Sales of innovative products are heavily influenced by the role of important channels of distribution. Gerald Udell and Linda Pettijohn interviewed David Glass, the President and CEO of the world's largest retail organization. Their conversation spanned a number of topics of interest to managers of innovation programs: the economic impact of innovation in the consumer sector, the rarity of truly innovative products capable of creating new business categories, difficulties in getting new products developed and produced in the US and the long-term consequences of emphasizing product improvement over product innovation strategies. David Glass challenges us to translate the American spirit of innovation into effective results.