Throughout the process of transforming ideas into value, it's critical to distinguish invention from innovation. Joia emphasizes that true innovation requires a solution that is not only novel but also significantly improves upon existing alternatives.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:57 - What is Innovation?

2:48 - Market's Feedback Loop

4:53 - Decision Making Process

6:18 - What isn't innovation?

8:11 - Human Curiosity and Solution

9:41 - Organizational Innovation

10:32 - Holistic Innovation Strategy

14:43 - Sustainability Innovation

17:31 - Innovation in Life

25:00 - Advice to Innovators
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Joia Spooner-Fleming is an innovation executive and independent consultant, after a 22 year successful career with P&G.  Most recently she was R&D VP for Gillette.  Joia has a proven track record of transformational innovation leadership and results.  She is adept at partnering with leaders across the business to build unified strategies that capitalize on emerging trends and grow brands. Joia excels at building innovation organizations. She holds a chemical engineering degree from MIT.  Outside her professional life, Joia is a voracious reader, devoted mother of two children, and loves walking with her dog.

More about our guest:

• Joia Spooner-Fleming

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

More about our guest:

Janice Fraser built a storied career in Silicon Valley as a startup founder, product manager, and confidante for entrepreneurs and enterprise executives alike. From creating the second-ever personal interface to the web in the early days of Netscape, to leading the world’s first user experience firm, Janice has often found herself “sitting at the bleeding edge and making it boring” by figuring out how to make the latest evolutions repeatable, useful, and commonplace. 

Janice currently supports “VLOs” (very large organizations) including P&G in becoming more innovative and agile. She also guides several venture-funded startup companies, federal government entities, and non-profit organizations, helping them do more with less, make bold moves and achieve extraordinary results. She sits on the board of the Ohio University Entrepreneur Center and served on The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshop committee focused on the innovation ecosystem for NASA. 

Over the years, Janice has been a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School, Berkeley HAAS School of Business, Kellogg School of Management, and Stanford, among others. Drawing on her almost three decades of coaching hundreds of leaders and teams to achieve success, Janice is a sought-after speaker offering audiences around the world the opportunity to learn from her experiences and sharpen their leadership skills, build stronger teams, make meaningful progress quickly, and drive business transformation. Her exuberant big-stage keynotes and practical, empathetic brown-bag talks have become cult favorites. 

She is the coauthor of Farther, Faster, and Far Less Drama: How to Reduce Stress and Make Extraordinary Progress Wherever You Lead (April 2023), which outlines a groundbreaking framework for modern leadership that empowers greater alignment and quicker decision-making.

Know more about him here:

• Janice Fraser
• Book: Farther, Faster, and Far Less Drama: How to Reduce Stress and Make Extraordinary Progress Wherever You Lead

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:54 - What is Innovation?

3:39 - Intentionality and routinization

5:08 - Progress and taking space

7:33 - Detrimental aggressive optimism

11:59 - Teaching, impassioned optimism, and the business bestseller lists

14:26 - Statistical data, capital control, and disruptive innovation

19:02 - Disruptive (authentic) innovation

22:49 - Early Innovation adopters and the bell curve

26:26 - Mutual problem between intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship journey 

29:53 - Courage, Confidence, Imposter Syndrome, and venture funding

32:09 - Enacting courage  

26:14 - Book:  farther, faster, and far less drama by Janice Fraser

39:06 - Advice to Innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

Ajay defines innovation as figuring out how and what to do better. Hear how he connects this definition to his deep knowledge of applying AI to businesses, seeing it as an enabler to that process.

Let us know what you think! 🎧✨

More about our guest:

Ajay Malik is a recognized thought leader in the field of AI and technology, with over 90 patents to his name and two influential books published. His extensive experience and deep technical knowledge make him a captivating speaker, capable of providing valuable insights on AI integration for businesses of all sizes. His appearance on a podcast could attract a large audience of tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and business leaders interested in leveraging AI for business growth. 

Ajay's expertise in AI investment and strategic planning can provide valuable insights for listeners interested in financial planning, risk management, and wealth creation. His discussion on identifying the right opportunities and leveraging AI to stay ahead of industry trends could attract a significant audience of investors and business owners looking for guidance on incorporating AI into their business strategies. As the driving force behind Secomind, a company dedicated to seamlessly incorporating AI into products, workflows, and customer support processes, Ajay has demonstrated his ability to bridge the gap between hardware, embedded software, and cloud applications. His insights on the intersection of AI, technology, and business excellence could attract a large audience of listeners interested in retirement planning, wealth creation, and investment management.

Know more about him here:

• Ajay Malik
• Company: Secomind.ai

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:48 - What is Innovation? 

3:41 - AI: an enabler of innovation

6:22 - AI beyond automation

8:27 - Applying AI in Secomind.ai

10:31 - AI: The seventh sense

13:33 - Removing bias in AI and innovation

15:47 - Role of AI in process of innovation

16:45 - Advice: Driving innovation adoption in organizations

22:24: - Book: Sapiens

24:41 - Advice to innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Doug Patton is a consummate inventor whose work has spanned over four decades, his efforts generating products in over 20 markets ranging from biomedical equipment to fragrance. He has garnered over 200 patents and design awards in having innovated for companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz, and Bausch + Lomb. Patton Design, his company, currently serves as the genesis of many products sold worldwide. He consulted with the USPTO as part of the Patent Public Advisory Committee and was the featured inventor in Simon Cowell’s American Inventor on ABC. His affinity for innovation led to his books Conquering the Chaos of Creativity, released in 2021, and Inspirations of Creativity, released in April 2023.

Know more about him here:

• Doug Patton
• Company: Patton Design

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:09 - What is Innovation?

1:36 - Defining "revolutionary"

3:38 - Innovation and the environment of inspiration

5:45 - Book chapter: Incredible sensitivity of creative power

7:24 - Spark of Innovation: Passion

10:52 - Book: Conquering the chaos of creativity

18:23 - An environment of fun and the essence of listening

27:53 - Advice to innovators and change makers
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Over the past 20 years, Alex made it his business to turn disruptive concepts into successful ecosystem-centric business models. He has an extensive track record of building and leading global cross-industry business & technology teams focused on revenue and market share growth, increasing customer acquisition and profitability through new digital products and offerings.
Alex is passionate about leveraging innovation purposefully and pragmatically to create opportunities for all. Today, he is serving as Innovator-in-Residence at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Tulane University. He is an active venture partner with Interlock Capital, a community-driven venture fund primarily investing in underrepresented founders and geographies. Alex is also a US delegate and Technical Advisory Group member in the International Standards Association (ISO), defining global common standards for Innovation Management.

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Episode Guide:

1:01 - What is Innovation?

2:21 - Innovation: playful pragmatism

4:50 - Bureaucracy vs Innovation

7:06 - Ability in adapting to change

8:50 - What isn't innovation?

10:25 - Conflations and implications: Idea and Innovation ; Invention and Innovation

12:20 - Quantifying Innovation and Metrics

16:10 - Innovation Indicator: 'Spent'

17:29 - Employee Sentiment Metrics

19:43 - Innovation: Shaping Careers

21:24 - Life outside Work

22:38 - Advice to Innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

• Company: Best Places to Work Rankings: 'World’s Best Workplaces™ 2022'
• Company: Napster

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Urvashi  Bhatnagar is a mission-driven population-health and sustainability expert. She has over a decade of healthcare leadership experience working with clients to advance health outcomes in underserved communities—addressing barriers to care, advancing health equity, and leveraging data-driven approaches to reduce the cost of life-altering high-quality care. She also holds an MBA from Yale University and a Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Boston University. She believes global wellness can be achieved through sustained and intentional investment in environmental justice and healthcare sustainability initiatives for all populations.

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Episode Guide:

1:20 - What is Innovation?

3:08 - Is it improvement or finding your north star?

5:06 - Leaders: meeting innovation

6:25 - Leapfrog innovations and embedded systems

8:45 - What isn't innovation?

11:07 - The next 'it' thing

12:56 - Healthcare: innovation from demand

15:00 - Innovation: Shaping Careers

18:53 - Advice to innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

• Book: The Sustainability Scorecard: How to Implement and Profit from Unexpected Solutions

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest: 

Colin Hunter is an Author, Mentor, Coach, and the Founder and CEO of Potential Squared, an international business that specializes in creating playgrounds to disrupt the way people are led. Three areas of focus include: Building Leadership Capabilities, Strengthening Functional Capability, and guiding Innovative Cultures. He generates a lasting professional impact with those he works with and is renowned for being what they and he calls refreshingly direct, lighting inspirational fires to drive change. 

He facilitates, mentors, and coaches individuals and teams in the areas of leadership presence, personal brand, change leadership, innovation, strategic dialogue, creating board-level influence, and earning a seat at the executive table. With the use of actors, cutting-edge virtual realities, and a new leadership framework, clients have shown award-winning differences in the ways they lead. He prides himself by practicing what he preaches with being wrong more and learning fast from it.  

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Episode Guide:

01:58 - What Is Innovation?  

3:03 - What is the "real problem"?

4:02 - An Anecdote: Ms. Brown

7:18 - The HUMAN user

8:56 - HUMAN influence  

9:39 - Claridge's in London with Melman and Gloria

12:07 - Playgrounds

13:53 - Big Wet Fish Analogy

16:34 - (Really) Effective Actors

17:28 - Getting an Advisory board

21:15 - Joy and Healing: Episode 14

23:06 - 'Playgrounds' response to COVID

25:26 - 3H: Hugs, human interaction, house rental analogy

27:12 - Virtual reality at work and at home

29:26 - Perspective: a religious background

31:25 - Ship out of the harbor

35:35 - 'What does cycling give you?'

39:17 - Advice to innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management. 

More about our guest:

Robin Gaster, PhD is a visiting scholar at George Washington University Institute for Public Policy and the President of Incumetrics, Inc., a data and program evaluation consultancy that serves clients seeking to understand the intersection of technology, innovation, economics, and politics. From 2004-2014, Dr. Gaster was the lead researcher and principal writer on a 13-volume series of reports published by the National Academies of Science and Engineering on the U.S. government’s premier innovation program for small businesses, as well as for a major report on the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:58 - What Is Innovation  

2:25- Invention vs Innovation

4:13 - Working with the government and Small Business Innovation Awards

4:57 - Problem of getting into the market

5:55 - Inventive people and being linear

9:38 - Great Man Theory and the multibillion founders of modern culture

11:12 - Is there regression in Amazon?

12:51 - Amazon, Innovation, Consumer-centric

14:20 - AWS, innovation and internet giant

17:30 - AWS and Amazon

16:5 - Amazon and digital privacy

21:36 - Secrecy of corporations

21:55 - Regulating Amazon? Understanding websites

23:13 - Antitrust and court-proceedings

25:12 - Protecting consumers from predatory retailers

26:08 - Sunlight and Dogmatic traditions

26:54 - Book: Amazon Rising

28:57 - Judo and Amazon business decisions

29:52 - Amazon Prime's 2-day free shipping

30:40 - Customer-centric: Caring or obsession?  

31:45 - Flywheel approach

33:02 - Going into advertising

35:06 - Groceries, Healthcare, Alexa, and Opportunities

36:34 - Amazon's Ring and working with police departments

37:21 - Collateral Damage and pervasiveness

39:58 - One goal focus

41:17 - 150 years of change from the 'race to the bottom'  

42:12 - A proposed reset with corporate overloads

42:40 - Information access and new sets of standards

43:05 - Advice to innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Prior to brewing up Kuju, Jeff was sales & marketing director at Good Paper, a fair trade consumer goods company, where he led a turnaround from declining sales to national distribution at Whole Foods Market. Jeff is passionate about building brands that have a scaled and relevant impact on the world. His favorite Kuju? "I love all of them, literally. But if I had to pick - Single Origin Papua New Guinea on the daily and Bold Awakening for when I need a real pick me up." His favorite brew: Single Origin Papua New Guinea His favorite place to indulge in it: Anywhere with a view.

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Episode Guide:

1:50 - What Is Innovation

3:40 - Target in itself

5:20 - Overplaying in Music and Business

6:02 - Trying to impress

6:19 - Adding bravery and sense of humanity

6:44 - Destructive products

8:00 - Bill Evans' intentionality and building on

9:12 - Human temptation of trying to impress

9:32 - Making connections than impressions

9:40 - Impression by definition

9:54 - Jazz Improv

11:09 - Human nature: impressing and 'woodshedding'

11:53 - Leading with a hard part as a business

12:34 - "Are we connecting with what we wanted to do in the beginning?"  

13:07 - Focusing on Brand Message

13:44 - Cap table and institutional fundings

14:09 - Staying true and building on as a VC

15:00 - Bravery: connotation of positive ends

20:12 - Innovation is a form of change

22:07 - Innovation like a jazz solo

29:23 - Art of listening

30:00 - Staying true to form

32:51 - What is not innovation

33:37 - Advice to Future Innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

What if innovation isn't about having the best idea — but about letting go of the need to be right?

In this episode, Jared Simmons talks with entrepreneurial coach, author, and facilitator David Greer about the power of thinking differently and acting differently. They explore the critical role belief systems, fear of success, and perfectionism play in holding back innovation — and why real innovators treat life like an ongoing experiment.

If you're an entrepreneur, executive, or innovator stuck between ideas and action, this conversation offers simple, powerful ways to move forward.

About David Greer:
David Greer is an entrepreneurial coach, author of Wind In Your Sails, and a catalyst for business transformation. He specializes in working with entrepreneurs facing challenges — offering coaching rooted in action, growth, and personal transformation.

Episode Guide:

More about David

David J. Greer is an entrepreneurial coach, author, andfacilitator. He is the catalyst who gets you to fully live your dreams now. Spend one hour reading his book Wind In Your Sails, attend a one hour talk with him, or get one hour of 1-to-1 coaching and you will have 3 concrete action items that will shift and accelerate your business within 90 days. David specializes in working with entrepreneurs challenged with alcoholism or addiction. He and his wife Karalee are committed to each other and their three children, spending time supporting them in the many and varied activities they are involved with. They live in Vancouver, Canada.

About the Host:
Jared Simmons is the founder of OUTLAST Consulting and the host of What is Innovation? After building a career at Procter & Gamble, McKinsey & Company, and The Coca-Cola Company, Jared now helps organizations and individuals unlock their potential through innovation and intentional action. He’s passionate about making innovation practical, personal, and accessible — whatever that means for you.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:50 - What is Innovation?

2:46 - The past, future, and innovation

5:18 - Cycles and positive results between innovations

7:36 - Intrapreneurship vs Entrepreneurship

10:28 - Intrapreneurship and company education

15:16 - Responsibilities in Intrapreneurship

17:21 - Intrapreneurship and innovation in various industries

21:29 - Intrapreneurship and innovation in business

23:17 - Creating: The Inside Innovator: A Practical Guide to Intrapreneurship

25:10 - Intrapreneurship, self-knowledge, and recognizing opportunities in organizations

31:32 - Innovation, optimism, and teamwork

33:41 - Advice to Innovators

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Louis K. Gump is a business builder, transformational leader, and pragmatic optimist. He has worked with some of the most recognized companies in the world, developing talented teams and achieving remarkable success for growth businesses. He has done this from multiple perspectives: as an intrapreneur within large corporations, as CEO and entrepreneur within smaller companies, and in strategic industry leadership roles. Gump is president of Cambian Solutions, which focuses on excellence in innovation, business growth, and team performance. Earlier in his career, he presided over award-winning mobile businesses at The Weather Channel and CNN. More recently, he has served as CEO of two digital media firms and led Cox Media, the advertising division of Cox Communications, the third largest cable provider in the US. Gump has also held leadership roles in a wide range of industry and community organizations, including ten years on the board of the Mobile Marketing Association, where he served as global chairman. He earned an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and a BA from Duke University. He is the author of the forthcoming business book, The Inside Innovator: A Practical Guide to Intrapreneurship (Fast Company Press; March 12, 2024), which will help readers achieve more, build stronger relationships, and increase personal fulfillment through intrapreneurship. While many books have been written for entrepreneurs and C-suite executives, there have been few books focused on the intrapreneurs inside larger organizations, and Gump’s guidebook brilliantly fills that gap. 

More about our guest:

• Louis Gump
• Book: The Inside Innovator: A Practical Guide to Intrapreneurship

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

More about our guest:

Paul McEnroe is best known for his primary role in developing the Universal Product Code (UPC), the barcode used on every product in supermarkets and the retail industry, and the scanners that read them. In 1974 he received the IBM SCD President’s Award for the development of the Supermarket System including the Barcode “. . . from inception through shipment.” He was co-inventor of the handheld “pistol-grip” scanner that reads barcodes from a distance, developed the magnetic code for stock keeping unit (SKU) marking, and later managed the development of the Token Ring Local Area Network (LAN). In 1984 McEnroe became president of Trilogy Systems Corporation and developed other multi-chip technologies.

Know more about her and her company here:

• Paul V. McEnroe (CalState)
• Book: The Barcode: How a Team Created One of the World's Most Ubiquitous Technologies

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:48 - What is Innovation?

2:07 - Importance of bridging an open mind and the elements of science and technology  

3:20 - Modern education and innovation

4:44 - Importance of teamwork

5:39 - What we now know as "barcode": the Universal Product Code (UPC)

7:50 - IBM's role in the creation of UPC and NCRs

11:13 - Working on Magnetic Strips for transit systems

12:34 - The Store Loop and Token Ring

14:52 - IBM, funding, problem-solving, and barcode scanning

20:42 - Gene Amdahl and IBM System 360

22:26 - Winchester Technology: The floppy disk

23:44 - Patience and returning favors

25:39 - Advice for Innovators and leaving impact
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Marcus Sheridan is an international keynote speaker with a unique ability to excite, engage, and motivate live audiences. He also works with hundreds of businesses, helping them to become the most trusted voice in their industry. Marcus has been featured in multiple industry publications, including the New York Times, which featured Marcus as a "web marketing guru," and Forbes, which named Marcus one of 20 "Speakers You Don't Want to Miss" in 2017. 

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:19 - What is Innovation

1:39 - What isn't Innovation

1:58 - Regurgitation

4:04 - Invention and Innovation

5:46 - Innovating as a swimming pool company

8:37 - Ignorance is not bliss in consumer marketing

10:22 - Subway: one of the most innovative companies worldwide

11:32 - The process as a fiberglass pool manufacturer

14:26 - CarMax: innovation

17:34 - 2-step process with businesses

19:46 - Principles from They Ask You Answer

21:51 - B2B vs B2C

23:11 - Trust, growth, innovation, and Kodak

30:03 - Advice for innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Books:

• They Ask You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today's Digital Consumer
• The Visual Sale: How to Use Video to Explode Sales, Drive Marketing, and Grow Your Business in a Virtual World 
• Simon Sinek:  Start With Why

Brands Mentioned: Subway, CarMax
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Dr. Akhtar Badshah  also conducts Purpose Mindset Leadership Workshops with organizations to help individuals articulate their strengths and values, and craft their purpose statement. A seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in international development, managing a corporate philanthropic program and co-founding a global nonprofit for social enterprise, Dr. Badshah led Microsoft’s philanthropic efforts for ten years, where he administered the company's community investment and employee contributions. He was instrumental in launching both Unlimited Potential and Youth Spark, the company’s focus to bring digital technology to underserved communities and youth all over the world. Dr. Badshah serves on the boards of Microsoft Alumni Network, Global Washington, Restart Partners and The Indus Entrepreneurs, Seattle Chapter. A Distinguished Practitioner at the University of Washington at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, the Business School, at the Bothell campus, and a faculty advisor at the START Center in the Department of Global Health, he is the founder and curator of the University’s Accelerating Social Transformation program, a mid-career professional development certificate course on social impact. In May 2020, Dr. Badshah and his colleagues launched Restart Partners, funded by the Department of Commerce, WA State, and supported by Facebook to increase confidence in mask adoption and vaccines with the goal of helping to restart the economy. He is an accomplished artist, a doctoral graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of the 2020 release, Purpose Mindset: How Microsoft Inspires Employees and Alumni to Change the World (HarperCollins Leadership). Dr. Badshah and his family are very active philanthropists in the Seattle area.

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Episode Guide:

2:09 - What is Innovation?  

4:07 - Trinity: Sales, Community, and Work

6:04 - Capitalist Societal Environment

6:54 - Unfolding from Capitalism: Questioning and Recognizing 'Meaning'  

10:25 - The Purpose Gap: reducing tension and friction

12:25 - Deriving value and purpose in life journey  

14:16 - Purpose alignment

16:05 - What Catalytic Innovators Group works on

17:00 client stories: corneal transplant  

20:02 - Five principles of purpose mindset: work from your strengths  

20:58 - 2nd principle: Lens of Abundance

22:33: 3rd: focus on the effectiveness vs efficiency

24:03 - Working with formerly incarcerated people

26:09 - Scalability and feasibility of working with formerly incarcerated people

28:46 - Advice for innovators / movement starters

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

His company, Gallant Branding, a creative branding firm in Austin, Texas focused on building brands for a better world.  Over the past 10 years, Gallant has helped dozens of companies with brand overhauls, new product launches, and data-driven campaigns, resulting in triple digit growth and national recognition.Prior to starting Gallant, Chris worked as a strategic planner at BBDO New York and GSD&M, developing nationally recognized campaigns for iconic brands and highly respected nonprofits, including AARP, Monster.com, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Hyatt Hotels, Ace Hardware, John Deere, and The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. While he currently spends most of his time working closely with clients to help them tackle their biggest branding challenges, he is also a public speaker and frequent guest lecturer on strategy and insights at colleges around the country. His talks on creativity and innovation have been featured at strategic marketing symposiums as well as TEDxYouth@Austin.

