CanInnovate

This is the 1st of the new professional development 'tune-up' series! Short mini session, to elevate your game.

Who has ever experienced working with a contractor/technician/repair person? As soon as we say this, we know.. UGH.. it's going to be an awful and painful experience.

So, my dishwasher broke down the other day. In a panic, I called an Appliance repair company. They came the very next day, charged me money and put in a temporary part. That's when the big issue happened. The part arrived and trying to schedule them to come back, was challenging. They gave windows from 4-7pm and then, wouldn't show up. I'm sure many of you have experienced this.

It's beyond frustrating and we end up going through 32 flavours of emotion. From being patient, to irritated to angry. It's amazing what happens, when these contractors overcommit and under-deliver.

Think of the experience that we go through, we someone like a contractor/technician or anyone in our lives underdeliver. There is a reason why parents always say 'please don't promise things to my kids, that you're unable to deliver'. There is a massive fallout and disappointment that occurs. It's hard to repair and pick up the pieces for someone to break promises.

It's interesting, we all know how it feels - which feels AWFUL! Yet, so many of us to this at work.

We have a habit of saying 'yes' at work. We don't want to disappoint someone, or don't want to be seen as collaborative. Then, we sit down and realize that we can't make that timeline. We try to make it work but we just can't do it. Some of us, may get all stressed out trying our best to make the timelines, some will just continue working on our own timelines (often, failing to communicate or notify the other vested party that we can't make that timeline). Yet, we all KNOW how it feels to be let down.

Here is the impact of not managing expectations of not being able to make the timeline. TRUST IS BROKEN. Yup, ultimately, we stop trusting the other person. They get seen as unreliable and the perception of 'take their timelines and commitments' with a grain of salt.

It happens all the time. Now, there are ways to mitigate this risk. Here are some practical tactics.

SCOPE IT OUT:

Don't commit to anything, until you take the time to scope things out. Just say 'let me get back to you on timelines, I want to scope things out'. What you're saying is, let me do some due diligence to come up with a realistic plan that will generate a win-win. This shows a level of maturity. Then break down the task into smaller tasks & timelines. This needs to be looked at holistically, with all the other items that you have. Sometimes, saying YES to something, means that we need to say NO to something else. Or better yet, we can ask our supervisors/bosses/stakeholders to help us re-prioritize.

MANAGE EXPECTATIONS:

If you don't know the expected turnaround time - Sit down and talk. Align on what is feasible and what isn't feasible during that timeline. Find out, what do they need 1st. What is their minimum acceptable product/deliverable that they need. They may not need everything, just a few things. One of my favourite lines is, "when is the latest that I can get this back to you'? You'll be surprised, you might be thinking at the end of the week and they may be thinking the end of the month. Not everyone is reactive!

COMMUNICATE:

look folks, people are not mind readers. This part always drives me insane… just like those that don't signal to change lanes. It doesn't take much to send a quick message to say 'Got the request, just looking into it'. This shows that you've acknowledged their request and it's not going into a black hole. Give them quick updates or even let them see drafts. Communicate with them THROUGHOUT the journey, not just at the beginning and at the end.

OPTIONS:

If you can't do something, be upfront. I am a girl that likes options. I always provide 2 or 3 options. I don't want to be seen as the person that throws things over the fence and say 'catch- it's your problem'. I want people to know, that I may not be able to do something because of X,Y,Z reasons. However, here are a few options that might help you solve this issue. For example, Sally is doing something similar and you might be able to leverage this or I can do it, in a few weeks (beginning of Dec) or there I could oversee one of their team members and they can do the work and I can coach them through it.

People like options, they want to know that there is no dead end. Can you imagine, going to the doctors and being told that there is no options to get healthy! Don't be that person! Provide options, so that people know there is hope. They will respect you for your honesty and the ability to think things through.

I've got a freebie for you. After Action Review or Reflections review. I do this at the end of every milestone or deliverable. I've created a free cheatsheet for you, that you can easily download and try. Just click here REFLECTIONS AFTER ACTION REVIEW. It takes 10 minutes to do a reflection to thinking.

Let me know what your thoughts are.

Being that this is our 100th episode, I can't believe that the time has gone so fast. I started the CanInnovate podcast two years ago but still moving strong and it is just mind boggling to me. I keep thinking about this episode that I am going to record for you, my whole experience and the journey for the past two years and I have to say that I am really glad that I started this podcast journey because it opened up a whole new world for me that I never thought that would actually happen.

