In this action research study, we describe how doctoral candidates conceptualize innovations for their dissertations and outline how we are using the results to improve the doctoral dissertation experience for our new cohort. Over the course of one academic year (2010/11) we documented our students' process of conceptualizing their innovations as they moved from general ideas to concrete plans, which they would carry out the following year during their dissertation research. We found four major factors influencing the conceptualization of the innovation: the leader-scholar community, prior cycles of action research, interactions with stakeholders, and the student's work context. As the next cycle in this action research study, we shared the results with our local community and are currently implementing recommended changes based on the study for the next cohort of students.