Jeff DeGraff is the Dean of Innovation and one of the world's leading authorities on organizational innovation and transformational change. He is an author, speaker, and consultant to the Fortune 500 and mission-driven organizations worldwide. Jeff DeGraff is also the Founder of Innovatrium, Founder of Intellectual Edge Alliance, and Clinical Professor of Management and Organizations at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Jeff co-created the Competing Values Framework and developed the Innovation Code and Innovation Genome methodologies which provide organizations with practical tools to reconcile competing priorities and drive breakthrough performance. His mission is the democratization of innovation: making systematic innovation accessible to everyone, everywhere, every day.
Clinical Professor of Management and Organizations
Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Vice President of Communications and New Ventures
Directed strategic communications and internal innovation initiatives during Domino's period of explosive growth from $50 million to $2 billion. Earned the informal title 'Dean of Innovation' for pioneering scalable creativity practices and leadership development models. Applied emerging organizational theories to help scale the company.
Vice President of Communications and New Ventures at Domino's Pizza Distribution Corp.
Teaching Managing Creativity (MO 745), Leading Change (MO 603), Creativity at Work (MO463), and other innovation courses to MBAs, executives, and undergraduates. Developed flagship programs including the first BBA capstone course. Established comprehensive school of thought around systematic innovation development. Created University of Michigan's Certified Professional Innovator Program, the first university innovation certificate of its kind.
Clinical Professor of Management and Organizations at Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Launched consulting firm applying academic models to real-world innovation challenges in Fortune 500 firms, healthcare systems, and government. Works with over half the Fortune 500 including Google, Apple, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, NASA, and Microsoft to build sustainable innovation ecosystems.
Created joint venture with Haworth: a physical and intellectual innovation lab near Ross School of Business. Living laboratory where organizations experiment with innovation culture, capability, and community. Practical manifestation of DeGraff's school of thought—a physical space where diverse perspectives clash productively to generate new solutions.
Founder at Innovatrium Institute for Innovation
Founded nonprofit consortium of research universities and technology companies working with the U.S. Military, NATO, and allied forces in 45 countries. Makes innovation tools and practices accessible to leaders tackling critical societal challenges in defense, government, and education. Developed programs including Project Mercury, AIM HI, and other innovation frameworks for military and defense applications.
Taught innovation leadership and organizational change. Introduced the Competing Values Framework to European academic circles.
Visiting Professor at Helsinki Graduate School of Economics (now Aalto University)
Served as advisor on Applied Integrated Systems, an early multimedia education initiative and precursor to iTunes. Helped shape the fusion of technology, learning, and design thinking in the emerging digital age.
Advisor to Apple Computer at Apple Computer
Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski Medal (Polish Armed Forces)
University of Michigan Office of Research Advisory Committee
Advisory Committee for the Distinguished University Innovator Award
Jeff DeGraff is a keynote speaker on topics ranging from innovation to change management to strategy & leadership
Research Institute of Management Innovation at Kinki University
Strategic advisor to senior USAF leadership on innovation and organizational transformation. Works with Department of Defense fellows.
Strategic innovation advisor to USSF leadership
Delivers innovation programs and strategic advice to NATO forces through Intellectual Edge Alliance
Strategic advisor on innovation and organizational transformation
Innovation strategy advisor through Intellectual Edge Alliance partnership
Served on advisory board, helping launch the platform that became iTunes
Alice Lloyd Scholars Program, University of Michigan
Selected as an Alice Lloyd Scholar and served as an instructor in Michigan's interdisciplinary Pilot Program, noted for progressive, student-centered pedagogy.
Selected as a Fellow of the Aspen Institute think tank 'Tomorrow's Corporation'. Designed and led a CEO/professor symposium titled 'How Far to Ithaca,' using the metaphor of Odysseus to explore futures thinking.
Appointed to the Vanguard Group, an elite think tank of industry leaders and management theorists convened by CSC Index.
Board of Advisors, UM School of Library & Information Science
Appointed to the Board of Advisors, helping bridge innovation methods with information systems and emerging digital tools.