My Elevate Tech Fest Experience

I got invited to speak on stage at Elevate conference which is a massive Tech Fest in Toronto. I was invited to moderate and lead the fireside chat with Ariel Garten, who is the founder of Muse – the brain sensing headband. It was kind of surreal to me because it happened so quickly and the next thing I knew is that I am sitting in the green room prepping to go on stage.

I cannot describe how I feel because it is so fascinating, exciting and nerve-wracking experience. I got all sweaty but Ariel and the rest of the team backstage told me that I was a natural at it and that helped me get the confidence I needed to be on stage and I felt that I am getting better at it.

What I find amazing during my time on stage is that, while listening to Ariel talk about being a serial entrepreneur at the age of 16 years old and she was coming up with a product line and she knew nothing about how to break a great product line but she just did it anyway. If you think about it, at 16 years old with a can-do attitude that nothing is going to hold her back, I became fascinated by her mindset. It is also fitting because the Muse headband is about meditation and clearing your mind and how to get a positive mindset.

My experience at Elevate Tech Fest was truly amazing and unforgettable.

The 100 Episodes of CanInnovate Podcast

Being that this is our 100th episode, I can't believe that the time has gone so fast. I started the CanInnovate podcast two years ago but still moving strong and it is just mind boggling to me. I keep thinking about this episode that I am going to record for you, my whole experience and the journey for the past two years and I have to say that I am really glad that I started this podcast journey because it opened up a whole new world for me that I never thought that would actually happen.

I keep going back to the five-seconds of courage when starting this podcast and not knowing how to do it because I just have my management consultant skills and overcoming the imposter syndrome and I just had a whirlwind of experience. I have met incredible executives that are so innovative and thinking about it, it is how I got on stage with Ariel because she was on the podcast three times, we were able to create masterclass together and being able to connect with her and that would not have happened if I didn't start this podcast. I also think about my other speaking experience at other smaller events, conferences to having an Amazon best seller book, the online course: #Futureproof Yourself and so much more.

I am really glad that I started this journey and it opened up a lot of doors for me as I keep saying yes to a lot of stuff but it kept me thinking what do I have to say no to.

Episode 100 Going Onwards

I overcame being a workaholic and it was a two decade old habit that I had and I really wanted to think about where I am putting my time and effort into and I actually had to start pairing some things down for the things that don't make sense any more or for the frequency that needs to be revamped.

I actually resigned from a couple of board directors and I also want to make sure to keep myself healthy. I was thinking about the podcast and you all know how much I love it but I was also thought about all the emails that I get.

I have been getting a lot of emails about the lack of professional development topics especially when I talked about how to prioritize, give and receive feedback, the vulnerability and the mindset podcast episodes. Ariel Garten's episode 45 which is about the Innovation Mindset: how to untangle the knots in your head and killing that inner jerk is one of the episodes that provides tactical exercise has changed a lot of ways that you, the listeners have been thinking and in fact, I am still getting a lot of emails about it.

With me teaching at George Brown Consulting 101, the futureproof class, course and projects where I am coaching with other people to become more marketable, to increase their skill set and help them shift their mindset; I am thinking that it is time for us to start focusing on our own development and I will be bringing a lot of my management consulting best practices

The podcast will be shifting to focusing on:

• How we would innovate ourselves
• We will still have innovator guests who are changing the norm
• We will also have topics that will be broken down into smaller topics whether it is email management, when to prioritize or to how to say no to something elegantly

I am so excited for this shift and I hope you will continue to support me and the podcast. Here's to our 100 episodes, to 100 more and I can't wait to hear your feedback.

Links:

Ariel Garten Episodes:

• Innovation Mindset: Undo the knots in your head
• Muse 2 takes innovation to a whole new level
• Optimize the crazy in all of our minds

Imposter Syndrome: I'm an imposter, hear me roar!

Feedback: 3 reasons why giving and receiving feedback is important

Vulnerability: What is vulnerability and why should we be vulnerable

Amazon best seller book: Connect the Dots: How to turn strangers into meaningful network relationships

Futureproof Course – a digital course that will help you future proof yourself

LinkedIn episode: Discovering the power of LinkedIn with janice Porter

Janice began her career as a teacher, was a corporate trainer for many years and has now been in business for herself for several years. She found her niche coaching and training business professionals to network at a mastery level and turn their connections into new business. Her passion is working with motivated people who are coachable and want to build their businesses through Relationship Marketing and Networking – offline & online.

