Future Squared with Steve Glaveski

What gets measured gets managed.

When it comes to corporate innovation, it’s easy to focus on metrics such as ideas captured by an idea challenge, the number of prototypes developed or experiments run.

But with most corporate innovation initiatives quickly degenerating into theatre, failure rates are running high (eg. 80-90% of innovation labs fail). Such failures ultimately lead to senior stakeholders withdrawing their support while intrapreneurs become increasingly dissatisfied and leave the organisation to seek out greener, more innovative pastures elsewhere.

This really hurts a company’s prospects for innovating in the long-term - something few companies can ill afford in today’s climate.

Corporates need to get more adept at identifying and monitoring the metrics that matter when it comes to their innovation programs if they are to avoid such pitfalls.

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If you've got any questions on this podcast feel free to send an email to [email protected] or tweet me on Twitter @steveglaveski or @future_squared

Follow me on Instagram: @thesteveglaveski

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To sign up to our mailing list head to www.futuresquared.xyz

For more information on Collective Campus, our innovation hub, school and consultancy based in Australia and Singapore check out www.collectivecamp.us

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Today, we welcome to the show for a 3rd time, the one and only Tim Harford.

Tim is an economist, author, TED speaker, journalist and broadcaster.

He is author of “Messy” and the million-selling “The Undercover Economist”, a senior columnist at the Financial Times, and the presenter of Radio 4’s “More or Less” and host of the popular BBC podcast, “50 Things That Made the Modern Economy”, which is incidentally enough, the name of his new book and the subject of today’s conversation.

From the plough to artificial intelligence, from Gillette disposable razor to Ikea’s Billy bookcase, Tim recounts each invention’s own memorable story and introduces you to the characters who developed them, profited from them, and were ruined by them.

Former Future Squared guest and widely respected economist and custodian of MarginalRevolution.com, Tyler Cowen, says that Tim’s new book “reaffirms his status as one of the great (greatest?) contemporary popular writers on economics”.

Tim and I  go an inch deep and a mile wide in this episode. In particular, we discuss 3 key topics:

• Why most companies that invest in technology and innovation fail and what those that succeed do differently
• What should Government’s role be in developing and regulating technology
• Why we shouldn’t be looking at emerging technologies in isolation and how the most transformative technologies often aren’t the most glamorous

I really enjoyed my last two conversations with Tim as well as the 50 Things podcast so couldn’t wait to have him back on the show to broaden my thinking so with that, I bring you, Tim Harford.

 Topics discussed:

• The inspiration for the podcast and book
• How inventions and innovations often have far reaching and unexpected implications
• UBER getting banned in London
• Government intervention and regulation of technology: how much is enough?
• Government: an unlikely source of technology innovation?
• How the gramophone gave rise to the ‘superstar economy’
• How the superstar economy goes beyond musicians and athletes and today includes big business
• Elizabeth Billington and the English Premier League
• What do air conditioning, computers, the subway, skyscrapers, Dubai and Singapore have in common?
• Technology creates winners and losers
• Can we truly forecast the impact of technology?
• Why companies need to change the entire system around a technology to truly leverage it and capitalise on promised performance gains (this feeds into why most digital transformation projects today fail)
• Key lessons for corporate executives
• How the plough started everything

Show notes:

1. TimHarford.com
2. @TimHarford on Twitter
3. Listen to the podcast: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04b1g3c
4. Vote for the 51st thing: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4Y4Gn8gbQvp4X87wGLV3n4N/vote-for-the-51st-thing

Get Tim's books:

• Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy: https://amzn.to/2N80Tbm
• The Undercover Economist: https://amzn.to/2NIGKbr
• Messy: How to Be Creative and Resilient in a Tidy-Minded World: https://amzn.to/2QoLgtZ
• The Logic Of Life: Uncovering the New Economics of Everything: https://amzn.to/2N4u3rE
• The Undercover Economist Strikes Back: How to Run or Ruin an Economy: https://amzn.to/2OdO4sz
• Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure: https://amzn.to/2oYqghg
• Dear Undercover Economist: The very best letters from the Dear Economist column: https://amzn.to/2p0mfsH

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Listen on iTunes @ goo.gl/sMnEa0 

Listen on Stitcher @ www.stitcher.com/podcast/future 

Listen on Google Play @  bit.ly/FSGoog

If you've got any questions on this podcast feel free to send an email to [email protected] or tweet me on Twitter @steveglaveski or @future_squared

Like us? It'd make our day if you took 1 minute to show some love on iTunes, Stitcher or Soundcloud by subscribing, sharing and giving us a 5 star rating.