University of Michigan President's Office
Consulted with the Office of the President to develop university-wide innovation strategies, including advising the Chief Information Officer on academic–corporate partnerships.
Led a strategic innovation partnership that helped design a large-scale reengineering process, later replicated across several U.S. academic medical centers.
Consulted to the Federal Reserve Bank on how to establish high growth innovation ecosystems.
Developed innovation curriculum for U.S. physicians focused on healthcare transformation.
Began enduring partnership with U.S. Air Force, leading to AFWERX and NATO collaborations. Selected to lead highly selective seminar for U.S. Air Force Fellows in 2022, training rising military leaders in adaptive innovation, cross-cultural agility, and change readiness.
Multidisciplinary Action Projects (MAP), Ross School of Business
Founding Faculty. Played a leading role in creating the MAP initiative at Ross, combining action-based learning with innovation consulting for global corporations.
Academic colleague at University of Michigan and framework co-developer. Co-author of Competing Values Leadership book.
Academic colleague and framework co-developer
Key connection that led to DeGraff's work with the Air Force, Army, and NATO. Zurbuchen facilitated DeGraff's entry into defense and military innovation work.
Key collaborative partner that helped DeGraff develop innovation concepts like the Innovation Genome. Joseph Byrum and Jeff DeGraff have worked together on consulting projects for many Fortune 500 companies, the US Air Force, and NATO allies.
Wife and co-author of multiple books including 'The Art of Change,' 'The Creative Mindset,' and 'The Innovation Code.' CEO of the Innovatrium, works with large organizations to create sustainable innovation ecosystems. Has MBA and MS in Computer Science and Engineering from University of Michigan. Co-leads the Intellectual Edge Alliance global network.
DeGraff adopted Disney's mantra 'Keep moving forward' at an early age, which became a guiding principle throughout his career
Legendary art theorist. Mentor and graduate advisor at University of Michigan. Inspiration for DeGraff's fusion of aesthetic cognition and organizational design through Gestalt theory and the cognitive dimensions of creativity.
Father of management theory. DeGraff's clinical/practice-based innovations are a modern extension of Drucker's work.
Disruptive innovation theory. DeGraff's paradox approach provides a more nuanced follow-on to Christensen's work.
Ambidextrous organization theory (with Charles O'Reilly). Connects to DeGraff's paradox cycle and competing tensions.
Sensemaking and loosely coupled systems theory. Directly aligns with DeGraff's paradox and ambiguity focus.
Organizational culture theory. DeGraff's 'cultural competency' quadrant approach builds from Schein's foundational work.
Core competencies theory. Influenced DeGraff's building of adaptive innovation ecosystems that integrate diverse capabilities.
Integrative thinking and paradox navigation. DeGraff's framework offers more operational specificity.
Adaptive leadership. DeGraff applies Heifetz's model to innovation ecosystems and dynamic teams.
Collective genius and innovation leadership (Harvard). Echoes DeGraff's innovation federations and community-of-practice approach.
Excellence movement, management as performance art. Influenced DeGraff's theatrical approach to executive education and innovation storytelling.
Integral theory, systems consciousness. Parallels with DeGraff's quadrant systems, levels of transformation, and paradoxical emergence.
Practitioner-based strategy models. Overlaps with DeGraff's action-centered innovation planning.
Systems thinking and learning organizations. Foundational to DeGraff's 'Wholonics' and innovation-as-ecosystem worldview.
Multiple intelligences and creativity in education. Supports DeGraff's role-based innovation typology (Artist, Engineer, Athlete, Sage).
Pragmatism, pluralism, radical empiricism. DeGraff's paradoxical and experiential view of innovation echoes James's fluid, anti-reductionist approach.
Ancient Greek philosopher. Unity of opposites, flux, becoming. Philosophical foundation for The Paradox Cycle; innovation as constant movement; dynamic tension as creative force.
German philosopher. Dialectic, synthesis of opposites, historical becoming. Influenced DeGraff's oppositional hybrids, paradox resolution, and Innovation Genome as dialectical process.