Episode Overview:

LinkedIn training is a huge part of Janice's business – she believes anyone in business or looking for a new position, needs to have a professional LinkedIn profile, and that it is a powerful online platform for attracting new clients or being found by recruiters. It is also a valuable tool for building and strengthening one's reputation and authority in his or her field.

In this episode:

• How she got into the LinkedIn world and what fascinates her about it
• Why people underestimate LinkedIn's power
• How to connect and build relationships that really matter
• Your not networking to make friends but to build relationship that will take you somewhere
• Janice shares how to set-up a proper LinkedIn profile using my LinkedIn as an example
• Why asking recommendations are important
• and so much more!

Janice knows how powerful it can be for one's business to build relationships and show appreciation to prospects and clients alike. It really is all about the follow up! She is affiliated with a company called SendOutCards – and shows her clients how to use this system to show appreciation, stay top of mind with people, and increase their sales. If you are interested in hearing more about LinkedIn, effective relationship-building strategies, appreciation marketing, or receiving solid networking information, Janice welcomes your calls.

Resources Mentioned:

Janice Podcast – Relationships Rule Podcast

Sapna episode on Janice podcast: Connect the Dots: How to Turn Strangers Into Meaningful Network Relationship

Connect with Janice:

JanicePorter.com | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

Corey Ellis is the Co-founder and CEO of Growcer, a company started with the goal of providing a tool to grow food in any climate, all year round. His unique perspective as a social entrepreneur has helped him understand how to enable community-level impact through profitable market-driven business models.

Episode Overview: You know that moment that you just get inspired and think… WOW! I'm glad someone really thought about that. It will make the world a better place! That's just what happened! I got to sit down and chat with Corey Ellis is the Co-founder and CEO of Growcer, a company started with the goal of providing a tool to grow food in any climate, all year round. We talk about so many topics:

• How a trip to the Arctic, inspired Growcer
• How this innovative idea is helping farmers, entrepreneurs and small businesses
  • Even turning non-farmers into farmers, including Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau
• The balance of being socially good & profitable has created a WIN-WIN-WIN situation
  • empowers remote Canadian regions to grow fresh produce locally using modular hydroponic systems
  • Saving water
  • Helping feed the growing worldwide population
  • Eliminating Carbon Footprint
• How Canada is a food insecure country
• The Dragon's Den experience

And so much more!

About the Growcer:

Growcer is an innovative approach to allow communities and businesses to grow food year-round. Our offering includes our core technology (modular hydroponic equipment, with automation and remote monitoring, making it user-friendly), along with business support and expert horticultural and technical know-how for the lifetime of their system. What's more, Growcer systems can grow fresher, better tasting products closer to consumers, without costing more than current prices in most markets. With this model, Growcer empowers people to adopt this new solution for 21st century farming, and makes it possible to grow more with less – moving us to a future where our food system can be more sustainable. To date, Growcer technology has enabled millions of servings of vegetables to be grown in some of the world's harshest climates – including within the Arctic Circle. Growcers have been deployed in temperatures below -50C and above 40C.

Connect with Corey:

TheGrowcer.ca | Facebook | Twitter: @the_growcer and @corey_w_ellis ‏ | LinkedIn | Instagram

Dr. Daniel Shapiro is a Canadian entrepreneur and academic. The focus of his work has been deep learning artificial intelligence, including, enterprise consulting (Lemay.ai and Stallion.ai), audit automation (AuditMap.ai), trading algorithms (Investifai), and biological neural networks (Nuraleve). Daniel has over 30 peer reviewed publications and patents.

In this episode:

• What AI is based on his perspective
• How AI can help in customer segmentation for marketing and sales
• We talked about how AI can help the consumers with their privacy
• Do more with less
• What job sectors will be affected by AI
• Where will AI go in the following years
• What is Lemay.Ai and so much more!

About AuditMap:

AuditMap is an idea funded using proceeds from our AI consulting business. Bootstrapping your own idea with your own money forces you to ask tough questions. We serve enterprise clients, and found that humans in these organizations are bad at diving into a large set of internal company documents and pulling together a coherent story about a given topic. With artificial intelligence we identify critical statements through the lens of an organization's "Audit Universe", and their Enterprise Risk Management Framework. It's like an AI-based search engine, trained using expertise in the internal audit domain. AuditMap handles the tedious matching and classification across time, so that executives can understand upcoming risks in key segments of the business before they turn into financial losses or penalties.