Know more about her and her company here:

• Chris Kocek
• Gallant Branding
• Chris' Personal Blog
• Chris' X (formerly Twitter)

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Episode Guide:

1:28 - What is Innovation?

1:55 - Breaking down patterns

5:19 - The problem of falling inlove with solutions

7:41 - Authenticity vs Perfectionism

10:14 - Missing the moment

12:21 - The value chain

15:13 - The napkin sketch commitment

16:33 - What isn't innovation: innovation isn't creativity

17:40 - Separating innovation and creativity

21:29 - What keeps you busy?

22:34 - Experiences that shaped the innovation approach

26:12 - Advice to innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

Listen in and let us know what you think! 🎧✨

More about our guest:

Joris Hensen is responsible for the Deutsche Bank API Program, which he co-founded in 2015. The Developer Portal of Deutsche Bank gives partners quick and easy access to more than 40 API products, enabling them to connect personalized apps and services and thus open up new areas of value creation. Joris Hensen sees himself as an intrapreneur and is dedicated to exploring how Open Banking and Embedded Finance can change and improve people's lives.   In his more than ten years at Deutsche Bank, Joris Hensen has worked as a project manager on various international projects. Early on, he became enthusiastic about innovations and trends and set up a corporate foresight program, in which he developed future scenarios and innovation strategies for Deutsche Bank. He has also been a guest lecturer at the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen on the topics of foresight, innovation and design.

Know more about him here:

• Joris Hensen
• Company: Deutsche Bank

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:45 - What Is Innovation?

2:28 - A state of being vs muscle-training

6:50 - Bank innovation:Explanations, transparency, and story-telling

8:37 - Hackathons and Professionalism vs (Stuffy) Corporate

12:32 - Internal Stakeholders and great tools

13:50 - Defining "developers"

17:53 - Unpacking "evolution"

22:00 - Changing Mindsets

29:28 - Advice to innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Relationship-building is at the center of everything Geneva does. Her devotion to connecting real people to real solutions has been the heartbeat of her work for her entire career. Having worked for large NGOs and grassroots organizations for nearly 20 years, Geneva knows the subtle landscapes of both. Her broad experience includes being involved in water and sanitation programs with CARE International in Nicaragua, drug-resistant malaria solutions among migrant communities, vocational incentive projects for people living with HIV, innovative education systems for mobile populations on the Thailand/Myanmar border, and diabetic retinopathy among marginalized populations with The Fred Hollows Foundation in Nepal and the Pacific Islands.  

Geneva holds a degree in International Studies from Seattle University, and a Master’s in Public Health from Thammasat University in Bangkok.  When she isn't on zoom calls with extraordinary grassroots leaders around the world, you will find her training for a wild adventure race on the trails of Christchurch, New Zealand (or adventuring with her husband and 4 and 6 year old daughters).

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Episode Guide:

1:36 - What is Innovation?

2:04 - What makes it courageous?

3:35 - Provoking the thought

4:50 - Difference on the ground vs main offices

8:15 - The Australian project

8:50 - Move92 and changing philanthropy

9:57 - Move92: bridging the philanthropist and local organizations

13:50  - Curating the process

16:15 -  Core-values of Move92  

18:12 - Being Agile and Move92's brief history

21:59 - Empowering the local leaders in Nepal

23:13 - The "Western lens"

25:08 - Female empowerment and leadership

27:23 - What isn't innovation?

30:56 - Advice to innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Companies/Institutions: 

• Move92
• The Fred Hollows Foundation

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:
Ahmad Thomas,  partners with the organization’s member companies to promote entrepreneurial solutions to strengthen Silicon Valley business competitiveness, bolster its innovation ecosystem, and create shared economic value throughout the greater Bay Area. A hallmark of his leadership is in catalyzing industry-leading initiatives to operationalize change around diversity, equity, and inclusion from the Boardroom to the C-suites and beyond. A former investment banker and senior Congressional aide, he brings nearly 20 years of experience working both in and on behalf of non-profit social enterprises, governments, and businesses, where he has honed a deep understanding of the essentiality of public-private partnerships and the intersection of equity, policy, and technology that drives Silicon Valley’s innovation infrastructure. Thomas holds a B.S. from Cornell University, Master’s degree from the London School of Economics, and M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:50 - What is innovation?  

3:13 - Professional background

4:34 - What isn't innovation?

5:38 - Paradigm breaking

8:41 - 2023, the year of grace

12:44 - High burnout work

16:37 - Innovation impact to personal career

18:41 - Progress in lived experience

23:43 - Advice to innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Dr. Ann Kowal Smith serves as Founder & Executive Director of Reflection Point. Reflection Point facilitates story-based conversations that deepen the quality of relationships and foster inclusion and collaboration at every level of the workplace. Ann has also served as Principal with Heidrick & Struggles International and Strategy Expert with McKinsey & Company. Prior to joining McKinsey, Ann practiced corporate and securities law in private and corporate settings. Ann earned her AB from  Bryn Mawr College, her MA from the University of Michigan, and both her JD and DBA from Case Western Reserve University. Her dissertation examined organizational learning and innovation.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:25 - What Is Innovation?

3:23 - Enabled by a Web of Social Networks

4:17 - The HUMAN social network

5:08 - Corporate ladders and disconnect

8:31 - Generalists vs Specialists

9:51 -  Are we over-specializing?  

10:56 - Establishing a common language: Specialists and Generalists

11:41 - What is Reflection Point?

16:22 - Technically inclined employees in Reflection Point environment

19:19 - Changing a leaders' comfort level of communication

23:51 - Empathy for people and not things

25:20 - Empathy: A driver

26:32 - Garnering insights through the years

28:03 - Reflection Point: The Origin

28:49 - Lifelong learning

32:22 - Hard and Soft Skills: Visible and Invisible

35:08 - Collective Sport: Immersive and Ongoing

37:17 - Effective Service: Iterative process

38:17 - Advice for Innovators

--------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Book Mentioned:

• The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution 

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

Katrin shares her perspective on innovation types—evolutionary vs. revolutionary—and dives into innovation portfolios, values, and the delicate balance between investment and ROI. She also offers advice on navigating innovation cycles, confronting AI resistance, and applying innovation across various industries.

What's the impact of 'today's money' on innovation? Considering their innovation portfolios and values, how should companies balance investment and ROI?

--

Katrin launched TLGG’s New York office. As Managing Director, she is responsible for consulting services with global clients. At TLGG, Katrin has served and mentored clients on business strategy, digital transformation, marketing transformation and innovation up to the C-suite. Prior to joining TLGG, Katrin co-created the Lufthansa Innovation Hub (named as best digital lab by Capital Magazine in 2017 and 2018) with global responsibility for business innovation where she developed ventures in the services and mobility field from Seoul to Berlin. She has a deep knowledge of digital marketing and growth hacking techniques which enabled new ventures to scale quickly and incumbent players to strategically maximize their ROI.

Know more about her here:

• Katrin Zimmermann
• Company: TTLG

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:49 - What is Innovation?

1:20 - Defining "New"

2:53 - Innovation portfolio and values: Investment vs ROI

4:33 - Innovation cycles and evolution

6:59 - Artificial Intelligence: resistance, fear, and legislation  

9:57 - Nuclear power, AI, and GMO

13:04 - Innovation for cross functional teams and environments

15:22 - Innovation cycles in modern large organizations

18:50 - Innovation in different industries, consumer expectations, and Wall Street expectations

24:28 - Katrin's impact to companies

26:44 - Money and Innovation

28:08 - Advice to Innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

More about our guest:

Doug Howarth's life is a story of remarkable challenges and groundbreaking discoveries. From his fascination with coordinate systems to a life-saving kidney transplant, his journey led him to uncover the concept of Hypernomics—a field that explores uncharted dimensions in market analysis. Driven by newfound clarity, Doug founded Hypernomics Inc. and collaborated with industry giants like NASA and Lockheed Martin, developing innovative software capable of analyzing markets in four or more dimensions. His upcoming book, "Hypernomics: Using Hidden Dimensions to Solve Unseen Problems," will revolutionize conventional thinking. Doug's story inspires us to embrace unconventional thinking and unleash extraordinary breakthroughs.

Know more about her and his affiliations here: 

• Doug Howarth

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:30 - What is Innovation?

2:30 - What is "society's next step?"

7:35 - Manifesting over different domains

9:57 - Importance of understanding capacity and price

12:03 - Personal opinions, biases, and hypothesis

15:52 - Space tourism industry

19:16 - What isn't innovation?

23:24 - Increasing value by cost reduction

26:32 - Advice for innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

In this episode of What is Innovation?, Jared Simmons sits down with Steve Hinch — award-winning author, high-tech executive, and innovation consultant — to uncover the overlooked mechanics of corporate and startup innovation. Drawing on decades of leadership experience at Hewlett Packard, Agilent Technologies, and startup ventures, Steve breaks down innovation into four clear categories, reframes failure as a learning opportunity, and explains why managing innovation demands a radically different mindset.

Whether you’re in a Fortune 500 boardroom or an early-stage startup, this conversation delivers insight on how to build repeatable innovation processes, manage risk with purpose, and make sure your great ideas don’t die at the delivery stage.

Guest Bio:
Steve Hinch is the author of Winning Through Innovation: Lessons from the Front Lines of Business, winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award. With a long career spanning senior R&D, marketing, and general management roles at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies, Steve has also served as CEO of TeamLogic IT. He now consults with senior leaders across industries to design innovation strategies and processes that work, from product launches to corporate transformations.

What You’ll Learn:

• A simple 4-part framework for classifying innovation: product/process + incremental/disruptive

• Why innovation in large corporations fails — and how to fix it

• How to manage innovation differently from traditional projects

• Why failure is critical to innovation (and how venture capitalists accept it)

• How to protect innovation from corporate reporting cycles and quarterly pressure

• What support really looks like in a thriving corporate innovation culture

Highlighted Insight:
“Innovation is not just about seeing opportunity — it’s about delivering it profitably. Without delivery, even the best idea is useless.”

Quote to Remember:
“In the startup world, 80% of ventures fail. But that 20% that succeed? That’s where the real return is — and failure is part of the learning.”

Resources & Links:

• Winning Through Innovation – Book by Steve Hinch

• Steve Hinch on LinkedIn

About the Host:
Jared Simmons is the Founder and Principal of OUTLAST Consulting, a boutique firm helping organizations unlock innovation through intentional action. With leadership experience at Procter & Gamble, McKinsey & Company, and Coca-Cola, Jared blends corporate strategy with entrepreneurial thinking to help clients innovate on their own terms.

More about our guest:

Nathan is an award winning leader in the B Corp community. In addition to his role as the Director of Corporate Culture & Strategic Impact at Ad Victoriam Solution, a certified B Corp, he founded and runs B Local Georgia, a nonprofit dedicated to growing the number of purpose-driven businesses in the Peach State. Nathan also teaches an experiential MBA course on B Corps at the University of Georgia and is the founder of Profitable Purpose Consulting, which helps for-profit businesses certify as B Corps. He has appeared on multiple podcasts and spoken at events across Georgia and the Southeast.

His unique background provides both an authentic and genuine story that resonates with audiences and inspires them, and their businesses, to be a force for good.

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Episode Guide:

1:42 - What is Innovation?

2:58 - In the B-Corp space

3:40 - Company Case Study: Advic (Ad Victoriam Solution)

4:50 - What is a B-Corp?

5:41 - B Corp Assessment  

10:06 - Placing workers first

12:18 - Recertification and scores

14:38 - Impact assessment and business impact

16:27 - B Local Georgia

19:55 - Starting B Local Georgia: Capitalism and ROI

22:13 - B Corps in the South

25:32 - Working for B Corps

28.02 - The capitalist system and B-Corps

31:20 - Creating a playbook

32:40 - Reverse engineering your career  

34:30 - Advice for innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

BCorp:

• B Corp (B Corporation) - certified by BLab
• B Corp Certification
• B Local Georgia

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest: 

Annabel Mendez, Founder of Aromalief Vegan Pain Relief Creams. 

Episode guide

1:17 -  What is Innovation?

2:33 - Expanding the definition of Innovation

4:51 - What Isn't Innovation

8:04 - Innovation From A Scientific Standpoint 

8:45 - Problem-focused and outcome-focused (A 2005 or 2020 Annabel) 

13:31 - Uncertain vs. Unknowable

15:19 - Becoming An Entrepreneur

16:42 - Launching Her Business 

24:21 - The importance of support In An "Emotional" Business

25:12 - Dealing With Business Problems

27:36 - Advice To Innovators

29:37 - Staying True To Oneself And Your Business

Featuring:

Annabel Mendez, Founder of Aromalief Vegan Pain Relief Creams. 

Host:

Jared Simmons (@outlastllc), Founder and Principal at OUTLAST Consulting LLC

Thanks:

Theme: “This Must Be Heaven” by Buzz Amato

Editing and Production: Buzz Amato

Marketing and Visuals: Naomie Oplado

Follow us:

• LinkedIn
• OUTLAST Insights
• Twitter

More about our guest:

Quinn Osha is the founder of Topmarq, an innovative online platform that allows car owners to get the best price for their used car. A car fanatic since he was young, Quinn saw room for disruption in the trillion dollar automotive industry that would allow people to get better deals when selling cars. Despite starting with no co-founder and minimal funding, Quinn took Topmarq to revenue within 6 months and the company now covers dealerships with a combined volume of over 1 million vehicles per month.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:43 - What is Innovation

3:44 - Innovation: influencing business-building

5:21 - The automotive industry and Topmarq's search engine-esque feature

7:20 - Differentiating Topmarq from competitors

11:54 - Role as the aggregator

13:25  - Staying away from heavy research projects

15:04 - What isn't innovation

17:14  - Working on patents and eureka moments

18:09 - Engineering background standpoint

22:12 - Engineering and Sales: different perspectives

24:30 - TopMarq today

26:56 - What's next for TopMarq?

28:30 - Advice for innovators

--------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Book Mentioned:

• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant

Services compared:

• Kayak - Online Travel Search Engine
• Google Flights

Previous episode mentioned:

• Episode 7: Innovation is more than invention

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:42 - What is Innovation?

2:20 - Technology in Innovation

3:55 - Innovation: Solving Problems

4:51 - Not (inherently) efficient

7:12 - Innovation, Efficiency, and Problem-Solving

10:40 - Internal usage of innovation processes

13:47 - What isn't Innovation?

17:09 - Dangers of Gen AI

20:26 - New Technology, New Hype, Wrong Implementation

22:38 - Advice to Innovators
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Shanil Ebrahim is a Partner and the National Life Sciences and Healthcare Consulting Leader at Deloitte Canada. He is a senior advisor for clients in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and retail and special pharmacy sectors, and has supported a diverse set of public and private stakeholders in innovation-based business transformations and technology implementations. Shanil held roles as a Clinical Epidemiologist, Faculty Member and Researcher, and also serves as a Board Director in multiple non-profit organizations focused on vulnerable patient populations.

More about our guest:

• Shanil Ebrahim
• Company: Deloitte Canada

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

With experience leading major transformation projects for companies like Amazon, BMW, and Google, Stefan outlines how most organizations fail by mislabeling incremental improvements as innovation — and by applying the same tools and processes across all types of change. He explains why innovation requires its own distinct mindset, resource model, and methodology, and how most companies neglect the “accelerator” side of innovation, leading to promising ideas being crushed by their own systems.

This episode explores topics like the Three Horizons of Growth, how to structure incubators and accelerators, and how applying engineering principles to innovation can drastically reduce the failure rate. Stefan also shares insights from his global community of 60+ contributors, whose work has culminated in the most comprehensive innovation framework currently available.

If you’re looking to better understand what makes innovation succeed — and why so many companies get it wrong — this conversation offers clear, actionable insights rooted in years of hands-on experience and research.

Chapters:

• 00:00 — Introduction to Stefan F. Dieffenbacher

• 01:00 — Innovation, transformation, and radical change

• 02:13 — Why “new to us” is not innovation

• 04:13 — Aligning methods with the type of innovation

• 06:45 — Incubators vs. accelerators

• 09:59 — The danger of putting $1M ideas in $1B portfolios

• 11:28 — When a business is ready to integrate innovation

• 12:29 — What happens when we mislabel change as innovation

• 13:22 — Why most innovations fail — and how to change that

• 16:10 — Innovation as an engineering discipline

• 18:49 — Underinvestment and innovation’s ROI potential

• 22:05 — Integration > excellence in individual domains

• 25:14 — Is innovation an industry or a project type?

• 27:04 — Focus innovation where you differentiate

• 29:54 — Why finance probably isn’t the place to innovate

• 31:45 — Advice for innovators and free access to tools

Resources Mentioned:
➤ How to Create Innovation (book + open source toolkit)

About the Guest:
Stefan F. Dieffenbacher is the founder of Digital Leadership AG and lead author of How to Create Innovation. With more than 20 large-scale innovation and transformation projects under his belt, Stefan helps global organizations mature their innovation capabilities and drive strategic growth. His open-source innovation platform has reached over 100,000 users worldwide.

About the Host:
Jared Simmons is the Founder and Principal of OUTLAST Consulting, a boutique firm helping organizations unlock innovation through intentional action. With leadership experience at Procter & Gamble, McKinsey & Company, and Coca-Cola, Jared blends corporate strategy with entrepreneurial thinking to help clients innovate on their own terms.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:47 - What is Innovation?

1:15 - Recipe for Innovation

2:41 - IBM's Innovation Legacy

3:47 - Leadership in Innovation

4:10 - Entrepreneurship and Innovation

6:48 - Intel's Microprocessor Revolution

10:28 - Apple's iPhone Innovation

12:44 - Amazon's Retail Revolution

14:10 - AI and Future Innovation

27:49 - Government and Innovation

32:00 - Advice for Innovators

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Dave Martin, founder and managing director of 280 Capital Partners, is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. He has been CEO Leader of four information technology (IT) companies and a strategic advisor and/or executive chairman for dozens of other IT companies, where he coached hundreds of CEOs, executive leaders, and members of the board of directors. His coaching focuses on how to apply more effective thinking to a company’s leadership and strategic direction. He has coached in the same capacity as an officer or board member for non-profit industry associations and educational institutions. He received a BSE degree from Princeton University, where he also started and lettered on the varsity football and baseball teams. It was as a freshman at Princeton that he first developed the MegaCept thinking process. After graduating, he joined IBM, where he became knowledgeable in computer science and began his career in IT. Davie has led or advised many technology companies. 

More about our guest:

• LinkedIn: Dave Martin
• Company: 280 Capital Partners
• Book: Mega Thinking

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:53 - What is Innovation?

3:21 - Love-based vs Fear-based Innovation

6:15 - Innovation as Living and Evolving

11:21 - Elon Musk and Connectedness in Innovation

14:51 - Geographic Distribution and Innovation

18:33 - Creating Optimal Environments for Innovation

21:23 - Soul Health and Innovation

25:05 - Soul-driven vs. Intellect-driven Innovation

29:43 - Advice for Innovators

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Pam Buchanan, the founder of Quantum Sense, stands at the intersection of corporate prowess and soulful innovation. With over 40 years of experience in corporate America, including pivotal roles at Nasdaq where she worked closely with tech titans like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, Pam brings extensive experience to the table.    Her journey to Quantum Sense began with a profound assertion: that the modern world is missing a focus on a very vital contributor to success, Soul Health. 

 Pam has developed programs tailored for companies that are proven to enhance employee well-being, reduce anxiety, and boost creativity, ultimately fostering a more satisfying work-life balance. Covering topics from neuro-aesthetics to sound engineering, Pam explores how these can be used to benefit the soul from the outside in, through the gateway of the senses.   

More about our guest:

• Pam Buchanan
• Company: Quantum Sense

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:59 - What is Innovation?

2:53 - New and Sustainable vs Unsustainable newness

5:55 - Silicon Valley Innovation in 1990s - 2000s

10:30 - Invention of Corporations and Managements

13:27 - Partnerships and Aberrant Capitalism

15:37 - Problem Management: Explore and Exploit

17:23 - Digital Enablement and Human Energy

20:40 - Innovation in Business Education

23:35 - Talent Management and Team Science

28:15 - System Theory: Emergence

29:37 - Advice for Innovators
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Hunter Hastings is an economist who took up a career in corporate marketing and occupied the posts of Chief Marketing Officer in a global consumer products business, Chief Executive Officer in a Silicon Valley start-up enterprise, and Senior Partner in a global consulting company. He’s been an advisor to several Fortune 500 clients in the area of customer motivation and service strategy. Hastings has been an adjunct professor at Hult International Business School, the largest global graduate business school, and is the author / co-author of seven books spanning business and economics, and several peer-reviewed economics papers. He holds a master’s degree in economics from Cambridge University in the UK.

More about our guest:

• Hunter Hastings
• Book: Aberrant Capitalism: The Decay and Revival of Customer Capitalism (Elements in Reinventing Capitalism)

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

See whatisinnovationpodcast.com/episodes/ for more episodes on innovation

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Anton is a Certified Scrum Trainer with Scrum Alliance and the managing director of Agile.Coach based in Berlin, Germany. Anton's particular interest lies in advancing agile practices outside of product development environments, for example, in non-profit or public organizations or projects related to process improvement. Anton's book "The Art of Slicing Work" is a real-world, low-jargon guide that will teach you the main skill of a successful manager in the 21st century – the ability to master unpredictability.

More about our guest:

• Anton Skornyakov
• Company: Agile.Coach
• Book: The Art of Slicing Work

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:48 - What is Innovation?