American philosopher. Pragmatism, learning by doing, social democracy. Philosophical foundation for DeGraff's practice-based innovation, experiential learning, and societal application of knowledge.
British philosopher. Process philosophy; creativity as the essence of reality. Influenced DeGraff's view of dynamic systems and creativity as ontological force.
Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Archetypes, individuation, mythic structure of the psyche. Influenced DeGraff's narrative-driven change, personal transformation, and paradox of the self.
Brazilian educator and philosopher. Dialogical learning and pedagogy of the oppressed. Influenced DeGraff's co-design with participants, democratizing innovation, and federations of meaning.
German-American political theorist. Natality; action as highest human faculty; public space. Influenced DeGraff's view of creative emergence and founding new beginnings through innovation.
Austrian-Israeli philosopher. I–Thou relationship and dialogic encounter. Influenced DeGraff's view of innovation through relationship and deep collaboration.
German-American psychologist. Productive love and creativity as spiritual act. Influenced DeGraff's Creativizing as spiritual purpose and meaning as action.
French Jesuit priest and philosopher. Evolution of consciousness; convergence of spirit and matter. Influenced DeGraff's cosmology of innovation and transcendence through integration and transformation.
Innovation The Key to Increasing Demand for Soy
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Jeff DeGraff is the Dean of Innovation and one of the world's leading authorities on organizational innovation and transformational change.
Developing organizational cultures and capabilities for innovation
Cultural change for sustainable innovation
Innovation competency development through action learning
Creating innovation practices and methods
A systemic model for understanding and diagnosing innovation at multiple levels (individual, team, organization). Also known as Innovation Capability Model. Related to Strategic Innovation Models.
A unique philosophy and method for integrating creativity into routine activities for personal meaning, development, and transcendence. Also known as Applied Creativity in Everyday Life. Aligns with Everyday Creativity and Creativity as a Way of Life.
Thought leadership on how loose alliances of purpose-centered groups drive adaptive innovation. Also known as Decentralized Purpose-Driven Networks. Aligns with Networked Organizations, Distributed Leadership, and Civic Innovation.
Framework for resolving paradoxes through creative cycles. Also known as Paradoxical Thinking for Innovation. Relates to Paradox Theory, Double-Loop Learning, and Creative Tensions.
The 3Cs: Culture, Competencies, Community
Framework for scaling innovation through interdependent capacities. Also known as Sustainable Innovation Ecosystems. Aligns with Learning Organizations, Organizational Development, and Ecosystem Strategy.
Neologism combining holism + analytics; aligns with Complex Adaptive Systems, Ecological Thinking, and Whole Systems Design. Also known as Systems Thinking for Innovation.
Insight that it's easier to change 20% of an organization radically than to modestly change 80%. Also known as Pareto-Informed Innovation Adoption Curve. Related to Innovation Diffusion Models and Change Readiness Theory.
Co-developed by Robert Quinn and Kim Cameron, significantly extended and popularized by Jeff DeGraff through The Innovation Code. Also known as Competing Values Leadership Model. DeGraff adapted the quadrants (Collaborate, Create, Compete, Control) into actionable innovation roles (Sage, Artist, Athlete, Engineer).
Central to DeGraff's The Art of Change. His Paradox Cycle articulates how real change is driven by contradictory forces. Also known as Paradox Mindset in Leadership, Managing Opposites, Adaptive Thinking, Innovation Paradoxes.
Six core creative competencies (Clarify, Replicate, Elaborate, Associate, Translate, Evaluate) embedded into team and organizational development. Also known as Creative Thinking Framework for Innovation. Offers a practical way to cultivate individual and collective creativity.
Operationalized through real-world programs like Project Mercury and AIM HI. Also known as Innovation Ecosystem Design and Scaling. Focuses on building interconnected cultures, competencies, and communities across Academia, Industry, and the Military.
Innovation Typologies (Artist, Engineer, Athlete, Sage)
Reimagined CVF quadrant types as four creative personas. Also known as Four Innovation Styles Framework, Innovation Archetypes, Innovation Roles, Innovation Personality Types. These archetypes form the foundation of tools like the Innovation Genome and TalentForge.
