Rockwell's relentless innovation

Blake Moret began his career at Rockwell Automation, getting a front row seat to its transformation from the early days of remote monitoring, to an age of ever-increasing AI algorithms. Now, as CEO, he’s sharing one key lesson he believes can help industrial companies navigate uncertainty with more confidence: “Be prepared to go forward without knowing all the answers.”

It might sound counterintuitive, but getting comfortable with that reality will better prepare leaders for the new directions and opportunities that lie ahead. “For some of us well-established, older industrial companies, there was a certain stigma about failing in anything,” he says. “But in a world driven by new ideas and software, you have to be willing to course-correct and take a rational approach to deciding on different paths.”

We talk to Moret about innovation at Rockwell, why the pandemic has created a new direction for industrial companies, and the benefits of comparing your business to your peers’.