1:49 - Defining "new" in innovation

3:11 - Layers to Innovation

5:24 - Innovation, problem-solving, and innovation in various industries

7:46 - Problem-focus vs Solution-focus

10:56 - Story-telling in solutions

12:44 - Importance of solution-situation fit

14:36 - Innovation hurdles in governments

15:38 - Foundation of innovation

17:43 - 'Agile' in governments

19:56 - Dave Snowden's Cynefin framework

23:55 - Advice to Innovators
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

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A passionate product designer and business executive, Kevin Bailey helps guide CEO’s, start-ups, and established companies through the maze of product development to a successful, manufacturable physical product fast. After spending over 35 years in design, Kevin is an expert at assessing risk and opportunity when making the hundreds of decisions required to move a vision into a physical product the users will love. Since the late 1980’s Kevin has been on the ground floor of global hardware product innovation, cutting his teeth with Bell Research Lab before moving to Nortel Networks where he worked on the first smartphone development. After founding Design 1st in 1996, Kevin has emerged as one of the most experienced in Canada at stickhandling product development from concept to design, engineering, manufacturing, and go-to market strategies.  

As CEO and President of Design 1st, clients and staff rely on Kevin’s strategic vision to guide funding, market entry and the full suite of development decisions. The company’s results with new product development speaks for itself. More than 1,000 entrepreneurs, start-ups, and global corporations such as Ericsson, Motorola, Acer, Stanley Tools, and Christie Digital have brought product ideas to life under Kevin’s guidance. Kevin is a Professional Engineer, Angel and VC Investor and one of Canada’s leading experts at bringing new hardware products to market.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:54 - What is Innovation?

2:55 - The Role of Teams in Innovation  

6:58 - Examples of Effective Team Models

11:24 - Balancing Competition and Collaboration

18:07 - Facilitating Innovation in Teams

26:09 - Distinction Between Useful Products and Business Viability

29:00 - Constraints and Innovation

32:28 - Advice for Innovators
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

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Reggie James is a distinguished expert in marketing and digital strategy, renowned for driving transformative results for organizations. With over three decades of experience, Reggie has witnessed and actively contributed to the evolution of digital marketing, playing a pivotal role in shaping business models in today's digital-driven landscape. His expertise extends beyond traditional strategies, incorporating cutting-edge technologies like AI, analytics, and brand elevation. As the founder of Digital Clarity, Reggie leads a pioneering consultancy that empowers businesses to achieve their marketing goals. The company, known for its strategic insights and innovative use of technologies, stands at the forefront of driving marketing change and creating lasting value for its clients. Reggie's unparalleled experience and innovative approach have been instrumental in shaping numerous organizations through strategic marketing, advertising, and digital solutions.
 

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:18 - What is Innovation?

3:01 - Communication Challenges in Organizations

4:40 - Innovation and dynamic processes

6:55 - Innovation through the years

7:56 - Changes in Marketing and Innovation Post-Pandemic

9:50 - AI and Its Impact on Business

15:01 - Impact of External Factors on Innovation

18:52 - Innovation in Ogranizations and importance of culture and values

25:28 - Simplifying Complex Processes

28:24 - Intellectual Humility in Innovation

29:11 - Advice to Innovators
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

Merrick Furst, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor and the Director of the Center for Deliberate Innovation (CDI) at Georgia Tech. In 2011, he founded Flashpoint, a first-of-its-kind deliberate innovation studio, to develop formative leaders and exceptional technology startups. Flashpoint was the thirty-sixth startup accelerator worldwide, very early in the development of business accelerators. Both at Flashpoint and at CDI, Furst works with hundreds of founders and innovators and is developing the discipline of Deliberate Innovation. 

To date, Furst has personally started eight start-ups. Furst has been teaching entrepreneurship in an innovative form since 2006. He was a professor and the President of the International Computer Science Institute at UC Berkeley, and previously, was a professor and Associate Dean in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University. Furst is known for seminal research in algorithms, complexity theory, and AI. He co-invented probabilistic circuit analysis and planning graphs, which are considered among the most influential breakthroughs in the field of AI planning.  

Know more about him here:

• Dr. Merrick Furst

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:54 - What is Innovation?

2:30 - Falling apart vs Continuous innovation

3:18 - What makes a customer?

4:33 - The puzzle of innovation and indifference dilemma

9:03 - Getting Stuck and Unstuck: Only Yes situations

13:49 - Innovation, education, and interdisciplinary knowledge

17:11 - Creating "threads" in curriculum

19:58 - Innovation, Daniel Kahneman's influence, and economics

22:03 - Innovation, utility, and P&G  

25:27 - Getting people to reassess

28:38 - Drawing from personal experience on demand and supply

31:13 - Advice for Innovators
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

• Frederick Cary
• Company: IdeaPros

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:54 - What is Innovation?

2:42 - Defining "personalized innovation"

6:50 - Teaching innovation

7:33 - Innovation: Changing perspectives through experiences

10:15 - Making yourself obsolete and market competition

15:15 - Road to Success: Being first in the market vs addressing the market

19:07 - Innovation, Investors, Founders, and Changing the world

22:07 - From revolutionary to evolutionary + breaking down company pitches

23:44 - Influencing pitches and investing  

25:42 - Company comparisons: Being the X to the Y

29:32 - Advice to innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Michael D. Abramoff, MD, PhD, is a fellowship-trained retina specialist, computer scientist and entrepreneur. He is Founder and Executive Chairman of Digital Diagnostics, the first company ever to receive FDA clearance for an autonomous AI diagnostic system. To transform the quality, accessibility, and affordability of global healthcare through the automation of medical diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Abramoff (gold Fellow ARVO, Fellow IEEE) is the Robert C. Watzke, MD Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Iowa, with a joint appointment in the College of Engineering.

Dr. Abramoff is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Digital Diagnostics, the Autonomous AI diagnostics company that was the first in any field of medicine to get FDA clearance for an autonomous AI. In primary care, the AI system can instantaneously diagnose diabetic retinopathy (including macular edema) at the point-of-care. Dr. Abramoff developed an ethical foundation for autonomous AI that was used during the design and validation, and regulatory and payment pathways for autonomous AI. As the author of over 350 peer-reviewed publications in this field, he has been cited over 42,000 times, and is the inventor on 20 issued patents and many patent applications. Dr. Abramoff has mentored dozens of engineering graduate students, ophthalmology residents, and retina fellows. His passion is to use AI to improve the affordability, accessibility and quality of care.

Know more about her and their company here: 

• Dr. Michael D. Abramoff
• Digital Diagnostics
• Article highlight: 1 in 4 People With Diabetes Have This Sight-Threatening Condition, Study Finds

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:30 - What is Innovation?

2:40 - Breaking down the "steps"

6:11 - Ensuring progress in every step

10:15 - Diabetes Care in the US

12:57 - Diabetic Retinopathy

14:25 - Benefits of getting more people screened

15:57 - Bringing together different domains

17:22 - What is a bio-ethicist?

20:38 - What isn't innovation?

28:59 - What's next for the company?
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Tommaso Buganza is Professor of Leadership & Innovation at Politecnico di Milano. His research activities are at the crossroad of Technology, Innovation, and Leadership. Platforms are the missing link among them; he teaches Platform Thinking to executives and consults international companies in search for a Platform-based transformations. He is also the Co-founder and Scientific Director of the Laboratory for Leadership, Design and Innovation of SOM-School of Management of Politecnico di Milano. The Lab leverages 30+ internal and external resources for research, teaching and services to companies. Additionally, he is the Co-Founder of Symplatform: a symposium on digital platforms. A new conference aimed at researchers and practitioners in the world of platforms, and the Chairman of the Board of the Innovation and Product Development Management Conference organized by EIASM (European for Advanced Studies in Management). Lastly, he is the Co-founder and Scientific Director of IDeaLs, the research Platform for Innovation and Design as Leadership of SOM-School of Management of Politecnico di Milano.

Know more about him, the univesrity, and his book here:

• Tommaso Buganza
• Politecnico di Milano
• Laboratory for Leadership, Design and Innovation of SOM-School of Management of Politecnico di Milano
•  Symplatform
• IDeaLs
• Book: Platform Thinking: Read the past. Write the future.

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Episode Guide:

1:04 - What is Innovation?

3:03 - Forecasting vs Designing

4:04 - Star Trek: Fiction vs Reality

7:16 - Responsibility in the innovation space

11:53 - Artificial intelligence and technological substitution

15:12 - Regulation in Europe and user responsibility

18:44 - Education structure: humanistic responsibility  

20:11 - Importance of critical mindset

22:50 - Advice for innovators
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Chris uses his diverse career journey spanning behavioral science, global macro strategy, ski racing, and Master Distiller to help people manage fast-paced change effectively and achieve their goals. Chris's expertise in economics, history, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, and trend research offers practical strategies and tools that enhance resilience, creativity, innovation, and adaptability.

Know more about her and his affiliations here: 

• Chris Marshall 

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:14 - What is Innovation?  

3:08 - Scale of innovation: not a reflection

5:23 - The world in layers and varying speeds

8:07 - Limits to innovation and business pivots

10:14 - Three layers beyond infrastructure

13:30 - The age of awareness and the Gutenberg Press

17:08 - Chronic stress and it's relation to changes

22:28 - Stress and it's influence on the brain

27:58 - Risk management as a behavioral scientist

32:48 - Advice to innovators
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Robert leverages his extensive experience to establish key growth initiatives and partnerships through a global open innovation process, ensuring that Twisthink remains at the forefront of value creation for our clients. With an impressive background in innovation and design, Rob is an expert in generating exceptional long-term value and designing award-winning advanced concepts. Rob’s philosophy centers around building a culture of trust and accountability and fostering an environment where teams can thrive and generate meaningful results. His ability to inspire and motivate those around him has made him a respected and valued leader. Rob earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial design from the University of Cincinnati.
 

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:23 - What is innovation? 

1:55 - Stakeholder purpose driven 

4:35 - Innovation and user experience 

8:08 - Career in innovation 

9:44 - Innovation process 

12:51 - IP application in the modern world 

14:13 - code development opportunity: corporations and start-ups 

17:21 - What isn't innovation?

21:56 - Refining the process 

26:49 - Hobbies beyond work

27:39 - Advice for innovators
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Ion Valis is a strategic advisor to entrepreneurs and executives by helping them anticipate the future, accelerate their performance, and reinvent themselves when necessary. He enables organizations to "see around the corner" through two proprietary frameworks that he has developed - the FuturePROOF Scorecard and Playbook. His book 'The Magnificent Mistake' talks on how to learn from your mistakes, he has also given a TEDx Talk on the changing nature of leadership in the 21st century, and hosted a bi-weekly podcast on how to apply the management consultant’s toolkit to everyday problems. Ion plans to launch an online course called "Reinvention Boot Camp" that will empower thousands of people with the tools, skillset, and mindset to reinvent themselves regularly.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

2:32 - What is Innovation?  

4:35 - Breaking down Inspiration and Intention

6:48 - Circumstantial inspiration: humanistic  

9:40 - Lag-time of elements

10:33 - Default mode network  

14:52 - Revenge Procrastination

17:06 - Gradual erosion vs falling off a cliff analogy

17:46 - Moore's law

21:50 - Stagnating human innovation  

24:02 - Surveillance capitalism

28:03 - Dopamine Capitalism

33:04 - Mind and body connection

35:37 - Best way to be creative

42:27 - Advice for the public

52:30 - The next revolution

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Dr. Ethan Karp is an expert in transforming companies and communities. He’s a committed change-maker and community builder: Board Chair of the Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Workforce Development, and serves as a Director on the boards of; the American Small Manufacturers Coalition, the Cleveland Leadership Center, MidTown Cleveland, Inc., Cleveland Jewish Publication Company and the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland. Dr. Karp is a recognized thought leader on manufacturing issues and a frequent media commentator on the future of manufacturing in America. Prior to joining MAGNET in 2013, Dr. Karp worked with Fortune 500 companies at McKinsey & Co. He received undergraduate degrees in biochemistry and physics from Miami University and a Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from Harvard University. Dr. Karp lives in Cleveland with his wife and three young girls.

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Episode Guide:

1:46 - What is innovation?

5:07 - Four buckets of technology

6:53 - Technology and Innovation: The people (talent) side

8:52 - Technology and Innovation: The company side

9:57 - Technology and Innovation: Culture

11:50 - Assessing Risk Profiles

16:49 - Case Study: Giant Red Barn of Cleveland

20:35 - What isn't innovation?  

25:26 - Continuum in innovation

28:40 - Philosophy of leadership  

31:14 - Advice for innovators

-------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Derek and his team seek to always maintain a high level of confidence with their clients as a basis of building trust and reinforcing value. Derek believes that planning is much more than the accumulation of assets for a particular goal but more so a process of helping his clients avoid avenues of failure on the road to goal achievement. Derek is passionate about continuous learning to further advance his planning and investment. Derek earned his MBA from Georgia State in 2012. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ holding the CFP® designation and also a Retirement Income Certified Professional holding the RICP® designation. Derek is the proud father of two sons, Lamarrius and Derek II, and two granddaughters, London and Ryleigh.

------------------------------------------------
Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:44 - What is innovation?

2:19 - Defining: Unconstrained

3:18 - Defining: Risk

4:50 - Defining: Timing

7:55 - risk in everything

8:43 - Innovation as a Financial Adviser

13:08 - What isn't innovation?  

14:52 - Microsoft and Apple: Combination and it's importance

20:47 - Metrics, companies, C-level, and innovation

21:20 - Understanding business models

23:43 - Consumers and Branding

24:57 - The big players: Walmart, Amazon, UPS

29:56 - Advice for innovators

-------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

In this role, Dr. Davis is responsible for developing community-wide supports to impact students and families along the cradle-to-career pipeline. This work is accomplished by regularly convening partners from the public, private and philanthropic sectors. A Dayton, Ohio native, Dr. Davis earned his Bachelor’s degree in History from Eastern Michigan University, his Master of Education degree from Antioch University McGregor and his Doctorate in Educational Leadership, Evaluation and Organizational Development from the University of Louisville. Charles also holds graduate certificates from the University of Pennsylvania, the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy the Northwestern University Kellogg Center of Executive Education, and is a nationally certified Diversity Professional. Dr. Davis is married to Dr. Latrica Best and is the father of Charles III and Cullen.

------------------------------------------------
Episode Guide:

1:37 - What is innovation?

2:25 - Innovation and Implementation: a convergence?

4:02 - Innovation perspective: personal

7:27 - Working with non-profits

9:28 - Innovation and Support for the education system

11:21 - COVID Pandemic Response: Food nutrition services

12:35 - Scaling COVID response  

16:22 - Non profit organizations resource loop

19:51 - Personal motivation for communities

23:04 - Working post-pandemic

27:29 - Advice for Innovators

31:01 - 3 Levels of Problem

-------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Amelia Schaffner MS, is an Italian-born Innovation leader, culture-change driver, creative problem solver, and ecosystem connector. Currently, she is on a sabbatical, taking time to be creative and ask deeper life questions. Amelia sits on a few boards and advisories of organizations leading meaningful change, and is a frequent mentor - at accelerators like Techstars - to founders, especially the under-represented. Previously, Amelia was a senior Strategy principal at Accenture, a global consulting and IT firm, where she led a global Innovation initiative and was instrumental in visioning their Innovation architecture. She has been a contributor to the World Economic Forum, and is a frequent panelist on E&I conversations. In her personal life she enjoys deeper inquiry via philosophy, photography, poetry, language, and the wilderness: you can find her on Instagram at Z.Tasty.Life.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

2:02 - What is innovation?  

5:05 - Finding innovators in corporate ladders

7:00 - ROI: an anti-innovation

8:40 - Innovators and a 'messy desk'

10:06 - Dogmatic biases

11:42 - What isn't innovation?

15:32 - Innovation: Learning, Culture, People, and Improvement

17:05 - Innovation: a colonization

18:30 - Value in Cyclical Conversations

20:43 - Longevitiy thinking for companies

22:40 - Innovation: Shaping Careers

24:49 - Jobs, job descriptions: a springboard

27:32 - Advice for innovators

-------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

• Book: Why Materialism Is Baloney: How True Skeptics Know There Is No Death and Fathom Answers to life, the Universe, and Everything By: Bernardo Kastrup
• Book: The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connection, and Courage  By: Brené Brown

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Ashish’s transformational approach, which he covers in his book “Hardwired for Happiness”, is interdisciplinary and integrates learnings across spiritual wisdom traditions, philosophy, positive psychology, neuroscience and organizational development. Prior to starting Happiness Squad, Ashish Kothari was a partner at the global management consulting company, McKinsey & Company and spend over two decades helping thousands of leaders succeed by building new mindsets and capabilities.

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Episode Guide:

1:32 - What is Innovation?

2:37 - Critical pieces of innovation

6:23 - Happiness Squad

8:02 - Hardwired for Fear

9:27 - Losing innovation to survival

11:06 - Hardwiring for Happiness

15:02 - Work and Mind-wandering

17:00 - Creative 'time'

18:57 - New book: Hardwired for Happiness

19:39 - 9 Practices: Self Awareness

21:19 - Practice: Purpose

23:09 - Practice: Community Building

24:00 - Practice: Wellbeing

27:42 - Upgrading our operating system: becoming agile

31:34 - Advice for innovators

-------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

• Book: Hardwired for Happiness: 9 Proven Practices to Overcome Stress and Live Your Best Life 

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Chris has been voted one of the most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal’s Financial News, and has been an advisor to the White House, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and the United Nations. He is a visiting lecturer with Cambridge University as well as a TEDx speaker and is Chair of Nordic Future Innovation and a non-executive director of 11:FS.  

Chris is also the author of sixteen best-selling books, including Digital Bank, ValueWeb and Digital Human as well as a children’s book series, Captain Cake and the Candy Crew. His newest book, Digital For Good: Stand for something…or you will fall has recently been released last June 1, 2022.  

He is also a regular commentator on BBC News, Sky News, CNBC and Bloomberg, Chris serves on various financial and fintech advisory boards, including B-Hive, Bankex, empowr, IoV42, Innovate Finance, Life.SREDA, Moven, Meniga, Pintail, Project Exscudo and Token Fund.  

------------------------------------------------
Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:34 - What is Innovation?

3:12 - Innovation before primetime

5:20 - Financial Services, 3G-to-5G evolution, cloud computing, 3d printing

7:33 - Facial Recognition: Mastercard and Alipay

8 :36 - Defining 'Innovation Reapplication'

9:58 - Wallet applications

14:19 - Cash Machines: Why online banks still open physical branches

17:28 - Upcoming Trends: Technology in Financial Industry

21:01 - Blog post: "The best job in banking: Chief Cannibal"

23:24 - What isn't innovation?  

26:12 - Changes in the music industry

28:15 - FinTech: innovations behind the scenes

29:35 - Brazil's Nubank

31:01 - China's Alipay and WeChat Pay

33:20 - "Bankenstien"

3402 - Advice for innovators

-------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Companies/Institutions: 

• Alipay
• WeChat Pay
• Brazil's Nubank

Blogs:

• The Finanser
• The best job in banking: Chief Cannibal by Chris Skinner

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Kapil has deep expertise in areas of technology, innovation & entrepreneurship through advising startups & engaging with leading accelerators, universities & NGOs around the world as well as speaking at large global conferences. Born & brought up in the tiny seaside province of Goa, Kapil completed his Bachelor Degree in India & went on to receive a Masters in Engineering from Stanford University in California, eventually finding his way back to Asia in Shanghai where he has been living with his family for the past 13 years. Over the past 20 years, he has helped design & launch world-class products & businesses at the intersection of arts, design & technology. 

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Episode Guide:

1:42 - What Is Innovation?

3:44 - Focusing outside of execution

5:18 - Invention  to Innovation timeline

6:04 - Post-it invention

7:35 - Growth X

11:39 - PC farm and VR Cinemas

15:11 - Portfolio approach

18:51 - Works in the accelerator

20:16 - What isn't innovation

25:41 - Advice for innovators

28:01 - Best innovations

-------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Companies: 

• Growth X:  Venture Capital and Revenue Acceleration
• Intel China 
• Apple

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Keagan leads the North America Local Fleet Card line of business, which has ~50,000 businesses under the Fuelman and Comdata Mastercard brands. He joined FLEETCOR in 2019. Before his current role, Keagan lead go-to-market strategy and product for the Local business. Prior to FLEETCOR, he was a strategy and marketing leader at various fintech startups, a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, and started his career at MBNA Corp. He received his JD from Boston College Law School and his BA from Colby College.

------------------------------------------------
Episode Guide:

1:38 - What is Innovation? 

2:15 - Understanding: Shallowly and Deeply 

4:37 - "Innovation equals speed to market" 

5:29 - Creativity in innovation: a solution standpoint 

6:15 - Fleetcor's Case Study 

7:05 - CarAdvise Partnership 

9:40 - Personal problem solving toolkit 

13:19 - Implementation: the engineering aspect 

14:23 - Chief Innovation Officer 

15:55 - Pilot Launch: Electric Vehicle Fleet Payment Solution 

17:00 - Internal Innovation and Entrepreneurial Innovation 

18:07 - MBNA's FLC

23:02 - What isn't Innovation? 

25:34 - Advice to Innovators

-------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Companies: 

• FleetCor
• MBNA ('acquired and integrated into Bank of America Corporation') 
• CarAdvise

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Andy works with CEOs, boards, and senior teams as they lead significant business change. His goal is to help organizations liberate their potential to excite the world with innovation. He has 25 years of consulting experience as both an external and internal consultant for McKinsey & Co., the IBM Corporation, and Change Logic. At IBM, Andy was deeply involved in the Emerging Business Opportunity program, for which he received an award from IBM’s vice chairman.

