SPOTLIGHT ROBIN MAILLARD ON BEING A RESEARCHER FOR AN INNOVATION THINK TANK
About you lately
Lately, I’ve been deeply focused on leading the Where to Hire Index, a large-scale research project that benchmarks labor market attractiveness across Europe. Seeing this work featured this morning in a Financial Times newsletter was a proud moment and reinforced the value of rigorous, relevant research!
Your morning routine
My mornings start with coffee and a quick read, followed by a walk with my dog through a calm Brussels, which helps me think through my day and my research. I then move to prioritizing the one or two things that will create real impact, deliberately avoiding reactive work early on to protect thinking time.
How do you like to help people
I like helping people by bringing clarity where things feel complex—structuring ideas, evidence, and trade-offs so decisions become easier. My role is often to translate data and concepts into something concrete and actionable.
What is your most creative moment you have had
My most creative moments usually happen when connecting ideas from very different domains, like economics, technology, and organizational behavior. They often come while sketching frameworks or questioning assumptions everyone else takes for granted.
Do you have some tips to be always doing new things
I try to stay curious rather than busy—asking “why” a few times more than is comfortable, and regularly stepping outside my core field. Small (uncomfortable) experiments like these ones, even low-risk ones, compound over time.
Are you using some innovation tools or collaboration tools at your work
Yes, we use collaborative platforms and survey tools to co-create research with members, but innovation mostly comes from how we structure questions rather than the tools themselves. Iteration, peer feedback, and testing assumptions early are key.
How do you find your motivation
I’m motivated by working on problems that matter and seeing ideas influence real decisions in organizations. Purpose and intellectual challenge matter more to me than speed.
Your toolkit for keeping up with the innovation community and new methods and concepts
My toolkit combines research publications, practitioner networks, curated newsletters, and continuous experimentation with data and frameworks. I also learn a lot through conversations with peers who challenge my perspective.
THE ROBIN MAILLARD’S MASTERCLASSES INSIDE COLLABWITH ACADEMY
MASTERCLASS How to make your team ready for AI, as a mindset to identify where they can use it with Robin Maillard
9 January, 12noon CET
This masterclass explores how organizations can make their teams truly ready for AI—not just by adopting tools, but by developing the right mindset, culture, and ways of working. Drawing on the latest research on AI’s impact on work, skills, and organizations, the session provides a practical roadmap to help leaders and teams understand where AI creates value, how work is changing, and how to empower employees to identify meaningful AI use cases themselves.
Rather than focusing on technology alone, the masterclass emphasizes people, leadership, and organizational readiness as the critical success factors for sustainable AI adoption.
MASTERCLASS How to make your team 360degrees confident enough from sharing crazy ideas to innovative implementation for SMEs, startups and corporate teams with Robin Maillard
16 January, 12noon CET
Innovation rarely fails because of a lack of ideas. It fails because teams don’t feel confident enough to speak up, experiment, and turn bold thinking into action. This masterclass gives leaders and teams a practical, human-centered roadmap to build 360° confidence — the psychological, cultural, and operational conditions that allow people to share “crazy” ideas and transform them into real innovations.
Based on research on management, work, and organizational behavior, and grounded in real business cases, this session helps organizations move from hesitation and silos to trust, clarity, and execution.
Check our live masterclasses academy calendar
ABOUT ROBIN MAILLARD
Robin Maillard is a researcher at The Conference Board, a global, non-partisan research organization that helps leaders navigate the world’s most complex business and societal challenges through evidence-based insights. Founded over a century ago, The Conference Board supports senior executives at leading companies globally, with a strong focus on the future of work, leadership, productivity, and workforce transformation.
Within the Human Capital Center, Robin works on large-scale research projects exploring how technology, AI, and data are reshaping work, skills, organizational structures, and reward systems. His work combines quantitative analysis, executive surveys, and applied research to translate complex trends into practical, decision-relevant guidance for business and HR leaders.
Robin is closely involved in research on technologies’ impact on work and organizations, with a particular focus on why many initiatives fail to scale—and what organizations can do differently. He is especially interested in the human and organizational dimensions of technology adoption: mindset, leadership behaviors, skills, culture, and how employees can be empowered to identify meaningful AI use cases themselves.
With a background in interdisciplinary and quantitative research, and experience across data analysis and business intelligence, Robin helps organizations move beyond experimentation toward sustainable, human-centered AI readiness.
ABOUT COLLABWITH
Collabwith is a technology and a service to structure collaboration for innovation. It’s a tool to connect academics-startups-organizations. Because a tool is not enough to transform how you collaborate, here we have created a new methodology, personalized trainings, a new way of communication and a tailored made consulting for you to be more effective and efficient, now.
Grow your business and innovation through smart collaborations with Collabwith innovative and holistic approach to collaboration.
Magazine: https://collabwith.co
CollaborationXInnovation Platform: https://platform.collabwith.co
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