Igniting Innovation

"the one with the spiky dinosaur"

With a PhD in Politics, you might wonder what Leda Glyptis is doing on a show about Innovation - although Monsters, Myths and Politics sort of go hand in hand don't they .......? But make no mistake about it - Leda has over a decade of experience leading organisation change and transformation and heading up innovation departments at BNY Mellon, Sapient, QNB and most recently as the CEO of 11 FS Foundry.

I met Leda a few years ago on the speaking circuit and her outspoken attitude and willingness to challenge the accepted norms immediately resonated with me. I've also thouroughly enjoyed her thought leadership and provocative weekly missives in the form of #LedaWrites (follow her on LinkedIn to get these!!) and I was ecstatic when she agreed to be on the show.

She exceeded all expectations by creating multiple lists of Monsters and Myths, finally selecting 3 Monsters AND 3 Myths to talk about, resulting in our first DOUBLE EPISODE special of the season!

In Part (1) we discuss her chosen Monsters in the form of :-

* "Milton Waddams" Monsters - Milton being the character from the Office Space TV series who epitomises "the view from the desk"

* The (fear of) "Accountability Monster" - which manifests as everyone being unnecessarily CC'd into every single communication

* The "Can Opener" Monster - aka "using the wrong tool for the job" (or not using the right tool for the right job)

Oh - and the conversation kicks off talking about dinosaurs - which aren't Monsters or Myths at all - but very relevant to innovation culture - you'll have to watch / listen to find out why

"the one with the Prince of Darkness"

I've interviewed many people from different walks of life in my career, but this is the first time I've ever interviewed a bona fide, guitar toting ROCKSTAR!!

James Dodkins used to play in a multi-award winning heavy metal rock band and he now brings that same passion and energy to keynote stages, workshops and customer experience training courses all over the world. James shares with us how he became THE CX ROCKSTAR and we dive into some of the many myths he faces in his work as a customer experience professional eg:-

* The myth that all you need to do is "ask your customer"

* The "what is customer experience?" myth that constrains thinking and holds people back from creating a truly transformational customer experience

* The "company structure" myth that has been perpetuated for hundreds of years as being the right way to do things

We go off on a couple of tangents and James is generous in sharing a phenomenal amount of fantastic advice for those willing to make a change.

You can find out more about James and his work on:-

* James Dodkins (personal brand website)

* Rockstar CX

* Twitter - @jdodkins

* Instagram - @thecxrockstar

* LinkedIn

The full video interview with James can be found here on YouTube or you can listen to the podcast right now using the player below OR simply subscribe to your favourite platform using the links below.

 

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"the one where innovators know better than customers"

Dr Anette Broløs is a highly qualified consultant, researcher, public speaker, moderator and published author but perhaps most relevant of all to this topic is that she has a PhD in Collaborative Innovation - meaning she has encountered her fair share of Innovation Monsters and Myths in her life!!

Anette introduces us to her monsters and myths in the form of:-

* The Myth that the innovators always know best (or better than the customers they are targetting!!)

* The "Blind to Innovation (opportunity)" monster

* The "Innovation Speed" monster

and she shares her thoughts, insights and advice on how to overcome them.

If you're interested in reading more from Anette, here are a few links of interest:-

The EWPN (European Women in Payments Network) report:

https://ewpn.eu/female-finance-digital-mobile-networked/

The book chapter on "Financial Technology and the Gender Gap"

https://www.routledge.com/Women-Consumption-and-Paradox/Malefyt-McCabe/p/book/9780367186128

The book chapter from "The book of payments"

https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137602305

And the Copenhagen Fintech "Fintech Matters" podcast:

https://fintechmatters.podbean.com/e/episode-7-do-women-need-financial-their-own-financial-services/

The full video interview with Anette Broløs can be found here on YouTube or you can listen to the podcast right now using the player below OR simply subscribe to your favourite platform using the links below.

 

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"the one with the story about the cops"

The Monsters and Myths series kicks off with Customer Experience Professional Roland Naidoo

I met Roland in 2017 at a Customer Experience event in South Africa where he delivered a superb keynote about "raising" an AI (Artificial Intelligence) and since then we have become firm friends and co-conspirators.

Roland introduces us to his pet peeves of:-

* The Myth that Technology is Innovation

* Technology Monsters that don't translate into great customer experiences

* The Innovation Measurement Monster

and he provides insight into how he attempts to overcome them in his role as "generic corporate troublemaker".

He also shares a few brilliant anecdotes from real world experiences he has had, that perfectly illustrate the points he makes - no spoilers - you've going to have to listen or watch for yourself!

The full video interview with Roland Naidoo can be found here on YouTube or listen to the podcast right now using the player below OR subscribe to your favourite platform using the links below.

 

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Innovation requires a blend of both Art and Science - and has far more in common with the process of alcohol distillation in a moonshine still than you might think!

This episode covers the continuous cycle of innovation and the broader ecosystem in which it takes place. It brings all of the elements of innovation together in a metaphor of my own making that I frequently use in keynotes to help people make the mental move from "innovation is something done in a department" to "together, we can all be more innovative in everything we do".

I hope you've enjoyed this first series - I'm working on concepts to cover in the next series and would welcome any input on topics you would like to see discussed in the future.

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The obvious benefits of innovation like new products and services, reduced cost and operational efficiency, new customer experiences etc are well known and are generally what everyone seems to focus on when they speak about their innovation initiatives.

But there are far more benefits to being known as "An Innovative Organisation" that extend way beyond these.

This is a really short episode (around 12 minutes) but the implications are far greater than the duration.

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The fear of failure paralyses people into doing nothing.

Often the longer people have been in an organisation, the more entrenched they are in their position, the less likely they are to stick their neck out for a new concept or idea.

Overcoming the fear of failure is an early hurdle that needs to be addressed as cultivating the right company culture will enable you to reap greater rewards.

In this episode I share some of the ways I have successfully managed to reduce the fear of failure and engage more people across the organisation in innovation activities.

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Perhaps one of the most controversial aspects of innovation management and something I have constantly struggled with.

Do you measure revenue generated or costs saved?

What about "activity" like ideas generated or products brought to market?

I don't have all the answers but hopefully during this discussion with Martin I can help to point you in the right direction with the kind of questions you need to be asking so that you have a way of clearly communicating the impact your innovation initiatives are having.

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There are many consultancies that offer to “implement an innovation process inside your organisation” – which gives the impression that it’s a box ticking exercise that can be bought and then a handle turned with “innovation” dropping out the other side - the reality is that you need to cultivate an ecosystem and not (just) have an Innovation Department.

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In recent years, the media has hyped the role of a “futurist” as “someone that predicts the future”. Most people don’t consider themselves capable of envisioning the kinds of futures posited by leading futurists and they stand in awe or are bewildered by the thought process required.

In this episode I share a simple technique to use and hope that by the end of it people realise that “thinking like a futurist” is something that is well within their capability to put into practice. 

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