------------------------------------------------
Episode Guide:

1:25 - What Is Innovation

4:34 - Atlanta Opera Company: Approach to innovation

5:48 - Japanese Firm: Approach to innovation

7:19 - Adoption and Adoption Chains: Pfizer and inhalable insulin

11:24 - Book: Corporate Explorer

13:03 - Risk and Resilience

14:33 - Silent Killers of Exploration

14:55 - Silent Killer: Risk Aversion

16:48 - Why "what isn't innovation?"

17:23 - Stanford, Harvard, Corporations, and Research

18:16 - The 3 Classic Errors

21:44 - $10 billion companies: Pampers

22:09 - Google and Microsoft

23:08 - LexisNexis

24:03 - Uniqa (European Insurance Company) and Shared Risk

25:45 - Corporate Explorers' Compensation Models and Reputation Risks

30:15 - Silent Killer: Professional Identity

32:22 - Advice for Innovators

-------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Companies mentioned: 

• Microsoft 365 
• LexisNexis
• GE Digital
• Uniqa
• Havas
• Victors and Spoils
• Deloitte
• Atlanta Opera Company

Books Mentioned:

• Corporate Explorer: How Corporations Beat Startups at the Innovation Game  by: Andrew Binns 
  • buy it HERE

Authors Mentioned:

• Ron Adner (Tuck Business School)
  • related works: The Wide Lens: What Successful Innovators See That Others Miss

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:  

After joining the company as its fourth employee in 2012, Matthew 'Matt' Wool served as General Manager and then President of the company before becoming CEO in 2021. During his tenure, Matt has been a driver of Acceleration Partners’ success including the company’s numerous placements on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies, multiple Most Effective Agency nods from the Performance Marketing Awards, and numerous Best Place to Work awards from Forbes and Glassdoor. Matt is a member of the Fast Company Executive Board and is a frequent speaker at performance marketing industry events.

---------------------------------------------------

Episode Guide:

1:16 - What Is Innovation?

3:37 - Conversations with Venture Capitalists

3:53 - Connections in Practice: Acceleration Partners

6:01 - Finding the common ground

8:25 - Acceleration Partners' Entrepreneurial Operating System: Traction

10:11 - The Integrator Role

11:00 - Digital Economy and Critical Economic Partnerships

12:51 - Making valuable partnerships: marco-influence

15:23 - ROI in different industries: does one benefit more than the other?

18:28 - (Book) Range; bringing about diversity

19:23 - What isn't innovation?

23:00 - Advice to Innovators

25:45 - Advice: Thinking about outcomes

-------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Book:

• Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business - Gino Wickman
• Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World - David Epstein

-------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Luiz Zorzella, through his company, Amquant, works with banks, insurance companies, investment and other service firms worldwide in the areas of growth, profitability and innovation. In his podcast, The Strategy Taken, he interviews business leaders on how they make and implement difficult strategy decisions. He is also the author of the book Revenue Growth and publishes a monthly newsletter where he examines the growth drivers of the financial sector. Luiz is a former consultant and expert with McKinsey & Co. and investment banker with JP Morgan Chase.

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Episode Guide:

1:26 - What is Innovation?

2:28 - Venure Capital sector underperforimg the S&P

4:45 - Class movements: Outperformers, averages, underperfomers

5:51 - What is efficiency?

7:46 - S&P from 500 to 310

9:04 - Competitive advantages/capabilities    

10:02 - 'Not' creating value: 2 situations

12:26 - Leadership development space

14:01 - Coaching leadership perspective: Signal and Noise

15:41 - Financial Services: decisions on innovation through data

17:19 - Changing perspectives and fine-tuning  

19:25 - Investing in people: solving classic value-metric problems

22:54 - What isn't Innovation?

24:51 - Company identifiers: Good or bad at innovation?  

26:28 - Advice for innovator 

--------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Luiz's personal ventures:

• Book: Revenue Growth Generation
• Company: Amquant
• Podcast: The Strategy Taken 
   

Book Mentioned:

• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Geoff Orazem is a cofounder of Eastern Foundry, an incubator for growing defense oriented technology companies, and Federal Foundry a software and media company for defense contractors. He is a decorated Marine Infantry Officer and holds a law degree from Harvard Law school.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:12 - What Is Innovation

2:31 - Recognized patterns and shaping career

3:19 - Problem-solving like online dating platforms

5:47 - Analogy: Government contract problem and 'dating' problem

8:12 - The 500$ billion- a year- government contracting market

11:22 - Perception: 'Malicious' interest on keeping people out

13:31 - Keeping it classified or unclassified

15:10 - Innovation INSIDE the government to address systematic issues

17:36 - Case Study: the Jedi contract

18:56 - Gov't: most innovative and most risk-tolerant in technological space

20:02 - Small businesses, Deep-tech projects, Venture capitalists

21:22 - Synergy of government and innovators

24:38 - Long-term plans and bad customer service

25:14 - Average Americans and their Government touch points

26:09 - Number of registered government contractors

29:45 - Disneyfication of news

31:13 - Twitter feeds, representatives, senators, and contract winnings

32:47 - How someone could take advantage of the work

34:13 - Advice to future innovators wanting to get into the federal market

--------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Book Mentioned:

• The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution 

Contract:

• Jedi Contract

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Dr. John Ennis, co-founder of Aigora, is a world-renowned authority on the use of artificial intelligence within sensory and consumer science. John is a Ph.D. mathematician who conducted his postdoctoral studies in computational neuroscience and who has more than a dozen years of experience as a sensory and consumer science consultant. Author of 40+ peer-reviewed articles and 2 books, John is chair of both the ASTM E18 "Sensory Evaluation" division and the Sensometric Society; invited speaker and workshop organizer at international conferences; host of the popular industry podcast "AigoraCast;" a member of the editorial boards of both Food Quality and Preference and Journal of Sensory Studies; and past winner of the Food Quality and Preference "Researcher of the Future" award

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Episode Guide:

1:34 - What Is Innovation

2:52 - What is Process?  

4:34 - Is the new way actually better?

5:48 - Fast caterpillar vs Beautiful butterflies

7:36 - Leveraging survey (The second act of a three-part play)

8:57 - Big companies innovating

9:56 - Lessons of a second act and safety nets

10:31 - Lessons from Waymo: Google's self driving car

12:19 - Creating an emotional investment to push bigger barriers in big companies

14:22 - Industrial revolutions: centralized and decentralized  

17:10 - Working in parallels

20:50 - What isn't innovation?

22:07 - Surveys and scales

23:58 - Examples from all over the world

25:04 - Advice for innovators

--------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Frameworks:

• Say's Law : Economics

Topics and Brands Mentioned:

• Clarity: Programming Language for Bitcoin
  • overview: Stacks - Clarity
• Central bank digital currency vs decentralized cryptocurrency
  • McKinsey article here
• Waymo: Google's self-driving car
• Kodak
• Elon Musk: SpaceX and Tesla

Analogy:

• 'When digital transformation is done right, it’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but when done wrong, all you have is a really fast caterpillar.' - George Westerman quoted by Tom Bangemann of The Hackett Group

Previous episode mentioned:

• Episode 19 : Innovation is defined by the customer :: David A. Fields

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Dr. Nupur Mehta is an internal medicine physician dedicated to improving the quality of life and wellbeing of all patients but especially older adults. He has spent his career innovating within the healthcare industry to align incentives between patients, providers, and healthcare payors. Most recently, he co-founded Heyday Health, a virtual first primary care start-up practice dedicated to meeting the needs of older adults. The unique challenges identified during the COVID-19 pandemic have generated significant opportunities to improve patient outcomes and experience while reducing costs, and organizations like Heyday Health are innovating rapidly to shift the delivery model to refocus on the needs of patients. When he's not trying to fix healthcare, you can find him on the tennis court, in front of the stove/grill, or chasing after his two daughters.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:44 - What Is Innovation

2:43 - Consumer back view of innovation  

3:02 - 3Ps: Providers, Payers, and Patients

5:21 - USA: Health care = Sick care

7:40 - 'External' light on the process: Innovation and Collaboration

10:38 - Opacity from providers and high healthcare costs

12:03 - Provider internal change: motivators beyond altruism

13:18 - 'Global' budget for proactive vs reactive response to healthcare

16:39 - Offsetting incentive to invest in 'sick care'

20:57 - Altruism in the current medical field

22:59 - 2 year difference in healthcare: COVID changes

24:25 - Reliance on face-to-face patient care

27:35 - New model on 'being able to do what's right for patients more often'

29:07 - 25 mins of conversation vs 5 mins of examination  

30:07 - Physical exam in practice

31:54 - Local service coverage

33:19 - Advice to Innovators

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Rob Finlay, CPM®, knows the extraordinary value of tech + innovation + data within the CRE space better than anyone else out there. He grew up in CRE. He’s been an investor, operator, and solution provider. Rob has a large portfolio of assets and multiple CRE related tech companies. Disrupting the status quo, he’s doing to the CRE industry what Bloomberg terminals did for stock trading. CEO and Founder of Thirty Capital Rob Finlay helps operators and investors in the commercial real estate industry generate market-beating returns using technology and innovative solutions. His investment firm, Thirty Capital, includes a portfolio of companies in six states and employs over 300 individuals. It includes building materials businesses, commercial development, asset management, and a technology incubator and accelerator that has built multiple 9-figure real estate tech products including his primary focus, Lobby CRE. To keep life even more exciting, a former professional race car driver, Finlay continues to race cars, pilot helicopters and jets, and enjoys spearfishing.

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Episode Guide:

1:20 - What Is Innovation?

3:06 - Staying open across different domains of expertise

6:11 - "Looking around the corner"  

9:13 - Thirty Capital's Innovation

11:42 - Innovation: Changing an experience

14:42 - Advice and perspective as a: Customer, User, and Investor

17:21 - What isn't Innovation?

19:05 - Parallelism of Commercial Real Estate and Software Company  

21:01 - Top-down fostering

23:16 - Spearfishing vs Harpooning

26:15 - Advice for innovators

--------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Books:

• Who Moved My Cheese?  - Dr. Spencer Johnson

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Tyrone Lingley, senior SaaS partnership leader with 10+ years of experience building and leading high-performance partnership and marketing teams in the technology, e-commerce, and sports/entertainment industries. Responsible for creating business value through channel, technology, and strategic partnerships. Ty is also currently the Head of Partnerships at Ally.io, responsible for building and delivering our long-term go-to-market technology, strategic, and channel partnerships. Prior to joining Ally.io, I led high-performance partnership and marketing teams at Unbounce, SHOES.com, Bell Canada, the Rick Hansen Foundation, and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Games (VANOC). A board member with the Cloud Software Association (CSA), where we strive to build the market for the distribution of cloud software. Our 2000+ members span the industry as SaaS vendors, platforms, API services, resellers, distributors, and investors. An advisor to various SaaS companies within the software-as-a-service space looking to build and grow their partnership programs.

------------------------------------------------------------

Episode Guide:

1:50 - What Is Innovation

3:54  - Experience  in Ally.io

5:38 - OKR

6:38 - Importance of AMBITIOUS objectives

8:27 - Role of Humility

11:42 - Unpacking OKR

13:07 - Cascading results and shared goals

16:05 - OKRs: Creating Accountability

19:37 - Risk Assessment

20:34 - Risk equation: People-side or Leadership-side?

25:19 - OKR or KPI?

27:46 - Ty's life outside work

29:26 - Advice to innovators

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Noah Schaul, Business Development Manager at Inchainge, speaks five languages, has a background in sustainable business and works within the company’s corporate and partner management activities. Noah is also one of the company’s master trainers for the circular business game The Blue Connection, facilitating Train the Trainer events, professional programs, university courses and MBA’s. Besides that, Noah is developing experiential learning programs with various organizations around value chain management. As the contributor to the textbook Mastering the Circular Economy and passionate circular catalyst, he is inspiring professionals to go circular in The Netherlands and beyond.

------------------------------------------------------------

Episode Guide:

1:39 - Language exchange: What languages do YOU speak?

2:52 - What Is Innovation?

3:10 - Defining: improvement

4:55 - Defining: the 'status quo'

7:37 - What is Circular economy and its relation to linear economy

9:15 - Two sizes of Circularity: Technical and Regenerative organics

10:24 - What isn't Innovation

11:43 - Invention inside of Innovation

13:26 - Learning from natural concepts and systems

14:26 - Finding 'THE Balance'

17:10 - Globalization -- the global viewpoint on circular economy

19:02 - Matching resources  

21:47 - Advice to innovators

24:34 - Innovation by Inchainge  

26:25 - Inventing new curricula

--------------------------
OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guests: 

Grady Powell is a future-oriented strategist, executive, and entrepreneur. The founder and CEO of Openfields, a research, strategy, and design firm committed to helping leaders imagine and implement a more creative and just future. He is also co-founder and trustee of Capita, a creative think tank for harnessing the power of big ideas to ensure a future in which all young children and their families flourish. 

Haley Robison Dake advises early-stage companies and teaches at the University of Texas Austin. Previously the CEO at Kammok, an outdoor brand based in Austin, Texas, that designs performance gear to elevate time outside. Haley's most inspired at the intersection of design, business, and education. 

------------------------------------------------------------

Episode Guide:

2:10 - What is Innovation

3:07 - Innovation as a skill

4:53 - Engaging in the creative process with Jim Gilmore

5:51 - 2 Types of Innovators

6:46 - Incremental innovation value  

7:34 - Act of courage and stamina

8:12 - Relative value: Incremental vs Revolutionary innovations

10:10 - Work Collaboration  

11:46 - MetaTrack  

14:21 - Equipping People to be lifelong learners

15:41 - If MetaTrack existed years ago...

18:01 - Beauty of Hindsight at work

22:05 - Domain expertise  

23:16 - Hiring 'T-shaped' people

25:46 - Experience, Hobbies, Views, and Innovation

29:40 - Haley's 90 days in Wyoming Wilderness

32:28 - Os Guinness: Contrast is the mother of clarity

35:04 - Advice for Innovators

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management. 

More about our guest:

Raj De Datta is the Co-Founder and CEO of Bloomreach, the leading digital experience platform for e-commerce that powers brands representing 25% of retail e-commerce in the US and the UK. A multiple-time entrepreneur, before launching Bloomreach, he was entrepreneur-in-residence at Mohr-Davidow Ventures, served as Cisco’s director of product marketing, and was on the founding team of telecom company FirstMark Communications. He also worked in technology investment banking at Lazard Freres. Raj serves on the Council for Player Development for the US Tennis Association, as a Founder Partner at seed-stage venture capital firm Founder Collective and an individual investor in over 20 Silicon Valley start-ups. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering with a certificate in Public Policy and International affairs from Princeton University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

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Episode Guide:

2:13 - What is Innovation

3:33 - Working in labs

5:07 - Technical problem definition vs Consumer back approach

5:33 - Bloomreach

6:42 - Creating Culture from the top-down

8:09 - Consumer Side culture role-modeling

10:24 - Seeker mindset, To-do lists, and Uber

12:27 - Technology: Solving the seeker's problems

13:59 - Tech-forward business industries

15:34 - Solving for reassurance vs solving for information

16:31 - What isn't innovation

17:42 - Creating Cross-functional innovation teams

20:08 - "Product Manager" job titles

22:24 - Incorporating hobbies: Tennis

26:35 - Shaping career through innovation  

28:03 - Advice to innovators

--------------------------
OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Heather Wray has over 20 years experience in the field of leadership development as an executive coach, talent management consultant, and sought-after group facilitator. She has worked extensively with high potential and senior leaders and is often sought out for her expertise in design thinking, leadership presence, mindfulness-based emotional intelligence, and navigating complex influence challenges. She is a Certified Integral Coach (New Ventures Wes) and a certified facilitator of the ExperienceChange and ExperienceInnovation simulations. Heather is also a Certified Teacher by the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute to teach the SIY program, developed at Google, a mindfulness-based program that builds the core emotional intelligence skills needed for peak performance and effective leadership.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

2:10 - What Is Innovation?

2:54 - Coaching is The Innovation of The Human Being: How It Comes Up

5:03 - Running Into Coaching Misconceptions

5:37 - Coming Together: Mindsets, Behaviours, Design Thinking

7:25 - What Does Truth Look Like?  

8:14 - Delivering High-Quality Impact in COVID environments

9:15 - Tradeoff: Collaboration vs Energy

10:25 - Post-COVID: Continuing Virtual or In-person

13:18 - Innovation Standpoint: Outcomes and Interaction

16:34 - Weaving Through Innovation Terms

18:20 - Ashtanga Yoga: Structure, Flow, Creativity, Freedom

23:50 - Energy: An Art

25:56 - Key Skills Diagram of a Coach

26:53 - Fun in Coaching

28:00 - Advice for Innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Mark is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of 4Sight, and an award-winning, seasoned Senior Executive & start-up Founder with more than 25 years of success delivering profitable sales growth for some of the world’s most visible brands. His experience spans consumer packaged goods, food manufacturing, home furnishing, non-profit, government and start-up as well as across geographies – having lived & worked in Asia, Europe and North America. 4Sight was born out of Mobile Agent Now as clients from Procter & Gamble and Clorox to Nestle and Energizer saw value in mining their reviews (and those of competitors) for actionable insights. Mark has held positions with go Vibrant (a non-profit that he founded, and is still Chair of the Board), the Cincinnati Parks Foundation, the Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center, and the University of Chicago Alumni Committee.

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Episode Guide:

2:34 - What is Innovation

3:47 - Connection and inner peace

7:03 - 4Sight: Discovering truth

09:12 - Marketer by Training  

12:34 - Dealing with "customer is always right"  

14:14 - What Isn't Innovation

15:34 - Consumer Fatigue

16:32 - Setting up your benchmarks

18:29 - Working with Pampers

20:19 - NGO: Vibrant

25:24 - Working for the government sector

27:18 - Positively impacting people's lives

28:35 - Advice for future innovators

--------------------------
OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Peet van Biljon advises clients on innovation strategy, new product development (NPD), and R&D transformation. He serves clients in all sectors, but has particularly deep expertise in the high-tech, electronics, software, and advanced manufacturing industries. Peet is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where he teaches a graduate course on Innovation and Public Policy. He was formerly a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and managed McKinsey's global innovation practice. He has held executive positions in several companies internationally. 

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Episode Guide:

1:30 - What Is Innovation

3:00 - Creative and Analytical process

3:59 - Innovation as a social enterprise

6:14 - Ambidextrous learning

7:54 - Humans, Uncertainty, Creativity, and Innovation

9:10 - Peter Drecker: Systematic innovation

11:02 - What Isn't Innovation

12:34 - Mid-20th century definition of Innovation

13:10 - Elements before Innovation

16:17 - Research and Development vs Innovation

17:55 - Entrepreneurs' creative disruption

19:53 - Management thinking on innovation over the years

23:22 - Theories for Innovation by entrepreneurs

23:58 - Samuel Palmisano's "If you don't innovate, you're in commodity hell"  

25:00 - Karl Marx 

25:32 - Peter Drecker: Innovation and corporations in a systemic way

31:38 - Public and private sectors on risk tolerances

35:54 - "Why do you want to innovate?"

38:25 - Collaborative effort and leadership, healthy organization environment

41:05 - A triathlon or decathlon?

--------------------------
OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest: 

Mike Ross, Founder and CEO of Juniper

Episode guide

1:50 - What Is Innovation

1:42 - Creativity with Impact

4:15 - What Is Not Innovation

4:27 - Ambiguous Impact and Mistakes

12:14 - Innovation as an Organization

13:50 - Experimentation

16:05 - Danger of Separate Innovation Hubs

16:55 - Innovation is a Trojan Horse

19:50 - Stability and Innovation

22:57 - Fear Impediments

27:15 - Advice to Innovators

Featuring:

Mike Ross, Founder and CEO of Juniper

Host:

Jared Simmons (@outlastllc), Founder and Principal at OUTLAST Consulting LLC

Thanks:

Theme: “This Must Be Heaven” by Buzz Amato

Editing and Production: Buzz Amato

Marketing and Visuals: Naomie Oplado

Follow us:

• LinkedIn
• OUTLAST Insights
• Twitter

More about our guest: 

Johnny Howze III,  

Vice President Supply Chain Management - Gas, Generation, and Services at Southern Company

Episode guide

0:00 - Intro

1:41 - "What is Innovation?"

3:00 - Innovation is not using the same formula

4:25 - View from different lenses

5:10 - Lens on work

7:32 - No "one way" to learn

9:26 - Serving customers through Innovation

13:43 - Growing with and through responsibility

18:23 - Paradigms in life

22:40 - Can you innovate alone?

25:50 - Tips from Johnny 

28:05 - Winning tomorrow by winning today

Featuring:

Johnny Howze III,  Vice President Supply Chain Management - Gas, Generation, and Services at Southern Company

Host:

Jared Simmons (@outlastllc), Founder and Principal at OUTLAST Consulting LLC

Thanks:

Theme: “This Must Be Heaven” by Buzz Amato

Editing and Production: Buzz Amato

Marketing and Visuals: Naomie Oplado

Follow us:

• LinkedIn
• OUTLAST Insights
• Twitter

Title: Innovation is delivering something exceptional (with Jeremy Kourdi)

Description:
What separates innovation from imitation? In this episode, Jared Simmons talks with business author, coach, and entrepreneur Jeremy Kourdi about how innovation creates both impact and long-term value, and why originality and authenticity matter more than ever.

Jeremy shares lessons from NASA, Amazon, and even sport, while unpacking his view that innovation requires both visionary thinking and the discipline to follow through.

About Jeremy Kourdi:
Jeremy Kourdi is an executive coach, business writer, and co-founder of Expert Leader, an AI-powered leadership development platform. A former SVP at The Economist and Managing Director with Duke Corporate Education, Jeremy has written or co-authored 29 books translated into 17 languages. His latest title, 50 Ideas That Changed the World of Work, is out now from Pegasus Books.