To sign up to our mailing list head to www.futuresquared.xyz

For more information on Collective Campus, our innovation hub, school and consultancy based in Australia and Singapore check out www.collectivecamp.us

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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In this episode of Fast Fix Friday I share a personal story about a childhood friend of mine and why teaching entrepreneurship to kids is about a lot more than teaching them how to solve problems or make money. 

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Show notes:

THAT photo: bit.ly/2xJoTrK

Listen on iTunes @ goo.gl/sMnEa0 

Listen on Stitcher @ www.stitcher.com/podcast/future 

Listen on Google Play @  bit.ly/FSGoog

If you've got any questions on this podcast feel free to send an email to [email protected] or tweet me on Twitter @steveglaveski or @future_squared

Follow me on Instagram: @thesteveglaveski

Like us? It'd make our day if you took 1 minute to show some love on iTunes, Stitcher or Soundcloud by subscribing, sharing and giving us a 5 star rating.

To sign up to our mailing list head to www.futuresquared.xyz

For more information on Collective Campus, our innovation hub, school and consultancy based in Australia and Singapore check out www.collectivecamp.us

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cy Wakeman is a dynamic international keynote speaker, business consultant, New York Times bestselling author, and global thought leader with over 25 years experience cultivating a revolutionary new approach to leadership.

Named one of the “Top 100 Leadership Experts to Follow” on twitter, Wakeman’s influence continues to build. Participants consistently rank her programs as the single most impactful training they have ever received.

An expert blogger on FastCompany.com, Forbes.com and The Huffington Post, Wakeman’s ideas have been featured on the TODAY Show, The Social, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Business Insider, Huffington Post, The Daily Muse, Success.com, and SHRM.com.

She’s written three books, Reality-Based Leadership, The Reality-Based Rules of the Workplace and the newly released: No Ego: How Leaders Can Cut the Cost of Workplace Drama, End Entitlement, and Drive Big Results.

In No Ego, she points out that Ego-driven behaviors are the #1 source of drama in workplaces today, and it’s costing organizations billions annually. She says the philosophy of “perfecting the environment” to create employee engagement just feeds the ego and generates huge amounts of drama and emotional waste.

This was an enjoyable free flowing conversation on a hectic book launch day for Cy and we covered a lot of ground and there are lots of takeaways from this conversation.

In particular, expect to learn:

1. Why the ego can keep us from achieving our professional and personal goals
2. How to silence our ego
3. Why elaborate employee engagements programs may be a source of entitlement and can actually be detrimental to company performance

All topics discussed:

• Cy’s new book, No Ego
• Why our organisations must be in a constant change of readiness
• How the ego keeps us from being our best
• How to silence our egos
• Why suffering is a choice
• The cost of emotional waste
• Why choosing to do one new thing each month makes us resilient
• How learning to say “yes” to more can be a source of growth
• The cost of drama in our organisations
• What the real cost of comparing ourselves to others is
• The power of depersonalisation
• What “BMW driving” is and how it applies to your company
• Don’t think change, think next
• Why employee engagement programs can be a bad thing
• Why we should stress accountability over engagement
• How to identify and attract emotionally inexpensive and effective employees
• Why a company’s or a person’s circumstances shouldn’t be used as an excuse

Show Notes:

1. Cy’s website: Realitybasedleadership.com
2. @cywakeman on Twitter and Instagram
3. Cy on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEOp127ZAQAz7MMarBmygA
4. Cy on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CyWakeman/

Cy’s books on Amazon:

• No Ego: https://amzn.to/2x9xpPl
• Reality-Based Leadership: https://amzn.to/2NDSPhP
• The Reality-Based Rules of the Workplace: https://amzn.to/2QoFY1x

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Listen on iTunes @ goo.gl/sMnEa0 

Listen on Stitcher @ www.stitcher.com/podcast/future 

Listen on Google Play @  bit.ly/FSGoog

If you've got any questions on this podcast feel free to send an email to [email protected] or tweet me on Twitter @steveglaveski or @future_squared

Follow me on Instagram: @thesteveglaveski

Like us? It'd make our day if you took 1 minute to show some love on iTunes, Stitcher or Soundcloud by subscribing, sharing and giving us a 5 star rating.