Grounded in experiential design. DeGraff's 'See-One / Do-One / Teach-One' model, mastery portfolios, and smart experiments extend Kolb's experiential learning cycle. Also known as Experiential Learning for Business Innovation, Hands-on Innovation Training, Learning-by-Doing.
Extended innovation practice into churches, libraries, performing arts, and public television through the Intellectual Edge Alliance. Also known as Social Innovation in Public Sector and Nonprofits, Church Innovation, Library Innovation, Public Innovation Labs.
Innovation Culture and Capability Building
Building the 3 Cs: Culture, Competencies, and Community through jumpstart models, capability assessments, and ecosystem design tools. Also known as Building Innovation Culture and Skills, Innovation Competency Framework, Organizational Creativity, Culture of Innovation.
A metaphysical and strategic framework for transformation integrating metaphors, paradoxes, and system dynamics. Also known as Innovation Philosophy and Systems Thinking, Innovation Metaphysics, Innovation Worldview, Innovation Theory of Change. Links practical innovation tools to deeper questions of meaning, emergence, and transcendence.
From Pizza to Pentagon: How a Domino’s Executive is Driving Innovation in the Department of Defense
The Secret to Becoming More Creative in Your Everyday Life
How to Take Advantage of Your Creativity
Four Leadership Types and Their Attributes
4 Ways Leaders Can Best Encourage Innovation
How Unlikely Partners Challenged Each Other to Innovate
How Your Company Can Best Leverage Different Perspectives
6 Steps to Creating a Culture of Innovation
The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict
4 Easy Steps to Jump-Start Your Team’s Innovation
Michigan has the parts to build a powerful economic engine. They just need to be connected.
The Secret to Innovation? Ride What Moves
The Cavalry Isn’t Coming – Why You Should Take Your Destiny Into Your Own Hands
Light Your Fire with the Sparks of Diversity
Light Your Fire With the Sparks of Diversity
We Grow When Our Life Sucks… Or When We’re On a Roll
What are the basic steps to make innovation happen?
The Blockbuster Blunder: When Innovation Wears Hand-Me-Downs
Why Organizations Love Innovation, but Hate Their Innovators
Here’s Why Improvising Works Better Than Planning
When Constant Change Is the Norm, Paradox Is Your Superpower
How 1 Email From the Military Started a Global Innovation Network
Making Innovation Happen in the Most Challenging Situations
The Top 3 Creativity Blockers–and How to Manage Them
Walking the Tightrope on the Innovation Bell Curve
The Art of Making Time for Your Biggest Ideas
How Breakthrough Ideas Become Mainstream
This Is How America Can Become the World’s Most Creative Country
Why Crowdsourcing Has Ruined the Art of Innovation
The Greatest Innovations Are the Ones You Don’t See
The Greatest Innovations Are the Ones You Don't See
Culture Creates the Economics of Innovation
Skeptics Create True Believers in Your Innovation
A Map for Engineering Your Next Innovation
Assembling Your Innovation Advisory Board
Before There Were TED Talks, There Were Chautauquas
The Unlikely Source of Your Next Big Breakthrough
What Will You Give Up to Make Room For Innovation?
Picture This: Using Visual Aids to Inspire Creativity
3 Unexpected Ways to Get More Innovative
From Brand to Brand New: How to Re-Create Your Brand
How to Free Up Your Ability to Think Creatively
Open Source Innovation: What’s In and What’s Out
The Innovator’s Storybook: Creativity and the Well-Told Tale
The Good, the Bad, and the Future of Creative Collaboration
How Rules and Bureaucracy Breed Innovation
The Secret to Teaching Creativity at Business School
Using the Right Innovation Tool for the Right Innovation Job
The Best Way to Look for the Next Big Thing
You Can’t Predict the Future. But Here’s What You Can Do
Want Radical Innovation? Here’s Where to Look
The Inverse Innovation Cycle: How Failure Becomes Success and Success Becomes Failure
Innovation Starts in the Belly of the Beast
Critics Make the Best Innovation Evangelists
Why Courage Is More Important Than Creativity
How to Develop the Next Generation of Innovators: Stop Treating Everyone the Same Way
What Are You Willing to Give Up to Get Innovation?