About Lemay.ai:

Lemay is led by two engineers, Mathieu Lemay and Daniel Shapiro, PhD, performing research and development and rapid deployment of solutions in the field of Artificial Intelligence/Deep Learning (AI/ DL). They have delivered AI/DL products to both private and public sector clients, and have performed research in the AI/DL fields of natural language understanding, automated data segmentation, sentiment analysis, recommendation systems, text/image similarity and more. Currently, their bilingual team holds 5 patents, 8 certifications, 35 publications, and 2 PhDs. Lemay's team has grown to 10, and continues to grow. They cooperate with their joint venture partner Stallion.ai for projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Related Links:

Future Shock? The impact of automation in Canada's labour market

Connect with Jay:

Lemay.ai | Twitter | LinkedIn: Daniel Shiparo and Lemay.ai

Paul Sloane is an experienced speaker, course leader and facilitator. A recognised authority on innovation and creative speaking, he speaks and gives workshops to leading corporations around the world. He is also the best-selling author of How to Be a Brilliant Thinker, The Innovative Leader, The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills and editor of A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing, all published by Kogan Page.

Episode Overview:

Do you want your team to generate great ideas and deliver successful innovations?

I have been following Paul Sloane for awhile now, his tweets always made me giggle. He really is the Innovation King! We chat on this episode around numerous areas about Innovation:

You'll discover:

• The difference between creativity and innovation
• Different ways to measure Innovation
• How employees need to be idea generators
• Risk Takers vs Risk Avoiders – man versus women
• Innovation Audit and so much more

About Destination Innovation: Destination Innovation is a consultancy service led by Paul Sloane to promote lateral thinking and innovation. We help improve the agility of your team. We help people improve leadership and innovation. We provide talks, workshops and facilitation.

Related Links:

• What is the difference between creativity and innovation
• How can you measure your innovation? What are the best metrics?
• An innovative complaint – United breaks guitars
• LinkedIn Group: Lateral Thinking in Business
• Lateral Puzzles

Recommended Books:

• Lateral Thinking Skills
• Lateral Thinking Puzzlers
• How to be a Brilliant Thinker
• The Innovation Leader
• Think Like an Innovators

Connect with Paul:

Destination-Innovation.com | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

Taylan Pince is the CEO & Founder of Hipo, a product studio that has helped launch businesses in a myriad of industries, including healthcare, finance, smart home, education, and natural sciences. For the past two decades, Taylan has focused on developing tech products that improve lives and change industries. His expertise in product design and development, as well as mobile, web and emerging technologies, have contributed to the success of more than 100 companies worth over $10B collectively. Episode Overview: UX/UI design is really like a secret sauce for a company to really shine brighter than the rest. This episode is for those that want to understand how UX/UI can really benefit their business to make them more innovative. In fact, UX/UI design philosophy is something that everyone should adapt. We should really look to understand the experience from a consumer perspective and design that intentional experience with that in mind. UX Design refers to the term User Experience Design, while UI Design stands for User Interface Design. Both elements are crucial to a product and work closely together. But despite their professional relationship, the roles themselves are quite different, referring to very different parts of the process and the design discipline. Process design teams use to create products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users. This involves the design of the entire process of acquiring and integrating the product, including aspects of branding, design, usability and function In this episode we discuss:

• What exactly UX/UI design is & why it's big deal
• How Hipo is built on a philosophy of Empathy
• The power of a discovery sprint
• How tech is not a disruptor
• The fastest growing segments looking to adapt UX design
• And so much more

About Hipo UX:

Hipo is a product development company that works with startups and enterprises across the world to bring novel ideas to market. At Hipo, they specialize in providing their clients with two critical things: flexibility and quality. They can build maintainable and scalable product solutions very quickly and efficiently, so their clients can focus on growth and sales.

Resources Mentioned:

Roncesvalles, Toronto

Book: Radicalized by Cory Doctoro

Book: New York 2141 by Kim Stanley Robinson

Connect with Taylan:

HipoLabs.com | Facebook | Twitter: @taylanpince and @hipolabs | LinkedIn: Taylan Prince and Hipo | Instagram

Marc Guberti is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author with over 100,000 students in over 180 countries enrolled in his online courses. He is the host of the Breakthrough Success Podcast and Radio Show where listeners learn how to achieve their breakthroughs. He coaches content creators on how they can attract more traffic to their content and boost revenue. An Author of 23 books, including his newly published Breakthrough Success: Achieving Greatness In Business & Life (Grow Your Influence Series Book 4)

Episode Overview:

I just had to do it. I needed to get Marc Guberti on the podcast and I'm so glad that I did.

