Smarter Collaboration takes a deep dive into the origin of Lenscrafter with founder Dean Butler.

LensCrafters founder Dean Butler unpacks the collaborations behind “glasses in about an hour,” a service that revolutionized the eyewear industry globally. What struck us most about the groundbreaking approach is the diverse minds that went into making it happen: everyone from a “soap guy” (Butler, a Procter & Gamble alum), to a retail shoe conglomerate (that bought, financed, and provided personnel support and expansion opportunities to LensCrafters), to a variety of suppliers that traditionally hadn’t worked with retail outlets. It’s no wonder that Butler’s collaboration savvy later played out in Rwanda, where all its people received the eyewear they needed.


Breakthrough results happen when people of diverse skills consider new ideas from each other. So goes the case with producing eyeglasses in less than one hour.