About Jared Simmons

Jared Simmons is the Founder and Principal of OUTLAST Consulting, a boutique firm helping organizations unlock innovation through intentional action. With leadership experience at Procter & Gamble, McKinsey & Company, and Coca-Cola, Jared blends corporate strategy with entrepreneurial thinking to help clients innovate on their own terms.

Chapters:

• 00:00 — Introduction to Jeremy Kourdi

• 01:26 — What is innovation? Jeremy’s definition

• 04:35 — The difference between value and impact

• 07:35 — Innovation in sport: originality vs. reapplication

• 09:59 — Authenticity and creativity in innovation

• 12:00 — Innovation as a moment of achievement

• 15:07 — Innovation requires vision and execution

• 18:45 — Bezos, long-term thinking, and value

• 19:56 — How innovation shaped Jeremy’s career

• 23:15 — The Gary Flandro/NASA story

• 25:00 — Predicting vs. creating the future

• 28:29 — Advice for innovators: vision, priorities, ethnography

• 32:55 — Innovation starts with asking the right questions

Zack shares how treating his law firm like a business--with a clear strategy, leadership team, defined culture, and coaching-based development--has positioned it as a forward-thinking force in the energy sector. He also offers a candid look at the promise and pitfalls of AI in the legal field, what spreadsheets and digital courthouses have done for the oil and gas industry, and why innovation starts with a willingness to embrace uncertainty without fear.

The episode also explores deeper themes: the emotional intelligence required for entrepreneurial leadership, the fine line between risk and danger, and how reframing tough decisions can make innovation more accessible. If you’ve ever wrestled with fear-based decision-making or wondered what innovation looks like outside of tech startups, this episode is for you.

Chapters:

• 00:00 — Introduction to Zack Oliva

• 01:19 — Redefining innovation: invention vs. improvement

• 02:45 — Running a law firm like a business

• 04:28 — AI in law: ethics, risks, and opportunities

• 06:26 — Operational innovation in legal services

• 09:28 — Innovation in oil and gas data & drilling

• 13:31 — Why the energy sector demands constant innovation

• 14:24 — Avoiding bureaucracy and staying nimble

• 15:37 — Innovation ≠ decisions made in fear

• 17:47 — Reframing risk: uncertainty vs. danger

• 20:50 — The “go get the bread” metaphor for risk-taking

• 22:06 — Balancing risk with reputation in law

• 24:25 — Managing ego and team-based decision-making

• 25:34 — Advice for innovators: trust your gut and your people

About the Guest:
Zack Oliva is the Managing Partner of Oliva Gibbs LLP, a firm known for its deep expertise in the energy sector. He also leads Oliva Partners Management, a long-only value investment fund for high-net-worth families. With a reputation for bridging legal strategy and business operations, Zack brings a unique perspective to innovation in both professional services and capital markets. He is also a passionate mentor and lifelong learner (and Jiu Jitsu practitioner).

About the Host:
Jared Simmons is the Founder and Principal of OUTLAST Consulting, a boutique firm helping organizations unlock innovation through intentional action. With leadership experience at Procter & Gamble, McKinsey & Company, and Coca-Cola, Jared blends corporate strategy with entrepreneurial thinking to help clients innovate on their own terms.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:59 - What is Innovation?

4:25 - Importance of being mission-driven

8:43 - Data-driven innovation

14:18 - What isn't innovation?

19:27 - Innovation's impact on career

24:49 - Advice for innovators
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Brothers David Sinkinson and Chris Sinkinson are proven SaaS entrepreneurs. Their bootstrapped startup, AppArmor, helped keep people safer with innovative mobile apps and emergency notification solutions for individuals across the globe. In February of 2022, their company was acquired by US competitor Rave Mobile Safety for tens of millions of dollars. Later in 2022, Rave and AppArmor were acquired for over $550 Million by Motorola Solutions. Now Dave and Chris have launched Startup Different - a book and podcast to help show you that there’s another, better way to build your business. Startup Different debunks startup myths, tackles some of the toughest challenges and gives you the tools to build your business. These down-to-earth founders prove making a successful startup has little to do with unicorns or ten-baggers and instead focuses on a proven, different method for startup success.

More about our guest:

• David Sinkinson
• Podcast: Startup Different
• Book: Startup Different

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

"Innovation is creating a new process, a new product, or a new approach to doing something better—solving a problem that's not been solved before." - Purandar Das

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:56 - What is Innovation?

2:30- The Role of Mobile Technology in Innovation  

3:19- From Physical Media to Streaming: A Case Study  

9:53 -  What Isn't innovation?

11:25 - Innovation, Optimization and AI

13:57- Innovation in Cybersecurity

14:31 - Data security innovation and ransomware protection

20:03 - Evolution of data protection and data governance

23:45 - Advice for future innovators
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Purandar has been a 2x CTO of 2 of the largest marketing services companies & is now the CEO of one of the leading data protection companies; Sotero. Purandar went from Collecting & monetizing personal data to protecting personal data. He made the transition because he was very concerned about the security products on the market & decided they needed a new approach.

More about our guest:

• Purandar Das
• Company: Sotero

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

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Tatsuya Nakagawa is the Co-Founder and CEO of Castagra Products, a sustainable roof coating manufacturing company. Castagra's Ecodur Roof Coating was voted top "Greenvention" by the reality show Dragons’ Den. Over the past 20 years, Tats has launched hundreds of products and services, co-authored the book Overcoming Inventoritis: The Silent Killer of Innovation (forward by Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple), and spoken to a variety of industry groups including: Chartered Accounts of Canada, Canadian Bar Association, The American Chamber of Commerce, and The International Internet Marketing Association. He’s also written articles for Fast Company, Construction Today, and Industry Week, and has been quoted on CBS News, Global TV, CBC, The Globe and Mail, and BC Business. Tats is the host of the popular C-Suite Network podcast, Specified Growth Podcast. The podcast features interviews with leaders who have overcome adversity, built massive organizations, and made a positive change in the building materials and coatings industry. He also hosts a LinkedIn Live series, Roofer Reflections, where he interviews roofing professionals about their experiences in the industry.

More about our guest:

• Tatsuya Nakagawa
• Company: Castagra Products
• Book Co-authored:  Overcoming Inventoritis: The Silent Killer of Innovation
• Tat's Podcast: Specified Growth Podcast

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:42 - What is Innovation?

3:14 - Role of Identity in Innovation

6:28 - Reducing Friction on Identity

11:39 - Importance of Curiosity and Experimentation

13:04 - Finding Mentors

15:47 - Sports Analogies and Innovation

21:37 - Music, Sports, Business, and Performance

28:20 - Overcoming Challenges and Learning from Failures

33:42 - Reflections on Career and Adaptation
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

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Dr Craig Detweiler is the president and CEO of Wedgwood Circle, a philanthropic investment collective funding creative projects of meaning. He is also dean of the College of Arts and Media at Grand Canyon University. In recent years, Dr. Detweiler has worked in various roles within academia, including professor of communications at Pepperdine University, associate professor and chair of the mass communication department at Biola University, and director of the Reel Spiritual Institute at Fuller Seminary. His cultural commentary has appeared on Nightline, CNN, NPR, the New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. His award-winning documentaries include Remand (narrated by Angela Bassett), Purple State of Mind, and unCommon Sounds. In 2016, he was named Variety’s Mentor of the Year, and for years he has blogged at Patheos as “Doc Hollywood.”

More about our guest:

• Craig Detweiler
• Book: Honest Creativity: The Foundations of Boundless, Good, and Inspired Innovation
• Company: Wedgwood Circle

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:49 - What is Innovation?

1:22 - Shifting the paradigm

5:09 - Book: Honest Creativity

10:37 - Creativity, empathy, and entrepreneurship

12:10 - Perceiving and Receiving

16:45 - Entrepreneurship, purpose, and innovation

21:46 - Purpose: what it entails  

23:27 - Innovation, purpose, and creativity with an entrepreneur

27:21 - Advice to Innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

• Helene Cahen
• Company:  Fire Up Innovation
• Book: Fire Up Innovation: Sparking and Sustaining Innovation Teams
  • Purchase on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Independent bookstores
• Blog: fireupinnovation.com/blog

Visit Helene's website at www.fireupinnovation.com where you can:

• Schedule a free consultation
• Sign up for her monthly newsletter
• Buy the book now and sign up for the readers club via QR code in the book. You'll be invited to a complementary coached five-week challenge workshop
• Find a sneak peek of the first chapter

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:49 - What is Innovation?

4:12 - Innovation in the changing world

5:07 - Artificial Intelligence: Tool, regulation, leading companies

9:18 - AI, Innovation, Government Regulations and Politics

11:38 - Collaborative regulation

12:47 - Innovation in Artificial Intelligence

17:06 - Innovation for Professional Development or Self-leadership

19:46 - Creating a team profile dynamic

26:06 - Advice to Innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

More about our guest:

Natalie Born is from Atlanta, Ga. She is an Innovation Facilitator, Consultant, Author, Keynote Speaker and the Host of Innovation Meets Leadership podcast. Prior to Founding Innovation Meets Leadership, Natalie held roles as a VP of Innovation, Territory Global, and Senior Vice President of Business Development at a mar-tech firm. Natalie has collaborated on two approved US patents and has over 20 years of experience leading product development, UI/UX, web development, and strategy and marketing teams. Natalie has worked with organizations such as CareerBuilder, First Data, IHG, and ADP, leading major initiatives in over 18 countries. Natalie is married to Aaron and they have two daughters.

Know more about her and her company here:

• Natalie Born
• Innovation Meets Leadership
• Book: Set It on Fire: The Art of Innovation

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:28 - What is Innovation?

1:55 - Breaking down patterns

5:19 - The problem of falling inlove with solutions

7:41 - Authenticity vs Perfectionism

10:14 - Missing the moment

12:21 - The value chain

15:13 - The napkin sketch commitment

16:33 - What isn't innovation: innovation isn't creativity

17:40 - Separating innovation and creativity

21:29 - What keeps you busy?

22:34 - Experiences that shaped the innovation approach

26:12 - Advice to innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Beth McDaniel received her BBA in finance from the University of Texas in 1988 and JD in law from South Texas College of Law in 1996. She has been with Reactive Surfaces since 2006, both as a director/advisor and officer. Beth has 25 years of business experience and 17 years of legal experience, with an emphasis on contracts, licensing, and business operations. Mrs. McDaniel serves as President and Chief of Administration for Reactive Surfaces, an innovation company in the paint and coatings industry.

Know more about her and their company here: 

• Beth McDaniel 
• Reactive Surfaces

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:17 - What is innovation?

1:43 - Innovation shaped by career

3:27 - Breaking down creativity

6:35 - Bringing innovation to the market: B2B and B2B2C

7:56 - Innovating for demand and urgency: Carbon Capture Coatings

11:40 - Reaching for ROI

14:37 - Protecting patents and trade secrets

18:40 - Working on reactive surfaces

22:50 - What is carbon capture coatings?

30:01 - Advice for innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Ravi Kurani is the founder of Sutro. He is based in San Francisco. Ravi was selected to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2017 for the Energy category.Ravi attended the University of California, Riverside where he graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical engineering. He earned his MBA from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and a Certificate in Sustainable Energy Conversion and Storage from Stanford University.Early in his career, Ravi interned at Under The Mango Tree, was a Frontier Market Scout at Village Capital, an Analyst at Hub Ventures, and a Project Coordinator at Building Wise. He was a Social Entrepreneurship Advisor at CORO Northern California and an Advisor to SAHGHATA GLOBAL.In 2011, he founded ImpactSpace, an open impact data initiative, is the open and free global database of companies, entrepreneurs and investors delivering social and environmental impact along with financial returns. In 2013, Ravi founded the water testing and data analytics company, Sutro. The company's main product has built a sensor-connected app that monitors the health of your swimming pool, notifies you if maintenance is required and orders pool supplies.

Know more about her and his company here: 

• Ravi Kurani
• Sutro

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Episode Guide:

1:15 - What is Innovation?  

1:44 - Solving a problem vs building a solution

2:43 - Importance of distinction: solution  

5:33 - Company: Sutro

10:05 - "It's my baby" founder's mentality

12:24 - The value of 'listening" and 'pivot'

13:59 - What isn't innovation?

17:55 - Balancing and Managing one's energy

23:25 - Risk Predictability

26:24 - Risk acceptance and attachment philosophy

29:20 - Advice for innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Daniel has also co-authored “Platform Thinking. Read the past. Write the future.”. His research interests are focused on innovation management, especially digital two-sided platforms and digital services. He co-founded Symplatform in 2018, the international conference on digital platforms that aims to match scholars and practitioners in the field. He co-founded and is scientific director of Platform Thinking HUB, the community of innovation leaders that aims to foster innovation through platform thinking, which is part of the Digital Innovation Observatories of Politecnico di Milano. He is also scientific director of IDeaLs, the global research platform founded by Politecnico di Milano aiming to develop innovative ways to engage people in transformation processes. 

He is a member of the International Product Development Management Conference EIASM-IPDMC scientific committee. He has authored more than 70 scientific articles, including peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters. Apart from academic research, he teaches innovation and project management at various levels, from bachelor’s to master’s, MBAs, executive MBAs, and corporate classes, being also Director of the International Part Time MBA of the POLIMI Graduate School of Management. Moreover, he is often involved in advisory projects with small and multinational organizations in innovation and transformation management.

Know more about her and his affiliations here: 

• Daniel Trabucchi
• Politecnico di Milano
• Symplatform

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Episode Guide:

1:35 - What is Innovation? 

3:06 - book: Trap of thinking 

5:29 - Innovation advancement and regulation 

8:09 - Innovation as a new thing vs a new purpose 

10:07 - AI as a platform 

15:12 - Efficiency and the unintended consequences of such

19:46 - What isn't innovation: it's not innovation if it's not creating value 

23:38 - Agile project management 

25:03 - Business vs Technology platforms: technical and regulatory perspective 

29:49 - Advice to innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Peter is  also is the Chair of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers’ Air Cleaner Council. In 2021, Oransi merged with Aviemore Technologies and is now a motor technology company with a clean energy mission. Oransi’s new manufacturing facility in Radford, Virginia is making products in the USA with advanced motor technologies and is actively hiring more than a 100+ local workers to reshore the company’s entire manufacturing. Previously, Peter was the Founder & CEO of the Austin, Texas-based Alen Corp., an air purification company he built, and after 7 years had a successful exit. He went to college on a Navy ROTC scholarship and then served 4 years, including a tour in the Red Sea during the First Gulf War. He was a communications officer and then gunnery officer on the USS McCandless. Peter is late diagnosed autistic and now advocates for autism awareness in the workplace

More about our guest: 

• Peter Mann
• Oransi 

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:36 - What is Innovation? 

4:19 - Communicating with ChatGPT

6:45 - Internet: democratizing work environment

9:19 - Innovation in Reshoring

11:55 - Innovation in the air purifier space

15:23 - What isn't Innovation?

17:42 - Innovating a copy

19:14 - Leveraging brand name

20:15 - Mindset, Drive, and Ideas
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Ted Ladd teaches innovation at Harvard University and has participated in six different start-ups in Silicon Valley, the most recent acquired by Google. You can learn more about him on his LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/tedladd/

------------------------------------------------
Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:56 - What is Innovation?

2:43 - Personal and professional background

3:43 - Book: innovating with impact  

6:33 - Respect, Affirmation, and Confidence

8:11 - Affirmation in Innovation

10:48 - 2-step formula  

12:35 - Platform natives

13:38 - Palm Pilot, Google, and IPO

15:47 - The mobile internet

17:52 - Innovation impact on an internal basis

20:12 - Innovative ideas from university studies

21:24 - Process-driven innovation

23:52 - Empowering and the effectivity of idea-generation

26:43 - What isn't innovation?

28:16 - Radical innovations

-------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

His award-winning blog, Goinswriter.com, is visited by millions of people every year, and his work has been featured in the Washington Post, USA Today, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Psychology Today, Business Insider, Time , and many others. He is the creative force behind the ghostwriting agency, Fresh Complaint.  

------------------------------------------------
Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:12 - What is innovation?

3:38 - Humility and Audacity in Innovation and Innovators

5:57 - Innovation, humility, and breakthroughs

11:15 - The necessity of 'place'  

13:24 - Real artists don't starve; Place in creative work

17:00 - Creating scenes and life-connections

20:15 - Serendipity and Attention: Innovation views

23:04 - Innovation: a root system

24:28 - Role of Music

29:52 - Art imitates life - Life imitates art: Lessons in Attention

32:45 - Music is not a metaphor for innovation

36:12 - Boredom and Attention: reading the signs

-------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Carolina Duque Chopitea holds a master’s degree in Business Analytics from Hult International Business School (San Francisco) and has recently co-authored “Tomorrow's people and new technology” , a book that explores how the emerging technologies that power the Fourth Industrial Revolution are changing our lives. With her multidisciplinary background and experience working in technology Carolina helps brands and organizations to build technological and innovative solutions that contribute towards the sustainable development of our plant.

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Episode Guide:

1:20 - What is Innovation

1:59 - Blockchain

2:44 - Book: Tomorrow's people and new technology

6:22 - Big data: shaping it and getting shaped by it

9:08 - Practical Innovation and value

11:56 - Innovation from non-economic projects

12:36 - What isn't innovation?

14:59 - Not something from scratch or zero

17:37 - Innovation Skill: Learning and Promoting

21:32 - Innovation: Shaping Careers

23:45 - Advice to innovators

-------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

• Book: Tomorrow's people and new technology

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Roger L. Firestien, PhD has trained more people to lead the creative process than anyone else in the world. He is Senior Faculty and Associate Professor at the Center for Applied Imagination at SUNY Buffalo State, as well as a guest lecturer at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine. As president of Innovation Resources, Inc., he consults, creates training programs, runs Breakthrough Labs, and has created a series of courses for Open Sesame.  He is author of several popular books including Create In A Flash:  A Leader's Recipe For Breakthrough Innovation and WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?: Better Ideas & Decision Making At Home And At Work. For more information, please visit www.RogerFirestien.com

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:45  - What is Innovation?

2:14 - Creativity consultant vs Innovation consultant

4:02 - Book: Solve The Real Problem

5:57 - The Boeing 747 windshield problem

10:05 - Myth: Mandated Innovation System

12:15 - What isn't innovation?

13:47 - Asking the creative questions

15:44 - Innovation and Creativity

17:27 - How has innovation shaped your career?

19:04 - Advice to innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

• Book: Solve The Real Problem (pre-order here!)

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Monique possesses ten years’ experience in organizational strategy planning and consulting for nonprofits, small businesses, and Fortune 500 corporations. Her company, Horizon Advisory Group states it's mission is to help these organization leaders to define the path to their next horizon through strategic planning, organizational development, and facilitated stakeholder collaboration. Prior to Horizon, she held leadership roles in Management Leadership for Tomorrow’s Advisory practice and Accenture’s Talent & Organization Strategy practice where she worked with client executive and senior leadership teams on large-scale human capital strategy and transformation efforts. A Chicago native, Monique holds a BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from the University of Michigan. She has also completed additional professional training in Human-Centered Design with the LUMA Institute; Design Sprints with AJ & Smart; an advanced facilitation training on “presencing Race, Gender, & Collective Healing”; and Diversity in the Workplace (certificate) through the University of South Florida. In her spare time, Monique teaches yoga, volunteers as Treasurer for the Atlanta Unbound Academy’s Board of Directors, and she is a mentor with Emory University’s Start: ME business training program.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

2:04 - What is Innovation?

2:20 - Breaking down 'curiosity'

4:56 - Bringing curiosity to life: NGOs

7:04 - Getting started: hearing and listening

9:12 - Turning feedbacks into insights

11:10 - Importance of front end listening

14:05 - Passion-led leadership  

15:05 - NGOs: A for-profit view and operations

17:06 - Breaking down 'ego'

19:32 - Ego in NGOs 

20:14 - Non-profits: Strategic planning

25:46 - Charting diversity in strategic planning

29:40 - Executive and big picture visionaries

30:38 - Making space for innovation  

32:10 - Scarcity vs Abundance Mindset

34:04 - what external consulting can provide

36:00 - Strategic Planning Process timeline

40:36 - Advice for Innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

As vice president of research and insights at OFS, Doug brings more than 15 years of experience collaborating with product and interior designers from around the globe. After graduating from Millikin University with a bachelor’s in business, he began his career at OFS in international sourcing before transitioning to director of product development. Since that time, he has held a number of roles, including brand manager, director of A+D sales, VP of marketing and regional  vice president for the central U.S.   A well-respected and expressive thought leader in the design industry, Doug is also the host of the highly-rated Imagine a Place podcast that inspires connection and collaboration, while exploring the role place plays in people’s lives. He has hosted guests from Fortune 500 companies and aspiring entrepreneurs alike, facilitating authentic conversations about everything from the latest workplace trends to neuroscience and architecture.   Doug served on the International Interior Design Association’s (IIDA) board from 2015-2020 and still plays a key role in programming for IIDA student members. He supports meaningful IIDA programming efforts, such as Design Your World, a program for high school students that provides educational design opportunities and addresses diversity in design at the source. He also serves on the advisory board for Kansas State University’s Interior Architecture and Industrial Design department. In 2021, Doug received a HiP Award for his leadership in the design industry.   In addition to these accomplishments, Doug is a passionate storyteller and published children’s book author. He loves talking about his career and his four keys to personal growth (Humility, Creative Courage, Optimism, “Go Giver” Mentality), which he often shares with the younger professionals he mentors. 

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:55 - What is innovation?  

2:21 - Problem searching and improving solutions

3:47 - iPad: Problem solving vs life improvement?  