He's an absolute inspirational gem! He started his business at the age of 11 and ten years later, he's on top of the world with his books/podcasts/online courses/summits. I had to dig in deeper and learn from the Master himself.

We hit so many topics:

• How he got started at the age of 11
• I even ask if he faced age discrimination
• How he made me look at my 10 year old niece a little differently
• Some productivity tips, especially if you're Serial Juggler Occupation
• Favourite person that he met
• How his book – Breakthrough Success that is about to be released, is already on the Amazon Best Seller list one month BEFORE his actual book launch!
• So much more

Books Mentioned:

• The Compound Effect
• The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
• The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure

Resource Mentioned:

Marc Guberti's podcast episode 16 and episode 292 with Seth Godin

Connect with Marc:

MarcGuberti.com | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

From building planes for Airbus, to creating Augmented Reality products for online shopping, Jason have always worked to make consumer experiences better at scale. He is from South Africa but now live in Toronto. Jason enjoy drone photography, and pick up hockey and classical music concerts.

Episode Overview:

This episode is really special and it is for those that are going in a direction that may not have legs. Your spidey senses maybe telling you that!

Jason and I chat about the importance of pivoting. Jason is such a down to earth and humble person. He really truly gives back and wants people to learn, as he learns and grows. Jason is a serial entrepreneur and knows how to make magic happen. I think one of his superpowers is the ability to listen and deeply hear what the other person is saying.

In this episode, we chat about:

• The pivot and shift to HeyTaylor
• The power of designing solutions with the client
• How to land important meetings, when you don't have the initial contacts
• A hidden gem of a resource within the government
• Where he got the inspiration for the company name...it's not what you think!
• And so much more

About Hey Taylor:

Hey Taylor is a company that focuses on strengthening relationships between retail stores and customers online. They create ecommerce merchant products in Augmented Reality for shoppers to try before they buy while they shop online. They help increase sales and reduce returns.

The team at Hey Taylor primarily develop tools for the homegrown Shopify platform and it's merchants and also work with a lot of local Toronto based customers. They use the diversity of the city to get input into how to improve their experience as Canadians are quite thoughtful when it comes to creating respectful and friendly relationships.

Connect with Jason:

HeyTaylor.com | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn

Related Links:

#FutureProof Course - Learn management consulting timeless secrets that will always keep you ahead of the curve.

Connect the Dots - How to turn strangers into meaningful network relationships.

Cheat Sheets - 10 Biggest Networking Mistakes to Avoid

Jay Dilley is a Fintech Entrepreneur and CEO of Ratebroker, an innovative financial services marketplace that acts as a champion for the consumer. He believes in financial inclusion, is passionate about fundamentally improving people's lives through technology. An experienced executive, Jay has held President and VP roles in tech and commercial aviation. He has been recognized as a top 40 under 40 recipient, and for his championing of women in leadership. He holds an HBComm in Finance and Economics, a MSc. Mgt, is a CFA charterholder and is a member of YPO.

We have too many Canadians that are excluded from the financial system, approximately 1M in 2015 were unbanked and 5M were underbanked.

Episode Overview:

Episode 92, we chat with THE Jay Dilley, who is truly a change maker and driving a different evolution of how to shop for your money! This episode is for anyone that wants to have more options in Finances/Insurance/Mortgages and so on… which means, this episode is for EVERYONE!

He provides such PURE GOLD information and here are the topics that we chat about:

• How Ratebroker is the Tinder for Financial Services
• Difference between Rate Comparison tool and RateBroker. It's about your data privacy
• Getting vendors to BID for our business
• How many people are Unbanked and Underbanked In Canada. Totally surprised me, as we are not a third world country
• Tips for challenging the Status Quo, GDP and it's not what you think it is!

He's brilliant, insightful and everyone should be using RateBroker. I love having options.

About Ratebroker:

At Rate Broker we think finding the best rates should be easy. They put you in the driver's seat we get company's to fight for your business! RateBroker has been setup to get you the consumer the best deals possible on Mortgage Rates,Home , Car and life, health insurance's. Ratebroker is one of the fastest's growing company's in New Zealand in 2016!

Resource Mentioned:

GDP Social Media Metric

Connect with Jay:

Ratebroker.ca | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter