Kyle Nel is the CEO and co-founder of Uncommon Partners, a transformation company. He is the co-author of Leading Transformation, a Harvard Business Review Press title that came out in Ocotber 2018. His passion for changing human behavior led him to create the multidisciplinary behavioral transformation approach, which uses tools like narrative and applied neuroscience to help organizations break out of incrementalism.
Kyle also founded and previously served as Executive Director for Lowe’s Innovation Labs (LIL), the disruptive innovation hub for the Fortune 40 home improvement company. He created and led a team responsible for driving the company’s innovation vision, strategy and growth.
Under his leadership, Lowe’s Innovation Labs built a proprietary 3D content creation and asset management platform; augmented and virtual reality stores; virtual reality DIY skills clinics; the first autonomous retail service robots; soft robotic exosuits to deliver lift assistance for store employees; and 3D scanning and printing services at retail - and in space, where the first commercially-manufactured object off of the planet was a Lowe’s wrench that was modified for astronauts. He also built a disruptive technology lab and incubator in Bangalore, India.
Kyle sits on the boards of emerging tech companies, is a faculty member at Singularity University and a former member of the XPRIZE Foundation Innovation Board. He was recognized on the 2015 Advertising Age “40 under 40” list, and received the 2016 “People Shaping Retail’s Future” award from the National Retail Federation. He was also a founding member of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (R)Tech Advisory Council.
He previously held positions in market research with Lowe’s and the Walmart Global Insights Group. He holds an MBA from the AC Nielsen Center for Marketing Research at the University of Wisconsin and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from Brigham Young University-Idaho.
