16 Hard Truths of Modern R&D (with Cordell Hardy from Cargill)

"Agile is kind of a dirty word these days," admits Cordell Hardy, VP Core R&D at Cargill, "but it's also helping us make better, faster decisions."

That tension between legacy processes and new pressures runs through the heart of today's R&D leadership across the industry. Faced with rising complexity, shrinking budgets, and the demand for faster impact, R&D leaders are rewriting the rules, sometimes quietly, sometimes boldly.

In a candid and wide-ranging live conversation with ITONICS, Hardy shared what's really changing in the way large companies run R&D. This blog post shares insights on leading R&D, highlighting how senior directors adapt to evolving challenges. From AI-enabled stakeholder engagement to milestone-based investment, the talk unveiled 16 truths shaping the future of research and development.

The conversation followed ITONICS publication of the 2025 Top Trends in R&D Management report, highlighting the 5 trends redefining R&D in 2025 and beyond, and reflecting changes in the operating model of tech-driven companies.

Summary and FAQs on modern R&D

Rethinking the research and development process and governance

1. Agile might be hated, but it's helping R&D move faster

Agile may be a "dirty word" in some R&D circles, overused, misunderstood, or casually thrown into strategy decks, but its core principles are making a quiet comeback in the way modern R&D teams operate.

Cordell Hardy makes clear that this isn’t about daily stand-ups or software-style sprint cycles. Instead, it’s about introducing speed and focus into decision-making. By replacing months-long waiting periods and drawn-out governance with tighter loops and real-time steering, agile principles are helping R&D leaders and their teams move faster and make progress more visible.

Agile practices also foster continuous improvement in R&D by encouraging regular retrospectives and iterative adjustments to operations, new products, and services.

This agility is especially powerful when paired with expert input and leadership engagement, allowing teams to stay on track or be corrected before they spiral into wasted time or misalignment. Groups or teams play a crucial role in implementing agile practices, as collaboration and diverse perspectives help R&D teams implement agile methods to drive faster results and stay ahead.

2. Milestone-based funding beats fixed budgets

The traditional model of assigning large, long-term budgets to R&D programs and checking in once or twice a year is giving way to a more dynamic approach. Milestone-based investment drives strategic initiatives in R&D by providing targeted resources to milestone checks that align with organizational priorities.

Hardy advocates for milestone-based investment, which mirrors how venture capital operates: resource allocation is unlocked in stages, based on demonstrated hypothesis testing. Staged investments ensure that resources are allocated efficiently and only to programs that show promise.

Milestone-based investment aims to maximize impact and resource allocation, driving innovation and sustaining leadership in a rapidly evolving market.

Hardy explains that shorter cycles and interim checkpoints not only promote better use of capital, they enable faster intervention when something isn’t working, and they reinforce a performance mindset without undermining trust.

3. Kill projects early, and do it with integrity

One of the strongest themes in Hardy’s thinking is the importance of knowing when to pull the plug. In an environment where resources are constrained and time is precious, early termination is not a failure. It’s a sign of maturity. The challenge lies in making tough decisions that require leaders to respond decisively while balancing corporate strategy priorities.

Hardy stresses that killing a concept must be done with care and leadership, especially when teams are emotionally invested.

Supporting employees through terminations is crucial to maintaining trust, engagement, and a collaborative culture. “If it’s not going anywhere,” he says, “we have to act.” But that action must also acknowledge the work, rigor, and intent behind the effort. Celebrating strong execution, even when the outcome isn’t viable, reinforces the right behaviors and keeps team morale intact.

"You didn't score," he adds, "but you made the cross. You did your job."

4. Replace rigid stage gates with expert steering

Rather than relying on slow, hierarchical governance models that require lengthy documentation and static reviews, R&D leaders are creating expert steering committees that are faster, more focused, and better informed. These committees frequently evaluate new concepts in R&D, assessing their feasibility and potential impact.

Hardy describes this shift as moving away from rigid frameworks toward governance that enables strategic partnerships rather than delays. These topic-specific panels, composed of subject-matter experts, are able to evaluate technical and commercial connections in real time, help develop promising ideas into viable new products or services, and make smart calls quickly by leveraging emerging technologies to inform their business decisions.

This shift is enabling organizations to act with greater agility while still maintaining discipline, and it plays a critical role in moving promising technology developments through the funnel without unnecessary drag or bottlenecks.

Leadership's critical role in a risk-averse world

5. R&D success needs board-level conviction

No innovation strategy, no matter how well designed, will succeed if executive leadership isn’t truly behind it. Hardy draws attention to a major disconnect he’s seen across large organizations: leaders may endorse innovation in principle, but balk at taking risky investment decisions. Board-level decisions can have a significant impact on the direction and effectiveness of a company's R&D efforts.