5:39 - Improving life through creativity  

7:36 - Getting good at creative work as is with knowledge work  

9:32 - The idea open of openness

11:14 - creating a creative physical workspace culture

13:15 Judgment: Killer of creativity and the Eisenhower Matrix

15:57 - Getting into the creative mindset  

18:00 - What is not innovation  

20:07 - Creativity: Shaping careers

23:32 - Advice for innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Hussain Almossawi is also renowned designer and innovator who has worked across industries around the world creating and consulting for companies, including Nike, Apple, Google, Adidas, EA Sports, Intel, and Ford Motor Company. As a regular keynote speaker on innovation and design, Hussain has also taught at several universities such as The New School.

In 2019, he founded Mossawi Studios, a multi-disciplinary design studio specializing in creating memorable, iconic, and bold experiences. He loves blurring the lines between product design, visual effects, and storytelling. 

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:25 - What is Innovation?

2:13 - "Bettering an idea"

3:12 - Improvements and Collaborations in the footwear industry

5:49 - Innovation and Invention: a crossroad

8:52 - FingerWorks and SoundJam: Apple acquired companies

11:56 - What is not Innovation?

12:54 - Innovation and Invention: becoming erroneously synonymous

14:06 - Innovation shaping careers?  

15:16 - Book: The Innovator's Handbook (out on sept 6)

16:50 - The First Principles Method

20:44 - Advice for Innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

•  The Innovator's Handbook: A Short Guide to Unleashing Your Creative Mindset - Out on September 6, 2022!
• The First Principles Method

Companies Mentioned:

• SoundJam
• FingerWorks
• Mossawi Studios

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

David Cutler, facilitates the leading immersive "GAME of Innovation' where these powerful, team-based experiences have empowered business, arts, and education communities from around the globe to solve creative challenges while becoming better collaborators. He is also an award-winning, multi-genre musician and Yamaha Master Educator.  Cutler is a Distinguished Professor at the University of South Carolina, where he teaches innovation and entrepreneurship, and a member of the Liberty Fellowship and Aspen Global Leadership Network.

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Episode Guide:

1:20  - What is Innovation?

3:08 - Extraordinary problem solving: process and gamification

5:40 - What is G.A.M.E?

8:01 - Article: six things kindergarten teachers know that most CEOs do not 

9:43 - Being problem agnostic

1239 - 6 types of non-innovation

1339 - Not imitation

1423 - Not magic

1509 - Not anarchy

16:48 - "Not everything"

17:33 - Not a big a idea

20:35 - Bonus: not an industry - not therapy, and not easy

21:39 - Innovation: Shaping careers

22:15 - Book: The GAME of innovation

2429 - Classical music, Jazz, and Innovation: an intersection

3137 - Innovation and Diversity

3208 - Murder of George Floyd: becoming more inclusive

3412 - Advice to Innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

• 6 Things Kindergarten Teachers Know That Most CEOs Do Not
• The GAME of Innovation: Conquer Challenges. Level Up Your Team. Play to Win

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Todd leads a team of talented digital marketers, eCommerce managers and analytics professionals to drive growth and create best-in-class experiences across all of Mohawk’s digital platforms including B2C, B2B and B2B2C. Prior to Mohawk, he held multiple roles over a 16 year career at The Coca-Cola Company from eCommerce, marketing strategy and digital marketing through team and program management. When he’s not driving digital transformation, Todd is spending time with family and friends, travelling, cooking and enjoying the outdoors.

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Episode Guide:

1:21 - What is Innovation?  

2:14 - "Finding good ideas"

5:05 - Evaluating and Executing the ideas

6:27 - Middle section of Innovation: due diligence

9:38 - Criticality of Collaboration and bringing in skillsets

11:25 - Bridging the risk adverse and risk taking ends

12:45- Enterprise organizations: longer term results  

14:46 - Innovation in the Ecommerce and Analytics space

16:43 - "Why does this take so long"  

18:47 - Transition from programs into ecommerce

20:32 - Advice for innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Whitney's movement work involves racial justice efforts, and equipping effective allies through truth-telling, bridgebuilding, empathy, and action. She grew up between Latin America and West Africa as a Foreign Service child. At Washington University in St. Louis, Whitney doubled majored in English and Spanish, and minored in Communications and Journalism, during which she also embraced her calling as an activist. Whitney’s passion for service and social justice brought her to Washington, DC after college to serve with City Year, and then work in homeless services, before founding Service Never Sleeps in 2015. 

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Episode Guide:

2:05 - What is Innovation?

3:52 - Societal Innovation: defining "White Supremacy"

8:06 - Dismantling and Destroying: A contrast

8:54 - Getting Innovation 'Wrong'

12:14 - Taking the first step to big decisions

16:33 - The field of social justice and nonprofit

19:52 - Service Never Sleeps: Centering race equity

23:14 - Keeping it in-check

24:02 - Facing the uncomfortable

26:45 - Activism, kindness, polarizations

31:36 - Processing thoughts: What is next?

34:44 - Operating at the intersections

36:25 - The either-or binary

38:40 - Advice for Innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Companies: 

• Service Never Sleeps 

Music Album:

• What Will You Do

References:

• Quote: “In this country, American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.” — Toni Morrison
• Article: (divorcing) WHITE SUPREMACY CULTURE by Tema Okun
  • White Supremacy Culture – Still Here (updated May 2021)

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Marge, the 7th of 13 children, considers her childhood home as the innovation headquarters with as many as 8 of the 10 living at home at the same time. She has worked her way to the top in the US Army despite all the setbacks as a woman-of-color during her time. She uses her experience and expertise as a former civil service worker and now an active member of her church and in music clubs to help guide her children and the people around her to use their God-given gifts and talents to make the world a better place

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Episode Guide:

1:42 - What Is Innovation?

2:33 - Defining "Need"

3:55 - How much is enough?

6:43 - Working in the Army: keep the staff, staffed

8:08 - Thinking through and making critical decisions

10:48 - Importance of motivation and recognition

11:13 - Familial ties, innovation, and prejudice: making up the foundation  

14:58 - Growing up with limited resources

18:56 - Switching and finding innovation

20:45 - Credit taking: Towards innovation and improvement

21:53 - Born and Raised in the South

22:37 - Staying true with the approach

25:00 - Overcoming the segregation of colors and triumphing over prejudices

30:15 - How work experience shapes your views

32:18 - Music and it's role in life

35:30 - Managers, Leaders, Directors: having balance

36:30 - Innovation in music: ad-libs

39:30 - Innovation cannot be scripted

40:25 - Overcoming fears and stage frights

42:56 - Being open to receiving ideas

46:30 - Advice to Innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Ion Valis is a strategic advisor to entrepreneurs and executives by helping them anticipate the future, accelerate their performance, and reinvent themselves when necessary. He enables organizations to "see around the corner" through two proprietary frameworks that he has developed - the FuturePROOF Scorecard and Playbook. His book 'The Magnificent Mistake' talks on how to learn from your mistakes, he has also given a TEDx Talk on the changing nature of leadership in the 21st century, and hosted a bi-weekly podcast on how to apply the management consultant’s toolkit to everyday problems. Ion plans to launch an online course called "Reinvention Boot Camp" that will empower thousands of people with the tools, skillset, and mindset to reinvent themselves regularly.

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Episode Guide:

2:09 - What Is Innovation?

3:33 - How does creativity  

6:24 - Creativity: Innovation and Innovative

7:08 - What isn't Innovation

8:04 - Cybernetics: Intersection of domains  

8:44 - Is it Innovation and Improvement?: Airbnb and Uber

11:20 - Distinction of Innovation and Invention

13:44 - Passion projects and Reinvention as a space

16:07 - How do you see reinvention? Looking forward deeper into 21st century

17:02 - Netflix: examplar of reinvention

23:13 - Reinvention values into an organization

28:25 - Holy Trinity: Innovation, Reinvention, and Future-proofing

32:00 - Advice to future innovators: ideas are worse than worthless  

33:39 - "Real Innovators"  

33:51 - 2nd advice: Embrace your craziness

34:33 - Last advice: think about what you can subtract

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Resources Mentioned: 

Frameworks:

• The FuturePROOF Scorecard and Playbook

Books: 

• The Magnificent Mistake  - by: Ion Valis

Persons mentioned:

• Marcus du Sautoy
• Wayne Gretzky

Brands used as examples:

• Uber
• AirBnb
• Netflix

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Galen Bingham is the founder of Kiln Global Coaching & Consulting. Known as the leadership strategist, he is a leadership trainer, retreat facilitator and certified executive coach with 30 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies. He is consistently sought out to advise or serve on premiere non-profit boards where, Galen provides oversight in governance, board development, CEO selection and organizational leadership. He has coached or consulted with over 875 senior executives, CEOs and non-profit leaders across 7 countries.  He is a best selling author of IMPACT: A Leadership Fable: Your Power To Make A Lasting Difference. Galen also hosts the Whiskey, Jazz and Leadership podcast.

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Episode Guide:

2:22 - What Is Innovation

2:45 - Creative Imagination: 2 Types

4:17 - Risk Reward: creative vs synthetic imagination

5:25 - Pressures of Wall Street

5:39 - West vs East: Running a business

6:27 - What drives the difference between the West and East in long-term planning

7:33 - Catalogue of Life and scenario catalogs

9:11 - Developed Courage

10:57 - Cultivating 'freedom' at work and managing implications of 'the fall'

14:01 - Unlocking the drive of confidence with decades of experiences

15:19 - Old paradigm lost: collecting lessons from life

17:45 - Ubiquitous world: impact to wonder and innovation

18:39 - Data, Information, Knowledge, and Henry Ford

21:19 - What isn't Innovation?  

22:18 -  Implications of value in innovation; is 'interesting' innovation?

24:32 - Focus: the 'Now' vs the future

25:57 - Value in having an objective point of view

26:45 - Coaching: helping navigate what you already know and how

27:48 - Finding the 'language'

29:59 - Defining value

32:30 - Advice for innovators

--------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

Books:

• IMPACT: A Leadership Fable: Your Power To Make A Lasting Difference

Galen's podcast:

• Whiskey, Jazz and Leadership

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

The company is a manifestation of Todd’s impassioned belief that economic and social systems can be built inclusively and not at the expense of human dignity and the health of the planet. To test his theories and gain a deeper understanding of how to build and execute better systems, Todd earned a medical degree from the University of New Mexico, spent years developing a range of businesses, and co-founded SecondMuse in 2008. He’s proud to serve on the Board of Directors of TechSoup Global and The Circulate Initiative.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:33 - What Is Innovation?

2:23 - What does 'big' mean?

3:41 - 'BIG' in Tech: Scale

5:07 - Social Media: adverse effects on body image perspective

6:10 - Thinking in Spheres

8:04 - Arriving at the broader view of innovation

9:48 - The medical field perspective: homeostasis

13:09 - Segregation: of knowledge and markets

14:33 - Coalescence: travel, upbringing, cultures, experiences

15:41 - Relationships, Connections, and Synthesizing

17:51 - Human aspect of Innovation

18:16 - Vicious cycles and Virtuous cycles

20:21 - What isn't innovation?

22:38 - Finding the right people who'll operate and support you  

23:32 - Driving towards harmony

24:44 - Past vs Present: Conversations of necessity

26:12 - Decentralization of the world of Tech: moving out of California

27:12 - Pandemic supply chain crisis

28:05 - Homogeneity of thought and risk aversion

29:52 - Diversity: don't put your egg in one basket

32:07 - Advice to innovators 
-------------------------
Resources Mentioned: 

People referenced:

• Johann Christian Gottlob Baumgarten

Stop Asian Hate:

• Stop AAPI Hate: report hate crimes here
• Get the latest news and updates all over the country here (Instagram)
• Chinese for Affirmative Action Donation link
• Asians for Mental Health Directory
• Anti-Racist Guide
• The AAPI Emergency Response Network (ERN): Worldwide vigil on 3/26 at 7:30 PM EST

Black History Month:

• History of Black History Month
• Why Is Black History Month Celebrated in February?
• 2022 Theme: Black Health and Wellness
  • books and guides here

--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Grace Chiang Nicolette, Vice President of Programming and External Relations, works closely with the President on the organization’s partnerships, outreach efforts, communications, and innovative programming, including oversight of CEP’s biennial conference for foundation executives. Prior to this role, Grace was a manager on CEP’s Assessment team, where she led the marketing, creation, and presentation of CEP’s benchmarking assessments for individual foundations. Grace is a frequent speaker at conferences and to the foundation and nonprofit boards and staff on topics of philanthropic effectiveness and also philanthropy in China.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

2:00 - What Is Innovation

2:13 - The aspect of discovery

2:48 - Which is tougher: discovery or bringing to the table?

4:39 - Bringing in the resources vs building a bridge to connect?

6:17 - Philanthropists and the business world: Outcomes and Approches

6:30 - The Center for Effective Philanthropy

8:16 - How does the Center function

12:22 - Measuring success and impact as an organization  

15:04 - A mirror to other foundations

17:56 - Following the science of research

18:37 - Working with different foundations and industries

21:59 - Experiences with working for non-profits

27:20 - Advice to future innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Jeb Bell is the third generation President of Equipment Controls Company. Founded in 1965, we are an independent, specialty distributor of Measurement and Control products and solutions for natural gas. Our Markets include Natural Gas Distribution Companies. Gas Transmission pipelines and industrial/commercial. We have sales/distribution offices in Norcross, Ga, Houston, Tx. Indianapolis, In. and Salt Lake City, Ut.

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Episode Guide:

1:30 - What is Innovation?

2:08 - Meaning of value

4:47 - Becoming a sales organization

6:16 - Meter mountain elections  

7:45 - Fossil Fuel industry now

9:25 - Innovations' social implications  

10:14 - Driving internal change

12:52 - What isn't Innovation?

15:53 - History of Equipment Controls Company

25:27 - "Modern day traffic light"

27:23 - Advice for future innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Alex Mammen founded Heritage Growth Partners in 2014 with the goal of creating true partnerships with entrepreneur-owners, built on long-term thinking, shared values and mutual alignment of interests. He brings 25+ years of private equity, investment banking, commercial lending and family business experience to Heritage, and has completed over 70 M&A and financing transactions valued in excess of $7 billion. Throughout his career, Alex has served as a trusted advisor to a variety of private and public companies, including a number of founder and family-owned businesses. At Heritage, he focuses on identifying and investing in private companies, leading structuring and diligence, and advising and serving management teams in achieving their growth objectives.

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Episode Guide:

1:50 – What is Innovation

3:07 - Innovation in Heritage Growth Partners

6:00 – Vision and execution 

7:23 - Cycle and Business evolution

8:34 - Industry-sector investment and innovation

9:10 – 5 areas to look into

9:18 - Food sector

9:42 - Distribution

10:13 - Repair and Maintenance

10:29 - Training and Education  

11:09 - Retail and Consumer

11: 54 - Consumer-driven, Geographically driven, and sticky elements

19: 25 - Roomate Business

22:19 - Advice for innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest: 

Karl Preissner, Director for Equity and Inclusion at Procter & Gamble

Episode guide

1:40 - What Is Innovation

3:00 - Innovation In Different Fields

4:28 - Ideas vs Innovation

4:44 - What Is Not Innovation

5:50 - Outcome-Focused Innovation

7:00 - Growth and Contribution

9:10 - Building Today For Tomorrow

13:47  - Paradoxical interconnectivity

16:55 - Innovation and Outcomes

21:32 - Innovation in The Quality-Inclusion Space

23:30 - Insider and Outsider Groups

25:50 - Virtual Reality as a Vehicle Of Empathy  

29:08 - Advice for Innovators

29:57 - Teamwork, Trust, Team players

Featuring:

Karl Preissner, Director for Equity and Inclusion at Procter & Gamble

Host:

Jared Simmons (@outlastllc), Founder and Principal at OUTLAST Consulting LLC

Thanks:

Theme: “This Must Be Heaven” by Buzz Amato

Editing and Production: Buzz Amato

Marketing and Visuals: Naomie Oplado

Follow us:

• LinkedIn
• OUTLAST Insights
• Twitter

More about our guest:

With a strategic blend of business expertise, technical aptitude, and forward-thinking vision, Nik transitioned to establish Saritasa, embodying his dedication to a technology-driven future. Accompanied by a supportive partner and accomplished children, his journey exemplifies entrepreneurial excellence.
 

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:50 - What is Innovation?

2:43 - Using technology to innovate

6:34 - Technology to create a business-innovative tool

7:46 - 2 Kinds of Business Owners

9:19 - Rundown on Categories for Business Innovation

11:48 - Case example on Business Innovation

13:56 - Customizing Solutions

15:18 - Solving Problems with Nik: Closed and Open Systems

18:10 - Impact of APIs

19:47 - APIs and real-world application

21:37 - Sara Tasa at work, relationships, and facing the challenges

28:30 - What is not innovation?

31:03 - Advice to innovators
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

Know more about her here:

• Niara Nicholas

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:46 - What is Innovation?

1:38 - What isn't Innovation?

3:03 - Turning sparked invention to innovation

5:27 - Missing link between innovation and invention

7:27 - Identifying importance and understanding intersection

8:48 - The beauty industry

11:27 - The "N of one"

14:55 - Brand attributes

16:16 - Brand authenticity and innovation

21:17 - Consumer perception and product development

27:31 - Commitment and consumer communication

29:23 - Advice to innovator
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

More about our guest:

Rob Morgan is a marketing professor at the University of Alabama and directs the STEM Path to the MBA and CREATE Path to the MBA programs. Rob attended pharmacy school at the University of Kansas, completed his MBA at the University of Dallas, and his PhD in business at Texas Tech University. Rob researches and teaches marketing strategy, innovation, technology commercialization, and marketing in emerging markets.

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Episode Guide:

1:39 - What is Innovation

2:43 - Creativity, Innovation, Solutions

4:06 - What isn't innovation

7:10 - Current Academic Programs

10:32 - 5-year program

12:52 - innovation is what drives the growth in our economy

13:38 - How the academic projects are decided

15:43 - State differences in accessibilities

17:54 - Insights from having both programs

20:21 - Career shaped by Innovation

22:36 - Advice to innovators

24:54 - Generational difference with future innovators 

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest: 

Nadia works using a Human-Centered Design approach to help organizations become sustainably and socially successful by developing and implementing business plans that work and finding innovative alternatives with actionable solutions to the challenges they are trying to tackle.

Previously, she worked in consumer research and product development at P&G, started up her own businesses, and picked up business knowledge from INSEAD. She has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas, an MBA from INSEAD, and a Certificate in Social Sector Leadership from the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. Learn more about 

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Episode Guide 

0:00 - Intro

1:56 - What Is Innovation  

3:25 - Seeds from days at P&G

4:30 - Innovation from the Traveler perspective

6:58 - Innovation stages in different places

7:13 - Innovation doesn't have to be like the new and sexy

7:52 - Kenya, Thailand

8:34 - Different views of innovation and implicit bias

8:59 - Street Smart

11:22 - SafetyNet Technologies

13:57 - Basic Premise of the technology

16:13 - Innovation is working together

17:21 - Falling in love with the innovative impact

19:20 - Travel: a hobby or an addiction?

21:46 - Mental health

23:04 - Advice to innovators

--------------------------
OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management. 

More about our guest:

Amanda Utz has successfully managed transformational projects across strategy, marketing, sales, and operations for leaders across multiple organizations including The Home Depot, Mannington Mills, and Veritiv. 

She has held multiple interim Head of Marketing roles for PE backed businesses (brought in by the PE firms) to hep the businesses quickly set up foundational marketing elements, strategic company and product positioning messaging, lead generation strategies, etc., while also helping with the execution of these tactics. Amanda enjoys partnering with executives to deliver solutions that meet their needs across various functional areas and industries.

You can learn more about her on her LinkedIn.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:25 - What is Innovation?

4:06 - Creative Marketer vs Process-driven Marketer

6:10 - Innovation to idea-oriented creative folks

7:30 - innovative approach to thinking

9:55 - Changes in the corporate marketing world

10:45 - What isn't innovation? A baker-cake analogy

12:52 - Hobbies beyond baking

14:10 - Innovation, travel, and Airbnb

17:04 - Innovating, launching, and promoting

17:44 - The B2B work

22:00 - Innovation in processes

23:32 - Advice to innovators 

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest: 

Amanda Billiot  is the VP, Human Resources for Military Engines at Pratt & Whitney. After over 16 years in HR, she is a self-proclaimed positive disruptor when it comes to leading innovation and growth courageously. Two of her proudest professional accomplishments include helping to start the award-winning Empower Ability ERG and this incredible WILL Rise program at Pratt. She has also worked for GE, Cooper Industries, the National Labor Relations Board, and in sports radio. Amanda is also a proud fellow of the Aspen Institute’s First Mover Program and an active member of her local community and church.

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Episode guide

0:00 - Intro

2:27 - What is Innovation

3:37 - Energy in industry level work processes

4:24 - Innovation and Patents

5:44 - Innovation Buzzword: Inclusion

8:26 - DEI program: Raytheon

10:30 - DEI for broader innovation

11:54 - Having a heart

14:34 - What isn't Innovation?

19:11 - Resiliency, Celebrations, and Learning

20:58 - Innovation, Health, Well-being, and COVID  

22:22 - Performance reviews, Cookie-cutter employees,  

25:46 - Interview, expectations, bias, and validation

29:06 - Advice to deal with the imposter syndrome

32:34 - Advice for innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management. 

More about our guest:

Riggs Eckelberry has spent decades refining a very fast process of doing and learning, that he calls Mistake Based Marketing™.  And he used it to achieve multiple software exits during the dot-com boom.  Now he’s achieving badly needed change in the massive water industry, to help the most vital – but threatened – resource on the planet: water. As founding CEO of a OriginClear Inc, Riggs has found a completely novel way to rescue business owners faced with fast-rising water bills and build a new investment market in the process. He’s even begun to build “water stablecoins”. Riggs is uniquely qualified to disrupt this industry, having learned management in the nonprofit space, captained oceangoing ships, and a personal passion for rowing crew.

