Lessons of Innovation

In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Max Mckeown to speak about his latest book, The Innovator’s Book.

Dr. Max is an innovation consultant, a researcher, and a strategic advisor to many of the world's most admired and ambitious companies. He is also the best-selling author of several award-winning books, including The Strategy Book, Adaptability, Now, and the book we discuss in this episode The Innovator's Book.

In this episode, we speak about:

• The three jobs of an innovator: make new ideas useful, build a bigger brain, win with innovation.
• New ideas are like babies: beautiful, ugly, and not finished yet
• Beware of idea Zombies they consume more than they give
• Why do corporate leaders struggle with creating a culture of innovation?
• Practical exercises to make innovation happen 
• Innovation culture and strategy should eat breakfast together
• If you think you've missed the window of opportunity, then think again

Links:
- https://maxmckeown.com/
- The Innovator's Book 

If you are wondering how established companies can drive innovation from within, then check out this episode as I speak to Kaihan Krippendorff just about that.

Kaihan Krippendorff is a world top expert in innovation and strategy. He spent part of his career as a consultant at Mackenzie before founding his own innovation consultancy firm OutThinker. He's a member of the prestigious thinker 50 radar group, and a bestselling author of five books, including the book we discuss in today’s episode Driving Innovation from Within. 

In today’s episode, we speak about:

• Most substantial innovations have come not from entrepreneurs, but from employees inside established companies.
• The different challenges and skills entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs have.
• The six common barriers to innovation established companies have.
• Should all employees be involved with innovation or should that be limited to just a few? 
• Why do we like to tell the stories of lone entrepreneurs?
• The secret sauce to innovation and having breakthrough ideas.
• The innovation everywhere model.

Links:

-     Kaihan Krippendorff Webpage

-     Driving Innovation from Within

If you are wondering, how can you rapidly test whether your new business idea has a high likelihood of success and how can you dramatically reduce the risk of its failure, then listen to this episode, as I speak to the well-known Innovation practitioner and author, David Bland, about his new book which answers just that.

David is the founder of Precoil, a long-time Agile, Design Thinking, and Lean Startup practitioner. He is an innovation advisor for fortune 500 companies and the co-author of Testing Business Ideas, the book we discuss in this episode.

 In today’s discussion, we speak about:

• Making sense of Agile, Design Thinking, and Lean-Startup methodologies.
• What should you do to reduce the risk of developing a product nobody wants without using too many resources? 
• What the Assumption Mapping and Lean UX  2/2 framework are about?
• What experimentations are and designed for and the kind of experiments you should run to reduce your Feasibility, Desirability, and Viability risks?
• How Large Corporates can test MVPs that are less than perfect without hurting their brand.
• The optimal team you need to work on a new product or a new business.

Links:

·         David Bland Website

·         Testing Business Ideas

·         High Impact Tools for Teams

In this episode, I am joined by Rita McGrath to speak about her latest book Seeing Around Corners.

Rita is a top expert in innovation and growth strategies. She's a long-time professor at Columbia business school and an award-winning author of several books including the End of Competitive Advantage. Rita is consistently ranked among the top 10 management thinkers in the world and was ranked number one for strategy by the prestigious Thinker50 award.

In today’s discussion, we speak about:

-         What inflection points are and how to spot them?

-         Why innovation is odd to manage?

-         How to take advantage of inflection points if they happen gradually and then suddenly

-         Use Discovery Driven Planning as you build a new venture to reduce your risks

-         Snow melts at the edges; what does that mean and what to do about that?

-         Indicators you can use to see around the corners

-         Measure your company's level of innovation using the Innovation Proficiency Scale

-         The next inflection points you need to know about to take advantage of the changing environment

Links:

• Seeing Around Corners
• Loonshots
• The Fearless Organization
• Discovery Driven Planning  

If you ever wondered 'what makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial and what corporates can learn from entrepreneurs?' Then, this episode is for you, as I speak to Chris Coleridge just about that.

Chris is a serial entrepreneur, a mentor, an expert in the innovation practice, and a board advisor for several startups. He's also a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship and the founder of the University of Cambridge Business School Entrepreneurship Launchpad.

In today’s episode, we speak about,

·    What makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial?

·    Why Mullin's 7-domain analysis for assessing business ideas is Crisis's favorite framework?

