Five Questions with...Jessi Hempel

By Kanupriya Vashisht
May 14, 2007 9:50 AM

Associate editor Kanupriya Vashisht conducted this interview with Hempel.

1. What does being innovation editor for BusinessWeek mean? What is your focus?

I write for our new quarterly supplement, IN: Inside Innovation. Our aim is to provide original, timely and useful information about innovation and design. We are particularly interested in case studies highlighting the challenges companies have faced and the strategies they've employed to overcome those challenges. We're also always interested in new ways in which companies, nonprofits and government bodies are employing design thinking to solve problems. And we continue to seek examples of education programs that combine elements of engineering, business and design to add to our annual design school franchise, published in BusinessWeek early October. We publish daily on the Web at http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/. In addition to two or three original stories, we cull from this material to put together the editorial content for our supplement.

The stories that work best for us are those in which people are willing to talk candidly about challenges and mistakes they have made. Often, pitches don't make the grade because they offer glowing portrayals of companies or people without shining a light on the challenges and difficulties of real innovation.

2. What's your biggest challenge in covering this?

Innovation is a massive topic. We're also suffering from innovation backlash. People and companies are scrambling to attach the idea of innovation to whatever they're working on. Innovation is a discipline that requires rigor and efficiency as well as creativity. Finding stories that demonstrate this is tough.

3. An example of a project or story of yours that you're especially pleased with?

I'm interested in social innovation in particular. I recently wrote about the Acumen Fund, a nonprofit venture capital fund that has taken an innovative approach to funding start-ups that alleviate poverty in the third world. The story, Designing Change, is available at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_11/b4025405.htm

4. How is covering business for a magazine different than it would be for a newspaper?

We're a weekly, so we're faced with the challenge of bringing new analysis to our readers beyond the news, which they'll pick up from the Web. Increasingly, our Web presence is integrated with our print publication, so I'm writing every day, not just for the weekly cycle.

5. Advice to others who want to cover innovation at their publications?

Stay connected to academia, especially leaders at places such as Stanford's Institute of Design, the MIT Media Lab, and Illinois Institute of Technology. Stay connected to consultants at traditional companies like McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group, but also at design firms like Jump and Ideo. Be skeptical. Demand proof in the form of outcomes, metrics, and measurements.

Jessi Hempel is the innovation department editor for BusinessWeek. Prior to this position, she was a staff editor, covering philanthropy, technology and youth. Prior to joining BusinessWeek, Hempel worked for TIME Asia, as well as various nonprofit organizations. She has appeared on numerous radio and television programs including CNBC "Wakeup Call," FOX News Channel, MSNBC, and FOX "Good Day New York."

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism