GE (General Electric) is today a leading digital industrial company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive, and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure, and intellect. In 2014, GE spent $4.5 billion on research and development and they employ nearly 3,000 people in R&D alone.

Dyan Finkhousen leads GE's open innovation and crowd sourcing. Finkhousen and GE understand that problem solving through advanced manufacturing techniques and processes requires collaboration. They believe that it's impossible for any organization to have all the best ideas, which led them to exploring new business models, new ways to learn, and new collaboration with experts and entrepreneurs everywhere.

For Finkhousen, finding the right expertise and making the most of it is "both an art and a science." It takes an open mind and passion for learning as well as clear goals and questions. So Finkhousen and her team make sure they prepare comprehensively whenever they talk to outside experts. They define what project success looks like, why an expert is the right person to talk to, and what understanding they want to walk away with. Then they keep track of what they learn to be smarter moving forward.

I'm Dyan Finkhousen. I lead open innovation and crowd sourcing for GE. GE is really undertaking a renaissance, if you will.

We decided to set up a Center of Excellence within GE because we knew that there was a lot of power in crowd sourcing and open innovation in really collaborative innovation models.

My customers really very simply are GE business leaders, really anyone throughout GE who is accountable for business outcomes. By giving them access to resources outside of the company, what we do is basically put a bit of a turbo-boost behind that resource base.

When the GE teams are coming to us for help, generally speaking, that means that they're considering doing business in a very new and different way. My team has been able to really streamline and codify that protocol.

GLG is really a great match for GE teams who need that expertise on demand.

We're evolving from a traditional large complex global industrial company to a digital industrial company.

I'm Dyan Finkhousen and I'm GE's expert on expertise.