Leadership behaviors drive innovation at the 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces in New York, Chicago, Texas, and the Bay Area

Ted Kitterman
2025-06-12T07:00:23-04:00
Leadership behaviors drive innovation at the 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces in New York, Chicago, Texas, and the Bay Area
Great Place To Work

It’s leadership, not industry or products, that drives innovation.

Oakland, Calif., Jun 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- There’s no denying that location matters when it comes to innovation. But there’s more to the story.

If we look closer at companies in innovative regions, when all else is equal, a trend emerges. It’s leadership, not industry or products, that drives innovation and lands companies on the 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces? in New York, Chicago, Texas, and the Bay Area lists.

These workplaces generate more high-quality ideas, implement them faster, and achieve greater agility than typical workplaces. They also experience 52% more discretionary effort and 38% greater agility than typical workplaces.

“People don’t work harder or faster because they live in Silicon Valley or New York City,” says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work?. “Employees aren’t more innovative or productive by proxy. Leaders make their employees feel valued and empowered to contribute new ideas. They listen to voices beyond their executive team and celebrate trying new things while continuously learning. That’s what drives innovation and makes your business profitable — not your zip code.”

Leaders at the winning workplaces keep employees informed, offer development opportunities, provide clear organizational direction, and celebrate trying new things. That creates innovative cultures where employees believe their work matters and have confidence in their executive team — top drivers of meaningful innovation opportunities, according to Great Place To Work research.

It’s why an enormous 120% more employees at these workplaces regularly develop new and better ways of doing business compared with employees at typical workplaces. That results in money in the door. Companies with innovative cultures, where all voices are heard, experience 5.5 times the revenue growth compared with less innovative companies.

What are leaders doing to create these innovative cultures with high levels of profitability, productivity, and efficiency? Practicing the nine high-trust leadership behaviors, including speaking, developing, inspiring, and celebrating.

Read more: The 4 leadership behaviors that drive innovation at the Best Workplaces in Chicago, Texas, New York, and the Bay Area

Here are the top five companies (large category) in each region:

Fortune Best Workplaces in New York

1. Synchrony

2. American Express

3. Wegmans Food Markets

4. PwC

5. Deloitte

Fortune Best Workplaces in Chicago

1. AbbVie

2. RSM US LLP

3. Hyatt Hotels Corporation

4. BDO USA

5. Encore

Fortune Best Workplaces in Texas

1. Camden Property Trust

2. David Weekley Homes

3. Texas Health Resources, Inc.

4. Ryan, LLC

5. CrowdStrike

Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area

1. Cisco

2. NVIDIA

3. Cadence

4. ServiceNow

5. Salesforce

About the Fortune Best Workplaces in New York

Great Place To Work selected the 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces in New York? by surveying companies that together employ more than 8.4 million people in the U.S., with over 1.3 million confidential survey responses received. Of those, nearly 145,000 responses were received from employees at companies who were eligible for the 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces in New York List, and these rankings are based on their feedback. To be eligible for the list, companies must be Great Place To Work Certified, have at least 10 U.S. employees, and be headquartered in the New York City region. To get on this list next year, start here.

About the Fortune Best Workplaces in Chicago

Great Place To Work selected the 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces in Chicago? by surveying companies that together employ more than 8.4 million people in the U.S., with over 1.3 million confidential survey responses received. Of those, nearly 62,000 responses were received from employees at companies who were eligible for the 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces in Chicago List, and these rankings are based on their feedback. To be eligible for the list, companies must be Great Place To Work Certified, have at least 10 U.S. employees, and be headquartered in the Chicago region. To get on this list next year, start here.

About the Fortune Best Workplaces in Texas

Great Place To Work selected the 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces in Texas? by surveying companies that together employ more than 8.4 million people in the U.S., with over 1.3 million survey responses received. Of those, nearly 116,000 responses were received from employees at companies who were eligible for the 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces in Texas List, and these rankings are based on their feedback. To be eligible for the list, companies must be Great Place To Work Certified, have at least 10 U.S. employees, and be headquartered in Texas. To get on this list next year, start here.

About the Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area

Great Place To Work selected the Fortune 2025 Best Workplaces in the Bay Area? by surveying companies that together employ more than 8.4 million people in the U.S., with over 1.3 million confidential survey responses received. Of those, more than 85,000 responses were received from employees at companies who were eligible for the 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area List, and these rankings are based on their feedback. To be eligible for the list, companies must be Great Place To Work Certified, have at least 10 U.S. employees, and be headquartered in the Bay Area. To get on this list next year, start here.

About Great Place To Work

As the global authority on workplace culture, Great Place To Work brings 30 years of groundbreaking research and data to help every place become a great place to work for all. Its proprietary platform and For All? Model help companies evaluate the experience of every employee, with exemplary workplaces becoming Great Place To Work Certified and receiving recognition on a coveted Best Workplaces list.

Follow Great Place To Work on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram or visit greatplacetowork.com and sign up for the newsletter to learn more.

About Fortune

The Fortune mission is to change the world by making business better. We achieve that by providing trusted information, telling great stories, and building world-class communities. We measure performance by rigorous benchmarks. And we hold companies accountable. Our goal is to make Fortune a force for good through its second century and beyond. For more information, visit? www.fortune.com.

####

Contact:

Kim Peters

Great Place To Work

kpeters@greatplacetowork.com

(415) 844-2574