The power of collectives to solve intractable problems—when they find the will and the means to bridge differences in mental models and agendas—is astounding! For the most part, I have investigated how established organizations can sustain creativity and support the conversion of creative products into new and useful solutions and businesses. I am particularly interested in when and how organizations achieve desired innovation outcomes through inter-organizational collaboration, and in how established organizations reinvent themselves, such as through business model innovation. In each case, the role of idiosyncratic language is central. Language creates both bridges and barriers, and leaders can either amplify or attenuate each. My research examines how the occupational background of strategic leaders shapes their approach to managing innovation in ways that affect organizational knowledge flows, as well as how organization-specific language emerges and evolves. These processes enable leaders to manage the duality of stability and change, and I am interested in how they might also facilitate multi-actor efforts to address wicked problems.