·    Why entrepreneurs often jump straight into solutions instead of speaking to customers about their problems; and how to deal with that?

·    The different traits to look for in a cofounding team

·    The things entrepreneurs can do to minimize the risk of business failure

·    What corporates can do to succeed with their innovation programs and learn from entrepreneurs?

Links:

•      The New Business Road Test
•      Loonshots
•      Cardbon 13

• The Mom Test - why you should not ask anyone if your business idea is a good idea?
• How to ask questions that bring you valuable insights instead of empty promises?
• Don’t mention your idea too soon if you want to avoid customer bias
• Ask questions about your customers’ life instead of your business idea 
• The types of bad data to be aware of and avoid
• The sort of questions you should prepare and ask.
• Pitch only if you're going to ask for commitments; else you are just seeking approvals.
• When you should move on, to build the product or pivot?

• The Mom Test
• Rob Fitz Website

If you want to know what are “The Hard Things about Corporate Innovation’’ and how to overcome them, then you have to listen to this episode as I speak to the tech geek, innovator, and writer, Leda Glyptis about just that.

Leda is a recovering banker, a writer for Fintech Futures, an all-weather optimist, and the Chief Client Officer at 10x Future Technologies. Prior to joining 10x, she led several innovation teams within a corporate setup and also worked in the fintech world; the latest of which was as the founding CEO at 11:FS. 

In this episode, we speak about,

• What distinguishes start-ups from corporate innovation?
• Balancing the need to innovate vs. the need to sustain the existing business?
• The secret sauce to moving faster from ideation to execution.
• Why shouldn’t we equate innovation with failure?
•  Why it’s more compelling to ask Why instead of Why Not when working on a new project?
• Overcoming the Middle Management Swamp.

Links to Leda’s articles discussed in this episode:

• Unfinishedness by Degrees
• Friends in Low Places

If you ever wondered ‘how to purposely build and sustain a culture of innovation’, then you would want to listen to today’s episode, as I speak to the well-known innovation leader and author, Scott Anthony, about his new book which answers just that.

Scott is a true innovation expert. He is a senior partner at Innosight, a winner of the prestigious thinker 50 innovation award, and a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review as well as MIT Sloan Management Review. Scott is also an award- winning author of numerous innovation books, including the book we discuss today, Eat, Sleep, Innovate.

In today’s episode, we speak about,

·    What does a culture of innovation mean?

·    The benefits of having an innovative culture.

·    The challenges of creating a culture of innovation. 

·    How to make innovation everyone’s habit to drive innovation success.

·    Using the ‘BEANs concept’ to encourage innovation.

·    Innovating in a time of crisis.

Links:

·    Eat, Sleep, Innovate

·    Creativity Incorporated

·    The Silver Lining 

If you are wondering how to drive and succeed with corporate innovation, then you want to listen to today’s episode, as I speak to the well-known innovation leader, Tendayi Viki, about just that.

Tendayi is an associate partner at strategyzer, an academic, a winner of the prestigious thinker50 award, a regular contributing writer to Forbes, an innovator an award-winning author of three books, the Corporate Startup, the Lean Product Lifecycle, and the book which we are discussing today, Pirates In The Navy. 

In today’s episode, we speak about,

• Tendayi’s favorite definition of innovation.
• What distinguishes entrepreneurs from corporate innovators?
• The myths of innovation 
• Why large corporates struggle with innovation and how to fix that?
• What do leaders need to do to drive innovation successfully? 
• Approaches to fast-track innovation 
• Why culture of innovation matter?
• Why corporate innovators leave and how to fix that?
• In defense of middle managers who stifle innovation 
• When Innovation Centres become like a theatre

Links:

• Pirates In The Navy
• In Defense Of Middle Managers Who Stifle Innovation
• The invincible company
• Originals 

Episode 00 introduces what Lessons of Innovation is all about, the topics I will be discussing in this podcast, and what to expect from my guests.

In summary, Lessons of Innovation is a podcast hosted by Mohamad Zaraket (Mo) featuring conversations with the most interesting and intriguing innovators, academics, consultants, authors, entrepreneurs, and intrapreneurs. In each episode, my guests will share valuable tips and advice to help you succeed in your innovation journey. I will discuss topics such as innovation strategy, creative thinking, innovative teams, culture of innovation, and share proven ideation and effective innovation techniques including design thinking, lean start-up, and open innovation amongst many others.