How CBA executive Jesse Arundell became the bank’s head of emerging technology at 28 and is now one of the six BOSS Young Executives for 2022
“The introduction of really, big, bold, courageous ideas and thinking can actually impact the entire economy. And I think that’s what really drew me to the bank and really shaped my view on how I want to work and what I want to do.”
Arundell would one day like to be the chief innovation officer at one of Australia’s biggest companies. It is a job title that barely exists in blue chip companies, but he hopes that will change. Happily, Arundell’s career goal fits with his passion for professionalising the role of innovation.
“Innovation as a capability has always been viewed as the creative arts. There is a big opportunity to think about innovation as a business management system, in the same way we think about things like quality, or we think about continuous improvement, productivity and workplace health and safety.
“How [can] innovation get treated like a repeatable process and a framework that can be applied to solve the hardest, most complex problems?”
It is by developing innovation frameworks and methodologies that companies and governments will be able to solve the “massive puzzles” facing Australian business and society.
“I don’t think we solve them by doing the things we’ve always done, or by incrementally improving or tweaking ourselves to greatness,” the 2022 BOSS Young Executive says. “It actually requires bold new thinking, to transition the economy, to stave off the pace of inflation, to really kickstart our recovery out of COVID-19.”
Of his ambition of becoming a chief innovation officer, Arundell says: “I think innovation in and of itself is going to be critical to Australian business moving forward. As part of that, it needs a senior evangelist or executive within the organisation.”
Gloss