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Episode Guide:

1:30 - What is Innovation?  

2:20 - What is the 'Future'?

3:43 - The Sirius Report and the West's unipolar world

5:50 - Lessons and Advantages of the Past

6:27 - Pentagon's Lessons Learned Department

10:14 - Value of Podcasts

11:13 - What isn't Innovation?

16:30 - Personal Career Impact: 2 Categories of Innovative People

18:30 - Keeping fresh thoughts in innovation  

22:38 - Innovation: shaping careers

27:02 - Transformative technology: dot-com era  

33:18 - Advice to Innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

CityLink Center’s Executive Director is Johnmark Oudersluys, a former corporate strategist with a passion for creating large-scale solutions for critical social issues. At CityLink, Johnmark has led the formation of a scalable, integrated center that breaks down barriers for Greater Cincinnati’s unemployed and the working poor to progress out of poverty. Cincinnati has been home for 15+years during which engagement with community has led to deep friendships, the opportunity to meet an amazing wife and start a family, and a profound appreciation for our city.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:32 - What Is Innovation

2:56 - Importance of Energy and Energy Activation  

8:22 - Moments of resistance

12:27 - Citylink  

13:55 - Crafting a personal mission statement

14:28 - Rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina

16:08 - Leading Citylink Center

19:10 - Program rich - System poor

21:40 - What's next for Citylink Center

22:12 - Fundamental issues as a sector

25:17 - Innovation: Unnatural?  

29:07 - Advice to future innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Sam Bond is COO at joe, the leading mobile ordering and rewards solution powered by independent coffee. Before joining joe, Sam started Lyft's Southeast office and held leadership roles at Coca-Cola, Bain and Company, and in the U.S. Marine Corps.

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Episode Guide:

2:08 - What is Innovation

2:37 - What does inspiration look like?

4:51 - Experimentation

8:11 - Juxtaposition of Inspiration and Experimentation

8:52 - What Innovation isn't

12:18 - Process: Innovation vs Product or Service

14:45 - Impact of pandemic recovery to innovation

15:59 - Creating opportunities for innovation

19:43 - Experience at joe

21:39 - joe's role in helping business owners' innovate

22:33 - Small business advantage over corporate giants

26:53 - Supporting Values

29:13 - Mirror not Match

30:11 - Advice to innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Maria Lucia Madariaga, a general thoracic and lung transplant surgeon. She is also the principal investigator of the Organ Perfusion Laboratory and a founding member of the Complex Airway Center at the University of Chicago. 

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Episode Guide:

1:46 - What Is Innovation  

2:25 - What Isn't Innovation  

2:57 - Being one-to-one

4:55 - Big and small leaps  

6:19 - Establishing trust with patients

8: 02 - Smoking dependency

10:26 - Physician Burnout

11:11 - Helping out Physicians  

13:37 - Organ Perfusion Laboratory

17:37 - Connecting the dots and step-by-steps

24:24 - Advice to future innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

James, who's based in New York, leads a group of Technology and Real Estate professionals that provide advisory services to Fortune 500 Companies and leading technology firms. James has completed in excess of 35 million sq. ft. of global real estate projects. He has been very passionate throughout his career on the impact of technology in the business and real world.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:17 - What Is Innovation?

3:08 - What is Digital transformation?

4:50 - Chief Transformation Officer's role

6:49 - JLL and COVID response

8:41 - Bench Seating

10:25 - 1st camp: Financial institutions

11:26 - 2nd camp: Technology companies

13:23 - Having remote work choices

14:52 - Making choices to excel: American Express

16:20 - Importance of Technology, now

18:42 - Creating the book: Tech Trends 24/7 And the Impact of Covid-19

21:17 - Curiosity at work

22:37  - Promoting the curiosity mindset

23:52 - What isn't innovation?

24:29 - NFTs  

25:00 - What's not Technology

25:29 - Advice for innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Book: 

• Tech trends 24/7 and the impact of COVID-19 - James Quinn

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

On April 1, 2021, the LEAD Institute became a part of Orchard, and Liz Head joined the Orchard team as Director of Operations.  Her role is to incorporate LEAD's capacity-building curriculum into Orchard and launch a refreshed virtual training opportunity in Fall 2021. In addition, as Operations Director, Liz will lead financial operations, human resources, and strategic initiative implementation. Liz joined the LEAD Institute as the Deputy Director in January 2019 and assumed the role of Executive Director in July 2020.  An experienced strategist with a 15-year career in investment banking and operations management, Liz’s role was to position the LEAD Institute for future growth through strategic planning. Before joining LEAD’s staff, Liz coached three nonprofit leaders through LEAD’s Ten-Month Program.

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Episode Guide:

1:37 - What Is Innovation?

5:00 - Instilling innovation of forward-movement

6:43 - Progression and Mindset for Innovation

8:48 - Profit vs Non-Profit: Similarities and common ground of populations

11:59 - Georgians United

14:53 - Independent Voting and the State of Georgia 

18:18 - What is  NOT Innovation?

21:37 - Power in functional partnerships

23:41 - LEAD and Orchard Merge

25:09 - Resources for Orchard, Institute for Political Innovation, Georgia Alliance

27:27 - Advice for innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

John Rossman is an expert at digital business models, operations, and organizing programs. He has led engagements on developing innovation processes, Internet of Things strategies, marketplace and API-driven platform business models. He is a sought-after speaker on creating a culture of operational excellence and innovation.  

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:26 - What Is Innovation?

3:04 - Innovation playbook and Amazon

6:37 - Book: The Amazon Way

9:17 - Teams and 'failure'  

10:51 - Leadership, Executive Decisions, and Innovation

13:44 - Amazon Way: building leadership principles

16:05 - Making the Amazon way your way

18:04 - Amazon and the Culture of Writing

21:29 - Universality of The Amazon Way

24:35 - Intentional Innovation

25:05 - Third element of Innovation

30:00 - 'What sucks?' framework

33:09 - Advice for Innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

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Episode Guide:

1:49 - What is Innovation

2:30 - What is THRIVING?

5:00 - Meaning and Innovation

7:45 - How-focused, Who-focused, and WHY-focused

13:35 - 80% of adult-waking hours

14:00 - Purpose and Dignity in work and in life

15:00 - Operating better to become the people we were meant to be

17:01 - Shifting values

19:00 - Re-engineering ability

22:56 - Advice to Innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest: 

Ahmed Hashmi, a senior at the University of Texas studying Management Information Systems.

Episode guide

1:56 - Innovation at risk of losing its meaning entirely

4:02 - What is Innovation

7:40 - Shifting from solving problem first into a problem first solution

11:08 - OUTLAST Consulting: Coaches of Color program

11:58 - One on one coaching environment: Best environment

15:42 - Creating an environment that leads to valued context with innovation and design  

21:19 - Personality tests' holistic innovation

26:45 - World of design-thinking

29:41 - Need for professional development

30:05 - Availability in the corporate world

33:40 - Reframing organizational priorities and mentalities

35:20 - Coaches of Color mission

More about our guest:

James Marable is a marketing strategist, entrepreneur, and community advocate based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Professionally, James has 15 years of experience in social media strategy and implementation, employer branding, media production, product development, design, project management, promotional strategy, and event planning. 

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Episode Guide:

1:42 - What Is Innovation

3:38 - Innovation is a bit of a gap for companies

5:10 - Self-Authenticity  

6:05 - Importance of Action Points

6:26 - Jumping in and taking a seat at the table

9:17 - Clothing Store: Original Thought Required

10:58 - Working with people

13:45 - Personal Development

18:51 - What Innovation Isn't

19:35 - The Social Media Approach

21:21 - Working in the corporate space

22:47 - Repositioning as the new corporate structure

25:16 - Can anyone be an entrepreneur?  

28:34 - Companies in America and revenue

30:33 - Manager vs CEO

31:06 - Dame Dash

31:51 - Autonomy in achieving life goals

33:58 - Structure attributions

35:00 - Advice to future innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest: 

Tim Schumm

Founder and President of Lucas James Talent Partners

Episode guide

What Is Innovation 

Recruiting Industry

Founding Lucas James

Government Staffing

Business within a Business with autonomy

Flexible cost-per-hire

Incentivizing and fees

Brokerage and marketplace model

Role of empathy

Outside the mainstream

Future of Recruiting-Process Outsourcing

Continuous Improvement Mindset

Advice for Innovators

Comfort Zones

More about our guest:

Tim helped start the Branham Advisors to fill a critical gap in the marketplace for executive advisory services. He is also a veteran of the United States Army, having served as an Airborne Ranger and the third battalion at Fort Benning, Georgia. He's an instructor and senior member of the World Martial Arts Federation, as well as an avid golfer, rock climber, and self defense expert.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:25 - What Is Innovation?

2:45 - First element: Profits

4:37 - Harvesting the profit: non-systemic

6:40 - Innovation: A label or a skill

7:17 - Second element: Measurable

8:34 - Digital Innovation: Process and Structure vs Mindset

10:39 - "Keeping Up with the Joneses"

13:44 - Chief Transformation Officer: selection and effect to innovation

14:59 - Current rapid changes: a smarter approach

16:53 - What IS NOT innovation

19:39 - Bolt on approach

23:13 - Tech Debt: a sunk cost?

26:42 - Advice to innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest: 

Brett Simmons brings years of experience in warehousing, transportation, and operations in industries such as Mining, Railroad, and Consumer Packaged Goods. Brett uses his unique experience and education to deliver solutions that build on capabilities to offer lasting effects on an organization. Brett further reinforces process excellence and ensures cohesion between planning and structural requirements. You may contact Brett at: brett@outlastllc.com

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Episode Guide:

1:29 - What Is Innovation

2:27 - What Is a Value Chain

3:39 - Innovation vs Day-to-day work

4:20 - Article: The Discovery of Penicillin

7:46 - Incorporating new work as frontline supervisors

8:47 - Understanding failure

12:08 - Rejections at work

12:51 - Chopped: the cooking show and 'baskets'

14:30 - Ron Howard's Apollo 13

16:06 - Innovation is not a job title nor workshop

17:36 - Innovation and constraints

18:54 - Defining Innovation as brothers: from experience and looking back

21:06 - Necessity: Mother of Invention?

22:42 - Learning is about exposure

23:49 - Collaborative environment in learning

25:03 - Fortune 500 companies and Innovation

26:21 - What is not Innovation

30:11 - Advice for innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management. 

In this episode of What is Innovation?, Jared Simmons is joined by Cynthia Kane, founder of the Kane Intentional Communication Institute and author of The Pause Principle. Cynthia brings a deeply personal and practical perspective to innovation, drawing from her experience teaching over 70,000 people how to communicate with clarity, compassion, and calm.

The conversation explores how communication—with ourselves and others—is a practice that shapes not only our relationships but also our ability to navigate change, uncertainty, and complexity. Cynthia shares her journey from loss to discovery, illustrating how curiosity, mindfulness, and self-awareness can transform the way we lead, build, and collaborate.

Whether you’re leading a company or navigating a tough conversation, this episode offers a grounding approach to innovation that begins within.

Guest Bio:
Cynthia Kane is the founder of the Kane Intentional Communication Institute and the author of four books, including The Pause Principle: How to Keep Your Cool in Tough Situations. A certified meditation and mindfulness instructor and breathing coach, Cynthia has helped over 70,000 people improve the way they communicate through her bestselling courses and training programs. Her work blends principles of Right Speech, mindfulness, and intentional action to create sustainable change in communication and leadership.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why innovation isn’t always about doing something new — but doing it differently

• How communication becomes a practice of clarity, curiosity, and connection

• The link between mindfulness and effective leadership

• How to speak to yourself with kindness (and why it matters for innovation)

• Why responding is more powerful than reacting in high-stakes situations

• The difference between making things easy and making them simple

Highlighted Insight:
“Innovation is a flowing river, not a series of hurdles. It moves. It breathes. It responds.”

Quote to Remember:
“Go where it’s easy. Innovation doesn’t have to be hard. It just has to be yours.”

Resources & Links:

• CynthiaKane.com

• The Pause Principle (Book)

• Cynthia on Instagram @cykane1

• Free 30-Day Pause Challenge available on her website

About the Host:
Jared Simmons is the Founder and Principal of OUTLAST Consulting, a boutique firm helping organizations unlock innovation through intentional action. With leadership experience at Procter & Gamble, McKinsey & Company, and Coca-Cola, Jared blends corporate strategy with entrepreneurial thinking to help clients innovate on their own terms.

In this episode of What is Innovation?, Jared Simmons sits down with Shawn Nelson, CEO and founder of Lovesac, to explore the deeper layers of innovation in business, leadership, and life. From making beanbags in his parents’ basement to running a public company approaching a billion in revenue, Shawn shares how clarity of purpose and long-term thinking can turn small product decisions into disruptive innovation.

The conversation dives into how leaders can define their own innovation “domain,” why originality isn’t a requirement for progress, and how the tension between ambition and patience can shape entire organizations. Shawn also unpacks the real cost of growth — from taking outside capital to making tough calls on talent and timing.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the pressure to “do something new,” this episode offers a grounding and practical lens for building, inventing, and innovating — one step (and one season) at a time.

Guest Bio:
Shawn Nelson is the founder and CEO of Lovesac, a public company known for its patented, high-performance modular furniture. A product designer, entrepreneur, and TV personality, Shawn holds a master’s in Strategic Design and Management and teaches at Parsons, The New School for Design. His recent book and podcast, Let Me Save You 25 Years, distills lessons from his two-decade journey scaling Lovesac from startup to publicly traded brand.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why innovation can be organizationally specific — and why that matters

• How to balance quarterly demands with long-term vision as a public company

• Why originality is overrated, and domain clarity is crucial

• What “patient ambition” looks like in real leadership

• How to use purpose to attract talent and guide product innovation

Highlighted Insight:“Innovation doesn’t have to be original. It just has to be new to you, your team, or your company. And it has to move you forward.”

Quote to Remember:“Maintain top ambition with infinite patience. That’s the hardest part and the secret to building something real.”

Resources & Links:

• Let Me Save You 25 Years (book + podcast)

• Lovesac – Modular furniture with a mission

About the Host:
Jared Simmons is the Founder and Principal of OUTLAST Consulting, a boutique firm helping organizations unlock innovation through intentional action. With leadership experience at Procter & Gamble, McKinsey & Company, and Coca-Cola, Jared blends corporate strategy with entrepreneurial thinking to help clients innovate on their own terms.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:46 - What is Innovation?

1:34 - Generative AI and Large Language Models

3:55 - Breaking down 'Organic Process'

6:00 - Innovation of GPS

7:55 - Innovation, Risk Management and Incentives, and the Importance of Failure

9:27 - Framing Perspectives on Success

11:33 - Time horizons and processes

15:48 - IdeaScale

18:30 - What isn't Innovation?

23:16 - Luck vs Skill

25:15 - Advice for Innovators
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Nick Jain is the CEO of IdeaScale, the definitive innovation software company. IdeaScale helps major organizations such as Comcast & state/federal governments innovate faster and better. As a repeat CEO with a proven track record, Nick has also previously led companies in the trucking and men’s shoe spaces. Nick graduated at the top of his class from Harvard Business School and holds a theoretical mathematics and physics degree from Dartmouth. He grew up in a mix of Canada and India and currently lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two cats, Daisy and Dahlia. Nick enjoys running, rowing, and playing poker in his spare time.

More about our guest:

• Nick Jain
• Company: IdeaScale

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

More about our guest:

Abi is an experienced Strategic Adviser that leverages over 15 years of experience from McKinsey and bulge bracket Investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Citi & Morgan Stanley). 
Through her company Okeowo & Company, she acts as a strategic & financial partner in quantitative, strategic, and execution oriented roles with Senior Executives and start-up CEOs. Her clients have ranged from large Fortune 100 organizations to small socially focused start - up enterprises that differ in size, maturity, geography and industry.

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Episode Guide:

2:25 - Difference between Digital and Technical Fintech

5:01 - External Innovation in Fintech

6:50 - What is Innovation?

8:10 - Improvement or Innovation: A consumer standpoint

10:39 - Internal Innovation

14:23 - Facial Recognition: A value-add?  

16:13 - Shampoo lather: external vs internal innovation

17:04 - Technology: Driving external innovation

23:15 - Innovation vs Invention

24:28 - Advice to Innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

Is your company's culture stifling innovation? Dr. Laura Hamill, organizational psychologist and author of "The Power of Culture," argues that innovation is fundamentally about mindset.

"Innovation is a mindset. It's a way of thinking about the world," says Dr. Hamill. She emphasizes the importance of creating a culture where people feel encouraged to innovate, think differently, and connect dots.

How can leaders foster a culture of innovation in their organizations?

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:56 - What is Innovation?

2:55 - Innovation Beyond Technology

5:39 - Culture, Mindset, and Success

6:58 - Shared Mindset and Challenges in Startup Cultures

9:09 - Experience with an Insurance Company

10:51 - Book: The Power of Culture

15:28 - National Association of Corporate Directors' position paper on culture

23:04 - Familiarity Bias

26:30 - Openness and Curiosity in Career Growth

31:48 - Advice for Innovators

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Dr. Laura Hamill is an organizational psychologist and business leader, focusing on the intersection of science and HR. Laura is an expert on creating great places to work and is the owner of Paris Phoenix Group, a consulting firm specializing in forming and transforming culture. Previously, Laura worked at Microsoft and was a co-founder of Limeade. Laura has written a book called The Power of Culture with The Economist.

More about our guest:

• Dr. Laura Hamill
• Company: Paris Phoenix Group
• Book: The Power of Culture

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

More about our guest:

Gideon Kedem has led Valen Semiconductor's Automotive Business unit since 2020. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the semiconductor and EDA industries, with various roles at leading companies like Cadence, Intel, and Xilinx. Prior to joining Valens in 2020, Gideon managed sales and business development at Xilinx activities across EMEA, Israel and India, with revenue responsibilities exceeding $200M. He holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and an MBA, both from Tel Aviv University.

Know more about her and her company here:

• Gideon Kedem

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Episode Guide:

1:16 - What is Innovation?

6:19 - Innovation perspectives

7:28 - Innovation in Valens company

11:53 - What isn't Innovation?

15:08 - Intersection of innovation, technology, and art: MoMA

17:46 - Advice to innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

In his new book, "The Imagination Emporium: Creative Recipes for Innovation," Duncan distills his experience into a practical guide to getting things done--and having fun doing it.

How can your organization foster a culture of innovation that turns ideas into reality?

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Episode Guide:

0:52 - What is Innovation?

0:17 - Challenges in Fostering Innovation: Innovate or Die

2:26 - Four Models of Innovation at Disney

03:44 - Creating a Culture of Innovation: Imagination and Training programs

05:22 - "Yes, and" vs "No, because" Exercise

08:34 - Learning Styles and Innovation

14:21 - Resourcefulness and Creativity

16:02 - The "Whys" and Death of Curiosity by Education

18:07 - Understanding Gen Z's Purpose-Driven Mindset

21:41 - Reverse-Thinking Innovation  

25:21 - The Power of "What If" in Innovation

30:31 - "The future of education is Gaming"

31:14 - Advice for future Innovators

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As the former Head of Innovation and Creativity at Disney, Duncan Wardle played a pivotal role in fostering innovation across Imagineering, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Pixar, and Disney Parks, crafting enchanting new storylines and experiences. 

Now, in his forthcoming book, The Imagination Emporium: Creative Recipes for Innovation, Duncan shares his extensive expertise to make innovation accessible to all, demystify creativity for those uncomfortable with ambiguity, and infuse the process with joy and excitement.

More about our guest:

• Duncan Wardle
• Book: The Imagination Emporium: Creative Recipes for Innovation

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:43 - What is Innovation?

2:28 - Impact of Simplification in Tech

5:23 - Consequences of Adding Complexity

9:47 - What is Technical Debt?

11:12 - Technical Debt, Healthcare, and AI

12:20 - North Labs Technical Debt and Innovation

15:54 - Downstream and Future Potential Implications

18:13 - Simplification, ROI, and Innovation

23:19 - Generative AI adoption and data quality

26:18 - AI nuances and ethics in business

30:27 - Gen AI is not intelligence

34:18 - Advice to Innovators
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Collin Graves is the visionary leader and CEO of North Labs, a leading fractional cloud data analytics firm empowering growing companies with data-driven strategies. Under his leadership, Collin has propelled over 1,000 organizations towards transformative success. Before founding North Labs, he served with distinction in NATO Special Operations during his tenure with the US Air Force.

More about our guest:

• Collin Graves
• Company: North Labs

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

Peter Compo is the author of “The Emergent Approach to Strategy: Adaptive Design & Execution.” Unlike many strategy authors from universities and consulting firms, Compo’s professional experience was spent working in the “corporate trenches” at E. I. DuPont. Hired as a research scientist, he held leadership positions in product management, marketing, supply chain, business management, and integrated business planning. He left DuPont after 25 years to work full-time on developing the Emergent Approach.

Dr. Compo hails from a multi-generational family of musicians. However, he went on to earn a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the City University of New York before joining DuPont. His mission is to create a new level of clarity on strategy theory and practice to enable organizations in any domain to innovate and achieve their aspirations.

Know more about him here:

• Peter Compo
• Company: The Emergent Approach to Strategy: Adaptive Design & Execution

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:39 - What is Innovation?  