To sign up to our mailing list head to www.futuresquared.xyz

For more information on Collective Campus, our innovation hub, school and consultancy based in Australia and Singapore check out www.collectivecamp.us

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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While we - human beings - like to think of ourselves as rational creatures, the truth is we are anything but.

We are prone to over 100 cognitive biases that may subconsciously shape our perceptions, beliefs and decisions.

As one might imagination, innovation and entrepreneurship is not immune from said biases.

Becoming aware of them is step one to designing workarounds so that your company is not over-investing in the wrong idea or under-investing in the right one.

In this episode I unpack just three of the 36 cognitive biases I've identified that can stifle your innovation efforts, how they might apply to the field and a proposed solution or mitigant for each. 

For the full list of all 36 cognitive biases that inhibit innovation and what you can do to combat them head over to: https://www.collectivecampus.com.au/blog/36-cognitive-biases-that-inhibit-innovation

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Listen on iTunes @ goo.gl/sMnEa0 

Listen on Stitcher @ www.stitcher.com/podcast/future 

Listen on Google Play @  bit.ly/FSGoog

If you've got any questions on this podcast feel free to send an email to [email protected] or tweet me on Twitter @steveglaveski or @future_squared

Follow me on Instagram: @thesteveglaveski

Like us? It'd make our day if you took 1 minute to show some love on iTunes, Stitcher or Soundcloud by subscribing, sharing and giving us a 5 star rating.

To sign up to our mailing list head to www.futuresquared.xyz

For more information on Collective Campus, our innovation hub, school and consultancy based in Australia and Singapore check out www.collectivecamp.us

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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Jason Calacanis is a tech entrepreneur, wildly successful angel investor, and the host of the popular weekly podcast This Week in Startups. He's the founder of a series of conferences that bring entrepreneurs together with potential investors.

As a “scout” for top-tier Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and later as an angel investor, Jason has invested in 150 early-stage startups including four that have achieved billion-dollar valuations (so far) such as Uber, Evernote and Tumblr.

Jason's newly released book "Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups: Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into $100,000,000" puts readers inside the minds of successful angel investors, helping to understand how they prioritize and make the decisions that have resulted in phenomenal profits.

Jason provides a step by step roadmap, revealing how leading investors evaluate new ventures, calculating the risks and rewards, and explains how the best startups leverage relationships with angel investors for the best results.

In this episode we go back to Jason’s rough upbringing in Brooklyn, NY in the early 80s and cover a lot of ground leading up to the present day so you can expect to learn a lot of things, including:

1. How to pick a billion dollar founder or startup
2. How to bounce back from failure
3. What Jason thinks of and what advice he has for corporates investing in startups

All topics discussed:

• Jason’s humble beginnings in Brooklyn, NY
• What got Jason into startup investing
• The alchemy of startup investing
• Why you should always wait for external validation from other investors before investing
• Why ideas are a dime a dozen and you should invest in startups that have demonstrated traction
• The biggest mistake first time startup investors make
• The changing nature of angel investing and venture capital
• On books becoming a business card for many people
• Why building quality deal flow is a popularity contest of sorts
• How to get started investing with little money
• The number one thing Jason looks for in entrepreneurs
• Other factors to evaluate startups and entrepreneurs, including Jason’s ‘four founder questions’
• How Jason navigated his Silicon Valley Reporter going bust during the dot com boom
• How to ask good questions
• What Jason’s views on corporate venture capital are and what advice he has for corporates looking to or already investing in startups
• How to go about taking lots of small bets when diversifying and building your portfolio
• What Jason thinks about ICOs, cryptocurrency and blockchain

Show notes:

1. Get the book: https://amzn.to/2QpLqkX
2. The book: Angelthebook.com  
3. @jason on Twitter
4. Jason’s podcast: ThisWeekInStartups.com

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Listen on iTunes @ goo.gl/sMnEa0 

Listen on Stitcher @ www.stitcher.com/podcast/future 

Listen on Google Play @  bit.ly/FSGoog

If you've got any questions on this podcast feel free to send an email to [email protected] or tweet me on Twitter @steveglaveski or @future_squared

Follow me on Instagram: @thesteveglaveski

Like us? It'd make our day if you took 1 minute to show some love on iTunes, Stitcher or Soundcloud by subscribing, sharing and giving us a 5 star rating.

