Becoming a Hitmaker: The Science of Repeat Innovation
Justin Berg
Associate Professor of Management & Organizations, University of Michigan
March 19, 2025
About the talk
In today’s world, the ability to consistently innovate and keep delivering hits is more important than ever before. But what are the secrets behind repeat innovation? How do some creators manage to not only break through once but continue to produce innovative work time and time again? In this talk, Justin Berg will dive deep into the mechanisms that fuel continuous creativity and success. Drawing on his cutting-edge scientific research, Justin will unveil the patterns, practices, and mindsets of those who achieve sustained innovation, using compelling case studies to bring these concepts to life. He will explore the benefits of building a diverse portfolio of ideas and experiences, the critical balance between leveraging past successes and venturing into new territories, and the role of continuity and conviction in overcoming inevitable setbacks.
Justin Berg Associate Professor of Management & Organizations University of Michigan
About the talk
In today’s world, the ability to consistently innovate and keep delivering hits is more important than ever before. But what are the secrets behind repeat innovation? How do some creators manage to not only break through once but continue to produce innovative work time and time again? In this talk, Justin Berg will dive deep into the mechanisms that fuel continuous creativity and success. Drawing on his cutting-edge scientific research, Justin will unveil the patterns, practices, and mindsets of those who achieve sustained innovation, using compelling case studies to bring these concepts to life. He will explore the benefits of building a diverse portfolio of ideas and experiences, the critical balance between leveraging past successes and venturing into new territories, and the role of continuity and conviction in overcoming inevitable setbacks.
About Berg
Justin Berg is an award-winning researcher and teacher on the science of creativity and innovation. He holds a PhD in management and organizational behavior from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. After spending a decade on the faculty at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, he realized his longtime dream of returning to the University of Michigan – his undergraduate alma mater – as a tenured professor at the Ross School of Business. His groundbreaking research reveals how we can identify our own and others’ most promising ideas, and what differentiates “one-hit wonders” who struggle to repeat their initial success from “hitmakers” who are able to consistently produce successful innovations.
Justin has studied and consulted for a wide range of organizations and industries, uncovering how to unleash originality in Hollywood films, songs, and circus acts, as well as in Fortune 50 technology companies and manufacturing firms. He has been invited to discuss his pioneering work on top podcasts, including Hidden Brain and Freakonomics, and his insights have been featured in BusinessWeek, TheWall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Atlantic, TheWashington Post, and Harvard Business Review. Prior to graduate school, Justin was an R&D Consultant for the Center for Positive Organizations at Michigan Ross. During this time, he led the invention of the Job Crafting™ Exercise (along with Jane Dutton and Amy Wrzesniewski), which is a tool that helps people creatively redesign their jobs to be more engaging and fulfilling.
Info Session for Faculty on Virtual Teaching of Job Crafting: How to Integrate the Job Crafting Exercise™ into Your Virtual Classroom
Job crafting — or the ways we can customize our work to better suit our strengths, values, and passions — has become more important than ever. The global pandemic has disrupted the landscape of where and how people work and has prompted people to reconsider their sense of purpose and options for working in general. Powerful movements towards greater social justice have reinforced the need to create inclusive workspaces where people can personalize and feel embraced in their work environments.
As educators, we have the opportunity to integrate job crafting into our classrooms to help support and empower our students during this critical time. Additionally, the shift to virtual classrooms has prompted many of us to reconsider how we are constructing our course materials and optimizing online education methods for our students.
Since its creation at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business in 2008, the Job Crafting™ Exercise (JCE) has been used in hundreds of university programs worldwide, including at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels.
Join the co-creators of the JCE (Justin Berg, Jane Dutton, and Amy Wrzesniewski) for a panel discussion facilitated by Meredith Myers, Job Crafting LLC Executive Director.
Topics include:
Why job crafting is especially important in these times
Fundamentals of the JCE itself
A brief review of the JCE Teaching Note and ways to customize
Various options for integrating the JCE into online learning environments
An overview of how to use the online version of the JCE (launched in 2019) vs. the hard copy
Job crafting or the idea of redesigning your job to better suit your values, passions, and strengths was offered as a form of late-career change advice in The New York Times article, “When Small Steps Can Change Your Life.” Job crafting is the brainchild of Jane Dutton, Amy Wrzesniewski, and Justin Berg.
Dutton is a co-founder of the Center for Positive Organizations and the Robert L. Kahn Distinguished University Emerita Professor of Business Administration and Psychology at the University of Michigan. Wrzesniewski is a member of the Center’s Research Advisory Board and a Professor of Organizational Behavior at Yale University.
In the BBC article, “Stephen Hawking’s advice for fulfilling career,” Amy Wrzesniewski explains how people can use job crafting to help bring meaning and purpose to their work and life. Job crafting, based on research by Wrzesniewski along with Jane Dutton and Justin Berg, is that idea that employees can redesign their own jobs in ways that can foster job satisfaction, engagement, resilience, and thriving at work.
Wrzesniewski is a member of the Center’s Research Advisory Board and a Professor of Organizational Behavior at Yale University.
The article discusses the importance of working with purpose and offers four suggestions for finding that purpose: connecting work to service, crafting your work, investing in positive relationships, and remembering why you work.
Dutton is a co-founder of the Center for Positive Organizations and the Robert L. Kahn Distinguished University Emerita Professor of Business Administration and Psychology at the University of Michigan. Wrzesniewski is a member of the Center’s Research Advisory Board and a Professor of Organizational Behavior at Yale University.
1. “What do Seinfeld, Harry Potter, and hand-washing have in common? @JustinBerg10 explains these initially rejected ideas #CreativeForecasting” [Click to tweet!]
2. “Creators in organizations may have untapped wisdom about peers’ ideas… #POSLinks @PositiveOrg @JustinBerg10” [Click to tweet!]
3. “Focus on quality, not success” #POSLinks @JustinBerg10 @PositiveOrg” [Click to tweet!]
