating the future: how leaders bring teams, and entire ecosystems, along through continuous change in the AI economy.

Watch or Listen to the Episode

Watch the full episode here or listen to it on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

The Big Idea: Point to the Lighthouse, Navigate to the Buoys

Jenn explains that while innovation programs have always existed, the era of continuous innovation that we are living in is entirely new. There’s no fixed destination anymore. As a result, business processes related to innovation and transformation must become sprint-like—an ongoing series of rapid, iterative efforts. Jenn uses a navigational metaphor to illustrate her approach: she points her team to a lighthouse as the long-term vision, then narrows the focus to buoys that are within sight. Planning the entire journey to the lighthouse is impossible, she explains, because much will change along the way.

Communicating effectively in a time of continuous change is the most difficult aspect of this journey. As Jenn notes, people want certainty. They want a detailed plan they can execute. It’s on leaders to create a culture of innovation, learning, and curiosity, and to communicate in a way that makes people feel safe. When she makes a provocative claim, for instance, she tries to tie it back to a familiar concept to mitigate fear.

“You’ve got to put a lighthouse out there—this is where we want to go. But you don’t plan all the way to that lighthouse, because too much will change in between. So you’ve got the lighthouse, and you pick a couple of buoys, and you run some sprints to get to the buoys.”

Jenn Azar

CEO of Stellix

Key Takeaways

- When change is ongoing, communication can’t just flow from leadership and end there. It has to continue moving all the time—up, down, and across the organization.

- Set a clear and ambitious vision—the “lighthouse”—then point people toward the closer, visible “buoys” they can reach along the way.

- Empowering people to experience digital transformation firsthand accomplishes something that no slide deck can.

Ways to Connect with Jenn

If you’d like to connect with Jenn, you can do so here:

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