To sign up to our mailing list head to www.futuresquared.xyz

For more information on Collective Campus, our innovation hub, school and consultancy based in Australia and Singapore check out www.collectivecamp.us

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Today, an important observation I’ve made this week.

Regular listeners will know that I’m a prolific blogger, if I can use that term, of sorts, having published over 200 blogs in the past couple of years.

Some perform really well, others not as well - and that’s just the nature of creative pursuits.

And more recently, I noticed an influx of people post long-form, often narcissistic status updates on lInkedin following a predictable formula, separating each line by an entire line spacing and often running about 30 lines long.

It turns out that Linkedin picks up on this in its algorithm and serves it up to a much wider audience and therefore such posts have the ingredients to go viral.

This can be both a blessing, for content creators who are taking advantage, but also a curse, because Linkedin, seemingly makes no effort to distinguish between quality content and for lack of a better word, garbage.

I recently posted a tongue in cheek status update on Linkedin calling out everybody posting such long-winded, devoid of substance posts, and did so using the same formula...and low and behold, this rant, which took me all of 20 seconds to think up, has now amassed in just 3 short days almost 1,000 likes and 100,000 views.

Meanwhile, a 3,500 word article I published a week earlier on an alternative to business cases to explore disruptive innovation is sitting at just over 100 likes and has not been getting anywhere near the same level of distribution from Linkedin even though hours of critical thinking and years of learning and experience went into it.

The lesson here is, be intentional about where you consume your content from and don’t place too much faith in algorithms to serve up the best, most value adding and relevant content - not yet anyway.

As the late, great Zig Ziglar used to say - you are who you are because of what you put into your mind - so guard your mind with your life!

That’s it for another week of Fast Fix Friday, have an epic weekend!

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Listen on iTunes @ goo.gl/sMnEa0 

Listen on Stitcher @ www.stitcher.com/podcast/future 

Listen on Google Play @  bit.ly/FSGoog

If you've got any questions on this podcast feel free to send an email to [email protected] or tweet me on Twitter @steveglaveski or @future_squared

Follow me on Instagram: @thesteveglaveski

Like us? It'd make our day if you took 1 minute to show some love on iTunes, Stitcher or Soundcloud by subscribing, sharing and giving us a 5 star rating.

To sign up to our mailing list head to www.futuresquared.xyz

For more information on Collective Campus, our innovation hub, school and consultancy based in Australia and Singapore check out www.collectivecamp.us

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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Disruptive ideas usually don’t see light of day at large companies. And when they do, it’s not for long.

This is because traditional financial metrics such as NPV, IRR and RoNA are used as measures of success. In addition, the allocation of capital for new ideas hinges on business cases that ask us to forecast indicators such as the target market, the market size, the payback period and aforementioned financial metrics - all factors that can’t be reliably predicted when it comes to disruptive innovation which is inherently uncertain and chaotic.

In the odd case that capital is allocated to a potentially disruptive idea, it’s usually pulled prematurely because the financial metrics or assumptions that made up the crux of our business case were faulty - which is to be expected for almost any truly disruptive idea because if you’re reliably estimating what every variable looks like from day one, you’re either a prophet, have a crystal ball or are just pursuing incremental innovation, the opportunities for which are much more visible and obvious, so too the underlying assumptions.

So what’s the alternative?

Listen to find out or read at: https://www.collectivecampus.com.au/blog/the-business-case-alternative-how-to-support-disruptive-innovation-at-a-large-company

If you've got any thoughts on this model then I'd love to hear from you at:

@steveglaveski on Twitter or email me on [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram: @thesteveglaveski

Listen on iTunes @ goo.gl/sMnEa0 

Listen on Stitcher @ www.stitcher.com/podcast/future 

Listen on Google Play @  bit.ly/FSGoog

Like us? It'd make our day if you took 1 minute to show some love on iTunes, Stitcher or Soundcloud by subscribing, sharing and giving us a 5 star rating.