The Top Innovations We Should've Seen in 2014
How to Lead Innovation like Superheroes: Knowing When Your Strength Becomes a Weakness
The Upside of Incompetency: Making Weaknesses Work For You
The World is Your Office: The Pleasure of an Idea Space
Do More With Less: The Benefits of Incremental Innovation
How to Weed Out Projects That Aren’t Worth Your Time
How to Jump-Start Radical Change in Your Company
How to Find Your Next Super Star Employee
The Low-Risk Way to Design Breakthrough Products
The Key to Creating Partnerships That Work
Four Innovation Strategies to Forecast the Future
Why the Brain Sometimes Puts a Song in Your Head
The Hidden Superpower of Making Something Out of Nothing
How Ancestry and Environment Shape the Life You Can Build
We're All Hypocrites, and That's a Good Thing
Why Facts Can’t Break Through the Mind’s Firewall
#StandTaller Movement for Women Entrepreneurs
What Can Companies Do to Create a Culture of Innovation?
Why Do We Fall Into Patterns of Doing Things the Same Way?
What Attributes Are Key to a Successful Leadership?
What Misconceptions Do People Have About Innovation?
How Can People Become More Creative in Their Everyday Lives?
The Internet Is a Lot Less Democratic Than You Think
The internet is a lot less democratic than you think
Maybe We Should Build a Wall to Keep Our Talented People In
Maybe we should build a wall to keep our talented people in
Driving Innovation Through Shared Values
Technology Erodes Boundary Between Personal Life and Work
Is a Finite Diploma Obsolete in a Fast-changing World?
Your Worldview Is Your Greatest Strength
The Invisible Crisis that Threatens the Auto Industry
What the Most Creative Countries in the World Do
Why the ‘most innovative companies’ aren’t
What all leaders can learn from jazz-inspired military trailblazers
Why 'high tolerance of ambiguity' should anchor your creative toolkit
Experiments Are Not Good or Bad. There Are Good and Bad People
Understanding the Value of Useful Novelty
Class of 2013: The Graduation Speech I Didn’t Give
Why Leaders Don’t Understand How to Play the Innovation Game – and How You Can Help Them Win
Why I Stopped Starting Class with Content—and What Happened Instead
The Age of Answers Is Over: Training Adaptive Thinkers for Modern Military Realities
The Key to Success In 2021: Building a Creative and Innovative Culture
Jeff DeGraff on Inspiring Creativity in the Workplace
7 Ways to Be More Creative According to the Dean of Innovation Jeff DeGraff
July 7th – Live Q&A with 'Dean of Innovation' Jeff Degraff
6 Tips from Jeff DeGraff for Creating an Ideal Workspace
How NASA is responding to increased probability of Armageddon asteroids
Could rule changes and safer equipment save football from itself?
Arguments Aren’t Bad for You, If You Know How to Disagree
Big Brother is using technology to watch us, but we’re also watching each other
The invisible employment crisis that threatens the auto industry and our economic future
Don’t tax robots to save jobs… they might just create new forms of employment
Is the finite diploma obsolete in our fast-changing world?
Forget net neutrality, regulatory neutrality is what we really need
Currency innovations like bitcoin could render bank deregulation moot
Employment for all Americans is ideal. Protectionist trade policies are not the way to do it.
When it comes to health care reform, innovation will matter more than politics
Americans now see the truth as relative. What comes next?
Some games are over after one win or loss. Democracy is not that kind of game.
Is this the end of marriage, capitalism, and God?
When it comes to attracting corporations to Michigan, talent tops low tax
It's time to rethink liberal arts education in Michigan
This is the end of marriage, capitalism and God. Finally!
Where do the truly great innovations lie?
