Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova.

This week, I have Tendayi Viki on the podcast. He's an academic, the co-designer of Pearson's Product Lifecycle, which won the Best Innovation Program 2015 at the corporate Entrepreneur Awards in New York, and is on the shortlist for the Thinkers 50 Innovation Award. He's also a contributing writer for Forbes and is the author of The Corporate Startup: How Established Companies Can Create Successful Innovation Ecosystems.

THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… bigger companies who want to act like a startup.

TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE… to act small, companies must first think about their innovation ambition.

The first step is to create an innovation thesis and understand your minimum viable ecosystem – maybe that means conducting a small workshop instead of jumping straight into a 2-day event. Second, become clear about key trends. Ask, who do we want to innovate for? Then, run through problems and challenges that could make life easier for your customer. Throughout the process, always measure everything against this question: Is this aligned with our innovation thesis?

As Tendayi says, "Figure out whether or not you have the right solution and then figure out whether or not you have the right business model."

WHAT I LOVE MOST… A reoccurring theme has swept over the podcast: embrace non-traditional diversity. Make sure the middle management, legal, and the MBAs are involved; build teams with diverse thinking styles; and get out of the ordinary environment to be creative.

Diverse teams create creative tension and avoid internal silos – all good things.

A PIECE OF ADVICE… create a business model canvas. This is an excellent strategy for visual learners (me!) to see what's written down and think through the idea.

What is the business model canvas? It's chart paper on the wall that walks you through customer segments and value proposition. Write one idea for each section on a post-it note and decide whether that idea is based on knowledge or an assumption.

Put a big red X through every assumption you don't have evidence for. Then, build up lean startup techniques to turn your assumptions into knowledge.

That's how you act small but still keep the customer top of mind.

Running time: 34:40

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