He warns that without C-suite conviction, efforts to adopt venture-style portfolio approaches can backfire.

If leadership isn’t on board with funding risk, then VC-style models just waste money.

The message is clear: R&D doesn't just need room to experiment; it needs backing at the top, with leaders willing to absorb extra costs, failure, and prioritize long-term strategy over short-term optics. A company's leadership can contribute to long-term innovation by providing the necessary support and resources, and board support contributes directly to successful R&D outcomes.

Without that, the whole structure of R&D governance collapses.

6. Scientists need incentives to take real risks

In risk-averse organizations, researchers often default to safe projects, not because they lack imagination, but because the stakes for failure feel too personal. In such businesses, success might feel easier and safer, but long-term growth and competitiveness become challenges.

Hardy notes that when researchers put their name on a high-risk project, they also put their professional credibility on the line. If things don’t pan out, they may carry the burden of failure in ways that aren’t acknowledged or fairly evaluated.

To change this, R&D leaders must intentionally create reward systems that value experimentation, curiosity, and thoughtful failure. Focusing on high-impact projects and recognizing successful risk-taking are vital. The goal is to foster a company climate where employees are not only allowed - but actively encouraged - to pursue bold, uncertain ideas without jeopardizing their careers.

7. Emotional investment can cloud judgment; manage it

Hardy speaks with empathy about the emotional toll of ending projects, especially long-running or technically complex ones.

You spend years of your life building something and then it dies.

That reality makes it incredibly difficult for teams to be objective about when to stop. Groups can provide emotional support during these moments, helping members process the decision and share the burden. But Hardy also emphasizes the leadership responsibility: helping teams separate personal worth from project success.

He uses the analogy of a football cross that didn't result in a goal; the player may not have scored, but they did their job. "We owe them recognition," he says. That recognition isn’t just about kindness; it’s about creating a culture of psychological safety and professionalism.

8. Celebrate learning, not just launches

R&D has long celebrated the visible results: the product launch, the patent, the commercial win. However, Hardy advocates for a broader view of value, one that encompasses new capabilities, strategic insight, or knowledge gains.

Not every project ends in a product, and that's okay, as long as it builds momentum for the next initiative. When teams know that learning is acknowledged and shared, they’re more likely to innovate further, be inquisitive, and resilient in the face of setbacks. Celebrating learning in this way drives continuous improvement in R&D, leading to ongoing product and process enhancement.

Leadership plays a critical role in shaping that mindset: by publicly valuing the work that didn’t lead to a launch, they reinforce that R&D is about value gains during the experiment, not just outcomes.

Value, visibility, and the business side

9. Modern R&D must show value, quarter by quarter

Hardy delivers a simple but powerful reminder:

Someone’s writing the check this quarter.

It underscores the shifting expectation that R&D must now demonstrate value contribution and relevance in real-time, not just at the end of an annual planning cycle. While traditional R&D governance often focused on long-term milestones and technical validation, Hardy advocates for a more transparent and continuous approach.

Robust analysis of operational data is essential for demonstrating R&D value, as it enables teams to collect, interpret, and derive actionable insights that guide strategy as well as research and development decisions.

Teams need to aim to show not only what they’re working on, but how it connects to broader business goals - whether through pipeline readiness, risk reduction, or capability building. To maintain stakeholder confidence, this progress must be visible at the right cadence and granularity for decision-makers outside of R&D.

10. AI can strengthen stakeholder trust, not just basic research

When most people think of AI in R&D, they think of modeling, data science, or drug discovery. But Hardy points to a more organizational use case: using AI to capture and analyze stakeholder feedback across the entire research and development system.

"We take the time to gather non-technology people's input with a 15-question survey," he explains. "What's the value of the work? How clear are the priorities? Are the handoffs clean?"

"Then we use some NLP clustering to find the patterns."

These surveys capture open-ended feedback from business, marketing, operations, and other non-technical functions that rely on R&D but often struggle to see what’s happening inside it.

Cargill’s use of natural language processing helps surface hidden friction points, recurring concerns, or misalignment early, before they turn into real obstacles. For Hardy, the goal isn’t automation, it’s clarity: creating structured visibility where previously there was only noise. By listening to the company, R&D teams build trust and accelerate alignment with their internal customers.

11. ROI must include cannibalization effects

Hardy highlights a common blind spot in company ROI modeling: ignoring cannibalization. Too often, new innovations are assessed based on gross revenue projections, without accounting for what existing products or services they may displace.

"You can erode return without realizing it," he warns, particularly in categories with strong internal competition. R&D leaders need to ensure that ROI models reflect net impact across the total portfolio, not just the shine of the new launch.