To sign up to our mailing list head to www.futuresquared.xyz

For more information on Collective Campus, our innovation hub, school and consultancy based in Australia and Singapore check out www.collectivecamp.us

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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Get out of the building from day one they say.

It will be fun they say.

The whole concept of coming up with an idea, writing a problem or solution interview script and speaking to prospective target customers from day one has gained popularity in recent years as Steve Blank’s customer discovery model and later, Eric Ries’ lean startup movement have taken hold.

While we can sometimes get away with online testing, we often have to face up to the much more socially confronting task of interrupting strangers simply going on about their business on the street, which is no easy feat to say the least.

I talk strategy on coming up with effective incentives to boost engagement by 400%!

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Listen on iTunes: goo.gl/sMnEa0 

Listen on Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/future 

If you've got any questions on this podcast feel free to send an email to [email protected] or tweet me on Twitter @steveglaveski or @future_squared 

Follow me on Instagram: @thesteveglaveski

Like us? It'd make our day if you took 1 minute to show some love on iTunes, Stitcher or Soundcloud by subscribing, sharing and giving us a 5 star rating.

To sign up to our mailing list head to www.futuresquared.xyz For more information on Collective Campus, our innovation hub, school and consultancy based in Melbourne, Australia, check out www.collectivecamp.us

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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Gretchen Rubin is the author of The Happiness Project, Happier at Home, Better Than Before, and her newest book, The Four Tendencies - The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People’s Lives Better Too), which comes out this September.  

Her books have sold almost three million copies worldwide, in more than thirty languages.

She is the host of a popular, award-winning podcast, "Happier with Gretchen Rubin" and blogger who writes daily about her adventures in happiness and habit-formation.

In The Four Tendencies, a groundbreaking analysis of personality type, bestselling author of Gretchen reveals the one simple question that will transform what you do at home, at work, and in life.

In this episode you will learn many things including:

1. What that simple aforementioned question is
2. What the four tendencies are and how your tendency shapes every aspect of your behavior
3. How to use Gretchen’s four tendencies framework to make better decisions, meet deadlines, suffer less stress, and engage more effectively.

All Topics Discussed:

• What the four tendencies are
• How to identify your own tendency
• Can you be more than one tendency?
• How the four tendencies compares to other personality tests
• Where entrepreneurs fit in the four tendencies framework
• How to pick a job that would suit your own tendency
• How to identify other people’s tendencies
• Which tendencies work best together at the office, at home or at play
• How to design your environment to circumvent your tendency’s shortcomings
• Upholder rebellion
• How to deal with the different tendencies

Show Notes:

1. Gretchen’s Twitter: @gretchenrubin
2. Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast: www.gretchenrubin.com/podcast/  
3. Gretchen’s blog: www.gretchenrubin.com
4. Better App: www.betterapp.us
5. Find out your tendency: http://gretchenrubin.com/happiness_project/2015/01/ta-da-the-launch-of-my-quiz-on-the-four-tendencies-learn-about-yourself/

Get Gretchen's books:

• The Four Tendencies: https://amzn.to/2CNmzo9
• The Happiness Project (Revised Edition): https://amzn.to/2x7OCbU
• Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives: https://amzn.to/2NHempM
• Happier at Home: https://amzn.to/2N8vZ2v
• The Best of the Happiness Project Blog: https://amzn.to/2oZeJ14

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Listen on iTunes @ goo.gl/sMnEa0 

Listen on Stitcher @ www.stitcher.com/podcast/future 

Listen on Google Play @  bit.ly/FSGoog

If you've got any questions on this podcast feel free to send an email to [email protected] or tweet me on Twitter @steveglaveski or @future_squared

Follow me on Instagram: @thesteveglaveski

Like us? It'd make our day if you took 1 minute to show some love on iTunes, Stitcher or Soundcloud by subscribing, sharing and giving us a 5 star rating.

To sign up to our mailing list head to www.futuresquared.xyz

For more information on Collective Campus, our innovation hub, school and consultancy based in Australia and Singapore check out www.collectivecamp.us

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.