4:00 - Evolution is Innovation

4:54 - Process to Innovation vs innovation process  

6:25 - Innovation direction in biology

8:00 - Exploiting an Innovation Opportunity

10:41 - Innovation, Evolution, and Business inspirations

13:18 - Innovation and risk management in organizations

16:58 - Practical Questions in Innovation

19:38 - Answering the 5-10 year plan questions

21:17 - Innovation, music, creativity, and cliches

24:39 - Innovation, Jazz, and Discipline

28:28 - South Americas' Mercado Libre

34:02 - Consistency and alignment in group goals

36:11 - Advice to Innovators
--------------------------

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

More about our guest:

William A. Lumpkin is Head of New Products Strategy & Business Development for Alexion, Astra Zeneca Rare Disease Business Unit. His business acumen, enterprise leadership, and passion for cross-functional collaboration helps bring new medicines to people living with rare diseases across the world. Prior to Alexion, he held a diverse set of U.S. and global commercial leadership roles at Takeda, Baxter, Baxalta, Shire, and Procter & Gamble spanning functional disciplines, product lifecycles and therapeutic areas. William is a proud father of three (Ailey, Sage, and Liam), loving husband (Layla), and resilient Indiana University sports fan. He also maintains interests in urban community development initiatives and was on faculty at the University of North Carolina Kenan Flagler School of Business online MBA program. He earned his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and B.S. Finance from Indiana University.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

2:03 - What is Innovation

3:14 - How people impact innovation

6:00 - Seeing the bigger picture in life

8:05 - Bigger picture: affecting day-to-day life and effecting innovation and collaboration  

8:41 - Earning trust: Top 1 priority

10:07 - Stereotyped view of Pharmaceuticals

10:52 - Large companies vs smaller companies: Providing real value to people

12:21 - What isn't Innovation

15:29 - Intersection and divergence of Marketing and Scientists

17:14 - Implications of the commercialization cycle

19:43 - Experiences that shaped Professional development views

22:22 - People: structures, connections, and excitement

22:56 - People of Color: finding energy and importance of passion

23:49 - Being "me" all day long in the Corporate America

26:14  - Advice for future innovators (and the public)

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Buzz has appeared on more than 150 CDs as a performer or producer. In 2000, Buzz created Amatones Music which focuses on independent production and film scoring. He has composed music for CNN, Delta Airlines, The Discovery Channel, the Weather Channel as well as for film and TV. His orchestration skills provided him the opportunity to score 2 pieces for jazz pianist Bob Thompson and the West VA Symphony Orchestra.

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Episode Guide:

2:17 - What Is Innovation

3:31 - History of Music and Technology

4:13 - Church music restrictions

5:18 - Legend Pianists

5:44 - Sound signature evolution  

8:30 - Les Paul and Wes Montgomery  

11:02 - Music in Innovation: Never finished

13:47 - Radios and selling records

15:18 - Impact of compartmentalization on music evolution  

19:15 - Resurgence of record players and albums

22:00 - Copyright law of 1976  

24:00 - Fair Music Act and online streaming  

26:05 - Record labels and Napster  

28:04 - Protection: A Human tendency

29:04 - Lessons from Curtis Mayfield

32:55 - Advice for future innovators

--------------------------
OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest: 

Wendy Nunnelley

SVP of Global Growth at Diageo, and an active angel investor, advisor, and board member for consumer goods startups.

Episode guide

0:00 - Intro

1:24 - What is Innovation?

1:52 - Internal and External Innovation  

2:26 - Is it an idea or innovation?

3:19 - Innovation shows up on the Shelf

6:29 - Internal Innovation Processes

9:53 - Product Positioning

14:11 - Customer and Retailer's perspective

16:07 - "Inbetweeners"

18:26 - Who are you as an Innovator? 

Featuring:

Wendy Nunnelley, SVP of Global Growth at Diageo, advisor to Springdale Ventures, and board member of Naturally Austin.

Host:

Jared Simmons (@outlastllc), Founder and Principal at OUTLAST Consulting LLC

Thanks:

Theme: “This Must Be Heaven” by Buzz Amato

Editing and Production: Buzz Amato

Marketing and Visuals: Naomie Oplado

Follow us:

LinkedIn

OUTLAST Insights

Twitter

Discover how his unique journey shapes his vision of innovation.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:05 - What is Innovation

1:40 - Improvement over Newness

3:39 - Behind C&D Tools

5:11 - Design Choices and Engineering Challenges

8:14 - Supply Chain Innovation

10:!9 - Balancing Cost and Quality and Innovation

13: 43 - Overcoming Industry Skepticism

21:19 - Advice for Innovators

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Kris spent nearly 16 years working for Uncle Sam, four as a young Marine and the rest in various capacities, including the intelligence community and as a Diplomat with the State  Department. He has thwarted warlords and worked on critical issues across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

Kris is the Co-Founder and CEO of C&D Tools USA, an American manufacturing company, where he leads go-to-market strategy and focuses on developing client and partner relationships.

More about our guest:

• LinkedIn: Kris Forrest
• Company: C&D Tools USA

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

#americanmanufacturing #entrepreneurship #supplychain #WIIP

More about our guest:

Peter Schroeder  has over two decades of experience, Peter has consistently proven himself to be a pioneer in both music and technology. Peter's unparalleled expertise in developing cutting-edge technology and innovative products has revolutionized the way people work and communicate, streamlining and simplifying even the most repetitive tasks. Peter has collaborated with companies like Facebook, Samsung, and Airbnb. His remarkable career also includes earning over 20 platinum records, 40 gold records, and a triple nomination for the Danish DJ awards. Despite facing challenges such as surviving a plane crash and becoming a father of twins, Peter continues to inspire others with his passion and unwavering drive towards innovation.

Know more about her and his company here: 

• Peter Schroeder
• Telzio

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Episode Guide:

1:32 - What is Innovation?

3:47 - Innovation vs Invention

5:04 - Translating music into business and innovation

7:17 - Leveraging technical and creative advantages from a music upbringing

9:55 - Creative mindsets of coders and developers

12:12 - Navigating an AI project under time constraints

13:05 - Reconciling demand and technology

14:30 - Significance of practicing humility and self-awareness

18:00 - What isn't Innovation?

19:27 - Advice for innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Steven Blue has also has published five books that teach senior leaders and CEOs how to increase profit, take market share, and destroy competition. He created and authored the League of Extraordinary CEO series, a monthly CEO advice column in the American City Business Journals. Steven is a highly-acclaimed keynote speaker and has addressed audiences at Harvard Business School, The United Nations, Carnegie Hall, The Safe America Foundation, Industry Week, The World Safe Summit, CEO Clubs International and Medtronic Corporation. His leadership insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Fox Business Channel, CNN, CNBC, Forbes, Fortune, CEO World, Business Week and Success Magazines. 

Steven serves as CEO-in-Residence at Winona State University. He holds a B.S. Degree from the State University of New York and an MBA from Regis University.

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Episode Guide:

1:15 - What is Innovation?  

3:17 - Innovation as a best-selling author

5:10 - Structure and Discipline in Innovation

9:37 - 'Permission' to Innovate  

11:54 - Making processes succeed

13:00 - Creating a self-sustaining culture of innovation

14:36 - Culture in 'most' airlines

15:10 - Culture in the heart of innovation

17:20 - What isn't innovation?

18:32 - Having 'multi-dimensional balance'

23:13 - Echo Chambers in companies

24:48 - Destroying personal echo chambers

27:35 - Building foundations

28:35 - Advice for innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

• Book: 
  • Metamorphosis: From Rust-Belt to High-Technology in a 21st Century World

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Ralf Specht is a founding partner of Spark44, he was the architect of an innovative, industry-first joint-venture with Jaguar Land Rover, which grew under his leadership to a global revenue of $100+m and 1,200 employees before it joined forces with Accenture Interactive in 2021. Previously, he consulted with global companies and brands for more than two decades with McCann Erickson. He is the author of 2021’s Building Corporate Soul: Powering Culture & Success with the Soul System™ from Fast Company Press, as well as his newest book, Beyond the Startup: Sparking Operational Innovations for Global Growth. His driving vision is to make soulless companies a thing of the past.

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Episode Guide:

1:40 - What is Innovation?

3:29 - What isn't Innovation?

5:24 - Advertising: Changing the game and creating something new

7:53 - The Procter and Gamble Experience

9:30 - Innovation: Shaping and Molding Careers

11:11 - Disrupting the normal

17:29 - Business Development Process and Staffing

20:04 - Becoming the CEO

22:26 - Creating Job Titles

25:07 - "Building Corporate Soul"

29:07 - Having a shared purpose

31:37 - Benefits of spending time on Culture

32:38 - Advice to Innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest: 

Samuel Sanders is an award-winning entrepreneur who has seen innovation, creativity, problem-solving, and ideation in action at many different levels: a Fortune 500 company, an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing company, as well as incubators. He also co-founded the company Wundershirt, which at its peak, sold athletic training clothing to Olympic athletes preparing for the 2016 Olympics. Currently, he runs Heard, LLC, a software application that helps governments and large companies get targeted and reviewed feedback from their citizens/employees to improve decision-making. His award-winning and highly-praised new book, Your Next Big Idea, is available at www.yournextbigideabook.com and Amazon.

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0:00 - Intro

1:28 - What Is Innovation?

4:13 - Being a 'creative' thinker

5:38 - Creatives and Entrepreneurs vs Problems, Needs, and Wants

7:30 - Viewing as an Opportunity

8:32 - Book: Your Next Big Idea

9:56 - Coming into solutions

11:31 - Identifying what makes sense to solve problems

13:10 - Innovators: Application, Fulfillment, Creating, Solving problems

14:09 - What Isn't innovation?

15:22 - Innovation Traffic Light

18:18 - Controversial tip: bringing in a new perspective

21:26 - "How has innovation shaped your career, experience, and life?"

24:09 - Hobbies to keep busy outside of 'innovation'

25:09 - Thoughts on immersive experiences

26:53 - Advice to innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management. 

More about our guest:

Consultant, speaker, and best-selling author David A. Fields helps in building consulting practices that are lucrative and lifestyle-friendly. He’s the author of Amazon’s highest-rated book on the business of consulting and has guided consultancies ranging from hundreds of millions of dollars down to one-person startups.

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Episode Guide:

1:03 - What Is Innovation

1:33 - Innovation as an improvement vs Innovation as breakthrough

4:56 - Different kinds of innovation

5:34 - Four Box Worldview and Consulting Business

8:20 - Innovation as a portfolio  

10:20 - Innovation application on product-service industry  

13:16 - Evolutionary vs Revolutionary

14:32 - Portfolio vs Product Distinction

15:16 - What isn't innovation

15:57 - Working with Kodak

17:10 - Looking out the window vs Listening inside the walls

17:51 - Patent Offices

20:46 - Developing frameworks and models

23:33 - Stepping back and recalibration

29:27 - Advice to future innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest: 

Robyn Bolton, 

Founder and CEO of MileZero

Episode guide

1:35 -  What is Innovation

2:11 - "Something"

2:55  - "Different"

3:38 - "Creates Value"

4:42 - Types of Value Creation

5:57 - What isn't Innovation

6:56 - Invention vs Innovation

9:55 - Laboratory Creations

12:00 - Value in the Corporate-side

16:16 - Value of Learning and Value of Dollars

19:05 - Aspects of Honesty

22:03 - Corporate Intrapreneur vs Entrepreneur

22:41 - Accidental Entrepreneurship

25:16 - Success Rate of Corporate Intrapreneurs

27:10 - Heart, Head, Guts

30:02 - Advice to Innovators

Featuring:

Robyn Bolton, Founder and CEO of MileZero

Host:

Jared Simmons (@outlastllc), Founder and Principal at OUTLAST Consulting LLC

Thanks:

Theme: “This Must Be Heaven” by Buzz Amato

Editing and Production: Buzz Amato

Marketing and Visuals: Naomie Oplado

Follow us:

• LinkedIn
• OUTLAST Insights
• Twitter

More about our guest: 

Hung Nguyen, professional development coach and leader in BP talent management, offers her perspective on what innovation is...and isn’t. Her deep expertise and unique sense of humor are on full display as she discusses her perspective on the future of talent management, the role of curiosity in innovation, and the connection between innovation and frayed clothing.

Episode guide

2:30 - Innovation is about creativity and trying new things

4:11 - innovation in the corporate world

7:13 - What isn't innovation

12:03 - Right people, right team, right roles 

13:35 - Innovation at BP

18:47 Different standpoints

23:04 - Advice for future Innovators

Featuring:

Hung Nguyen (@misshungnguyen), professional development coach and leader in BP Talent Management.

Host:

Jared Simmons (@outlastllc), Founder and Principal at OUTLAST Consulting LLC

More to explore:

Fun fact: Hung and her husband Chee were contestants on Season 32 of the Amazing Race! Follow their journey

The book with the story about tall basketball players: The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds

Careers at BP

A song about unraveling sweaters

Thanks:

Theme: “This Must Be Heaven” by Buzz Amato

Editing and Production: Buzz Amato

Marketing and Visuals: Naomie Oplado

Follow us:

LinkedIn

Twitter

More about our guest:

Lorraine Marchand  has three decades of experience in new product development. She has held leadership positions at Bristol Myers Squibb, Covance, Cognizant, and IQVIA, and she cofounded four companies. Marchand is an adjunct professor of management and serves on the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Management Program Advisory Board at Columbia Business School and an adjunct professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at Yeshiva University’s Katz School of Science and Health. She is also an investor-member of venture firm Plum Alley.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:23 - What is Innovation?  

2:41 - Unveiling adulthood curiosity

6:09 - The practice of noticing

8:25 - Jeff Bezos' Amazon and incentivized failure

11:22 - Problem Solving Methods and Innovation: First Principles

12:52 - Method 2: reframing

14:01 - Method 3: Analogy / Metapor technique

16:09 - Innovation: the cultural aspect

17:05 - What isn't innovation?  

17:42 - Serendipity Innovation: Upjohn company's Rogaine

19:05 - Disruptive Innovation / Big hunt innovations

19:35 - Field of Dreams Innovation

22:45 - Unlearning ways of thinking

23:28 - Innovation: Shaping Careers

27:31 - Advice to Innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Mary Ann has over 15 years of experience, 10 years as a consultant, and prior to founding MAJ Consulting, she worked at Deloitte as a strategy and operations consultant and in supply chain at General Electric. She has an MBA from Goizueta Business School at Emory University and two bachelors' degrees in Chemical Engineering and Psychology from the University of Notre Dame. She lives in West Chester, Ohio with her husband, Mike, and shih tzu mix, Lulu.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:21 - What is Innovation?

3:57 - What is so special about being intentional

6:57 - Day-to-day ratio: Intentionality and bias toward action

8:24 - Experience and communication down the pipeline

10:13 - Classical strategic planning process: 100-Zero

12:05 - Connectivity and alignment of thought

14:16 - Essence of the business MAJ Consulting

16:45 - Striking the balance mentally

19:33 - Ways to think and rethink intentionality

21:08 - What isn't innovation?

22:17 - Morality: discussion on gene splicing

23:53 - Assumption of morality in social media

26:30 - Detangling from societal structure

28:27 - Web 3 and blockchain vs Web 2 platforms

30:25 - Uber vs Taxis

32:08 - Advice for innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

"Innovation has 4 criteria: it has to be new, it has to bring a positive dimension to people. It has to be easily understood, and it has to make commercial sense ." - Rani Al Hajji

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:51 - What is Innovation?

5:05 - Consumer Needs in Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry

8:47 - Sustainability in Innovation Processes

10:00 - Balancing Product and Brand Innovation

14:50  - Leadership Style and Innovation

18:50 - Navigating Market and Consumer Dynamics

26:18 - New Environments and Trust-Building

27:05 - Advice for future innovators
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Rani Al Hajji is a seasoned global executive with over 25 years of experience in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. Having held key roles in renowned companies like L'Oréal and Colgate, Rani has spearheaded innovation and commercial strategies across Europe, North America, and Asia (including notable work in China). His extensive career has been dedicated to transforming cutting-edge R&D and tech innovations into consumer-friendly, marketable solutions that resonate with diverse audiences.  

More about our guest:

• Rani Al Hajji
• Company (Firm): We Don't Need Roads

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

More about our guest:

Ahmed Reza is a tech entrepreneur with a story that reads like a blockbuster movie. He started as a child actor in Bangladesh before becoming a Milken scholar at Cornell University; then working as an engineer at NASA. But his true calling was entrepreneurship, founding successful businesses before creating Yobi, a company that simplifies customer relationship management for businesses. He's also known as the intelligent man's Forrest Gump, forming close relationships with Michael Milken and Dr. Edward Zuckerberg, among others. Ahmed's journey is a testament to the power of hard work and determination, making him an inspiring guest for any podcast.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:29 - What is Innovation?

2:58 - Education in Bangladesh and America

7:22 - Rebelling from the system

9:54 - Hacker mindset

12:35 - Ethics, Philosophy, and Innovation

17:51 - What the heck is success?

19:55 - Technical education and importance of humanities

24:13 - Pitfalls of over-specialization

29:05 - Reforming education

37:06 - Advice to innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Tiisetso Maloma is a South African entrepreneur and the author of ten published books. His work centres around providing simple frameworks for understanding entrepreneurship, innovation, economics, and consumer behaviour. Maloma's books include "Innovate Like Elon Musk," "90 Days to Create & Launch," "The Anxious Entrepreneur," "The Future of Township Economies," "Innovate The Next," and "Forget the Business Plan, Use This Short Model." Tiisetso is also an experienced public speaker.

Buy his books here.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:46 - What is Innovation?

4:57 - What makes something useful?

6:31 - Technology and Innovation

7:55 - Intentionality in Innovation

9:51 - Importance of motion: efficiency and effectivity

12:43 - Material Discovery to Proprietary Innovation

17:19 - Importance of distinguishing what isn't innovation

19:28 - Advice for Innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Robyn M. Bolton is the Founder & Chief Navigator of MileZero, an innovation consultancy that works with leaders of medium and large businesses to navigate the uncertainty of innovation's "fuzzy front end" to confidently grow their businesses.  Prior to founding MileZero, Robyn was a Partner at Innosight, the innovation and strategy firm founded by Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen, a Manager at the Boston Consulting Group, and a Brand Manager at P&G where she was on the team that developed and launched Swiffer and Swiffer Wetjet.  She has a BS in Marketing cum laude with University Honors from Miami University (OH) and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Robyn Bolton

MileZero

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:24 - What is innovation?

5:29 - Implicit and explicit company cultures

9:50 - Difference from other consultants

11:50 - Cynicism in innovation

14:45 - Action speaks louder than words

17:13 - Leadership and Legacy

22:12 - Advice to innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Parker Meeks is a proven senior operating executive with more than 15 years of experience driving transformational change via strategic growth, operating performance, acquisition strategy & integration, and culture formation in field services-oriented businesses across design & construction end markets, including infrastructure, industrials, electric power, energy transition and oil, gas & chemicals, with demonstrable success at the global and national organizational scale in a variety of ownership environments (PE-backed, public, privately held). He has most recently held full P&L responsibility for a nationwide 900 person design and construction management business in transportation and water resources within TRC, a leading provider of technology-led integrated design, construction management, and environmental services to the electric power, infrastructure, industrial and commercial markets.

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Episode Guide:

2:17 - What is Innovation

3:15 - What is "Progress"

6:20 - Design Construction

7:49 - Small group vs big group disruptors

8:52 - Early forms of Design and Construction Technology

13:59 - Bringing in value

15:26 - How the innovation can help despite frictions

19:07 - Innovation and difficult choices

20:58 - Deploying mindsets in a decentralized organization

23:54 - Conversations in Digital Technology

27:22 - Is innovations about eliminating constraints?

28:17 - Advice to future innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Raji Rajagopalan believes that your 'differentness' is your differentiator. She is author of the book "Daring to be Different: Stories and Tips from a Woman Leader in Tech", a collection of stories to help you build the most important skills to have a meaningful career. In the last 20 years in the tech industry, her work has spanned building startup teams, turning around unsuccessful projects, driving engineering rigor, scaling online services, growing global teams, and innovating on products used by a billion+ customers. She currently runs an organization across five countries and four continents. You can learn more about her on her website, https://www.rajiraj.com

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:32 - What is innovation?  

3:56 - Micrsoft's leadership principles

4:36 - Career skills  

7:13 - Innovation: Software engineer perspective  

10:50 - 2nd principle of leadership  

14:29 - What isn't innovation?  

17:23 - Career advice from mentors

23:55 - Measuring life success

27:44 - Advice to innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

More about our guest:

Dr. Britt Andreatta is an internationally recognized thought leader who uses her background in leadership, neuroscience, psychology, and education to create brain-science based solutions for today’s workplace challenges. Britt is the former CLO for Lynda.com (LinkedIn Learning) and has over 10 million views worldwide of her online courses. She regularly consults with organizations on leadership development and learning strategy. Britt is the author of several books on the brain science of success including Wired to Grow, Wired to Resist, and Wired to Connect. In 2021, she was named a Top 20 Learning Influencer and a Top 20 HR Influencer for Leadership Development and in 2022, a Top 10 Learning Influencer. You can learn more about her on her website, https://www.brittandreatta.com/

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Episode Guide:

1:29 - What is Innovation?
3:29 - Expounding 'work'
5:08 - Walking the talk: A sense of purpose
7:03 - Breaking down Incremental Innovation
9:20 - Insight driven innovation
10:49 - Technology-driven innovation
14:22 - Defining "viable"
16:08 - What isn't innovation?
17:30 - Flashes of insight
21:13 - Psychological safety in innovation
23:09 - Investing in innovation
25:48 - Viability: Innovation process and execution
28:43 - Life outside work
31:50 - Advice to innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.