ROI considerations can also differ significantly across various sectors, as each industry, such as pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and technology, faces unique challenges and opportunities in balancing innovation and profitability.

This requires close collaboration with commercial, finance, and sales teams to understand elasticity, pricing impacts, and channel conflicts. Without that rigor, companies may end up celebrating growth that’s actually undermining overall profitability.

12. Incremental wins matter as much as moonshots

There’s no shortage of talk about bold bets and 10x disruption in companies, but Hardy reminds us that most value in R&D comes from listening carefully and executing fast.

Customers don’t always want breakthroughs; they want what they asked for, delivered fast.

Incremental improvements, e.g., faster production, better shelf life, cleaner labels, can drive immediate commercial success and deepen customer relationships. Often, these incremental gains are the result of applied research, which focuses on practical applications and development-driven solutions within R&D. Hardy doesn’t dismiss the importance of bold bets.

Instead, he advocates for a balanced portfolio, where incremental wins maintain momentum and fund the riskier, longer-term plays. Especially in today’s cost-conscious climate, small wins that land cleanly with customers are a critical part of the R&D value story.

Rebuilding the research and development pipeline

13. You need to refill the pipeline constantly

Research and development portfolios naturally thin out. Some initiatives succeed, others fail, and many reach a technological or commercial plateau.

Hardy points out that growth doesn’t come from managing the current slate; it comes from feeding what’s next. That requires a consistent and structured effort to scan for emerging needs, underexplored white spaces, and adjacent opportunities.

"Our growth depends on finding the next thing," he says. In a changing world, this means creating robust sensing capabilities, leveraging internal insights and external signals, and ensuring the front end of innovation stays just as energized and intentional as the back end. A static pipeline is a slow death for innovation. Developing a dynamic pipeline is essential for organizations to stay competitive, as it enables them to adapt quickly, foster innovation, and outperform rivals.

14. Sales teams are your best ROI forecasters

One of Hardy’s most pragmatic insights is about who to involve early: your commercial teams. While R&D often owns the technical and strategic framing of a project, it’s the people closest to the customer (sales reps, account managers, market developers) who can say whether something will actually land. Sales teams also play a crucial role in shaping R&D solutions that directly address market needs, ensuring that the solutions developed are both relevant and impactful.

They’ll tell you what’s real and what’s fluff.

While their perspectives may be biased or narrowly scoped, they provide a reality check against overly optimistic internal assumptions. Including other company teams early in project scoping helps ground ROI projections in actual market pull, not just internal ambition. Their pattern recognition is a key asset for spotting what will resonate and what won’t.

15. Don't let ‘Open Innovation’ be an excuse

Hardy doesn’t mince words when it comes to open innovation. Once the buzziest term in innovation strategy decks, it’s now something of a cautionary tale. Mentions of it across tech industries are fading - and for good reason.

Having clear strategies for open innovation is essential to ensure that efforts are aligned with organizational goals and deliver meaningful results.

“Opening up” is not a strategy in itself, Hardy warns. Without a clear purpose, integration pathway, and ownership model, open innovation efforts often become detached from core operations. They generate ideas, partnerships, and excitement, but little downstream impact.

Hardy’s message is sharp: if open innovation isn’t tied into the system, it becomes a distraction, not a driver. It must be embedded with intention, or it risks being innovation theater.

16. Balance ambition with what customers actually want

R&D teams are often drawn to what’s technically exciting, but that doesn’t always align with what customers are willing to adopt. Hardy stresses that even the most promising ideas need to be grounded in industry demand and internal readiness.

"You need people who can see the field," he says, those who can read both commercial needs and technical feasibility. There’s nothing wrong with ambition, but when it gets too far ahead of customer reality or organizational capability, it stalls.

The most effective R&D industry leaders are those who balance aspiration with pragmatism, and who consistently ask: Can this land? And if so, who will catch it? Leading organizations excel at striking this balance, ensuring that innovation is both ambitious and closely aligned with customer needs.

What to take away: Modern R&D needs value creation, not only experimentation

Modern R&D isn’t just about developing new products; it’s about orchestrating risk, trust, and value creation across the entire organization.

As Cordell Hardy shows, leadership today means knowing when to push, when to pivot, and when to pull the plug. Whether it’s making agile governance work, applying AI to stakeholder alignment, or building a culture that values learning over ego, these 16 truths offer a reality check and a roadmap for any R&D leader navigating what’s next.

It's a vocation worthy of your devotion. The world needs your ideas. But more than that, it needs them delivered.

In conclusion, effective leadership, strategic thinking, and a commitment to innovation are crucial for driving success in research and development.

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