Despite politics, strides made in 2015 to break Michigan's status quo
Michigan's missing the boat on its freshwater economy
Innovator says Michigan doesn't need radical public transit overhaul
New immigrants are crucial to Michigan's future
Automotive innovations can help diversify Michigan economy
Let's try playing favorites to boost Michigan's economy
Time to turn Michigan's three economies into one
Chapter 9: Applying leadership levers for organizational change
Competing Values Leadership: Third Edition
Chapter 8: Enhancing leadership competencies and organizational culture
Chapter 10: The double helix of leadership and change: integrating the Competing Values Model with Theory U
Chapter 7: Fostering innovation by applying the Competing Values Framework
Chapter 2: Clarifying the meaning of value
Chapter 2: Clarifying the Meaning of Value
Chapter 4: Tensions and trade-offs: from eitheror to bothand thinking
Chapter 5: Creating value through new leadership behaviors
Chapter 5: Creating Value Through New Leadership Behaviors
Chapter 11: Responding to criticisms of the Competing Values Framework
Chapter 1: Introducing the competing values way of thinking
Chapter 1: Introducing the Competing Values Way of Thinking
Chapter 3: The quadrants in the Competing Values Framework
Chapter 3: The Quadrants in the Competing Values Framework
Chapter 6: Predicting value creation through financial performance
Chapter 12: Conclusions about the structure of value
Chapter 4: Tensions and Trade-offs: From Either/or to Both/and Thinking
Competing Values Leadership: First Edition
Chapter 7: Measuring Leadership Competencies and Organizational Culture
Chapter 8: Applying Leadership Levers for Organizational Change
Chapter 6: Predicting Value Creation and Financial Performance
Chapter 9: Conclusions About the Structure of Value
The Art of Change: Transforming Paradoxes into Breakthroughs
The Creative Mindset: Mastering the Six Skills That Empower Innovation
The Innovation Code: The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict
Certified Professional Innovator Workbook
Competing Values Leadership: Second Edition
AFA Keynote: Unleashing a Culture of Innovation
Engaging in conflict and the importance of diversity of thoughts
Talks at Google | The Innovation Code | Dr. Jeff DeGraff, Staney DeGraff
In The Innovation Code, Jeff DeGraff (the 'Dean of Innovation'), and Staney DeGraff introduce a simple framework to explain the ways different kinds of thinkers and leaders can create constructive conflict. They show you the four steps to normalize conflict, channel it, and develop something completely new, using tools, methods, examples, exercises, and assessments.
Innovation frameworks for constructive conflict
What creates a culture of health? How can companies integrate good healthcare and wellness programs without stressing employees? Watch this discussion on varied and multi-disciplinary approaches to best practices.
LEDx 2.0 Creativizing: Creating Your Greatest Work of Art, You
In this video, Jeff explores how effective leaders operate in conditions of uncertainty and contradiction. Rather than resolving tension or forcing alignment, he shows how leaders learn to work within paradox—using difference, disagreement, and competing demands as sources of insight and momentum. This perspective is essential for leading innovation in complex, changing environments.
In this video, Jeff explores the deeper reasons innovation is difficult for many organizations and leaders. He discusses the cognitive, cultural, and systemic dynamics that make innovation less about having an idea and more about navigating complexity, paradox, and organizational norms. This is ideal for viewers who are past introductory concepts and want to deepen their understanding of how innovation actually functions in real environments.
Innovation as Practice: The Innovation Code Workshop
Jeff DeGraff conducting Innovation Code workshop demonstrating creative power of constructive conflict with live audience
Video thumbnail showing Jeff DeGraff leading an Innovation Code workshop session. Features instructor presenting to small group in industrial loft space with brick walls. Prominent banner displays 'The Innovation Code: The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict' with four-step methodology visible.
� 2026 Jeff DeGraff. All rights reserved.
Jeff DeGraff Dean of Innovation professional headshot
Jeff DeGraff Half Body Speaking American Medical Association
Image of Jeff DeGraff speaking at the American Medical Association
Jeff Degraff Innovation Genome Igenome Constructive Conflict
Jeff Degraff Innovation Code Icode Sage Yellow