High Tech Executive’s Advice for Gen Z: When to Pivot vs Persist | Innovators in L.I.T.E.

In our newest episode, Benjamin Lyon and Alessandro discussed the Innovator's Dilemma — the idea that companies often struggle to balance between investing in entirely new, disruptive ideas (building) vs improving what already works (polishing). There are the ones who start, and the ones who refine.

Builders create the first version of a shortcut for humanity. Then, Polishers help make it scalable. But none of it exists at all unless someone is willing to begin.

Listen to the full conversation to learn more!

---

Host: Alessandro Miotto, Co-Founder and CEO of VITA

Guest Bio: Benjamin Lyon brings over 20 years of senior engineering experience spanning technology development, product commercialization, and large-scale program execution at leading global companies. He recently joined Archer to lead Engineering and Operations.

Prior to Archer, Benjamin served as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Aptiv, where he led the global engineering organization of over 19,000 technologists across 12 technical centers. He was responsible for driving Aptiv’s long-term innovation strategy, keeping the company at the forefront of emerging technologies and business models in mobility and adjacent markets.

Before Aptiv, he was Chief Engineer and EVP of Engineering & Operations at Astra Space, Inc., where he oversaw the successful deployment of 22 satellites to low Earth orbit and launched the Astra Space Engine Hall-Effect thruster product line.

Earlier in his career, Benjamin spent over two decades at Apple Inc., where he led the development and productization of sensors, displays, high-performance compute systems, and safety-critical technologies at scale. He also co-founded Apple’s autonomous systems initiative.

Benjamin holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.