I'm A People Person

If you’ve ever wondered why some product launches succeed, and so many fail, this is the episode for you. If you are looking to launch your own internal initiative or product launch, you’ll learn a lot from my guest, Felicia Anderson. is the vice president of product management at Epiq and was the senior director of the product management at Pitney Bowe. She talks with me about how to create a culture of innovation, why watching, not just listening, to customer behavior is the key to great insights, and how to drive bottom-line results from your team. She also shares how to create cross-functional teams that create both feedback and buy-in. 

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Innovation doesn’t just have to be disruptive. Oftentimes, the best innovation comes from thinking differently about what's right in front of you. When faced with a lot of leftover tomatoes, Laurie Nadeau stumbled upon an incredibly innovative (and delicious) use for them. It was a pleasant surprise for Laurie when the Bloody Mary Mix she shared with her friends and family was a huge hit. Yet, as with any business endeavor, it was filled with obstacles and hurdles — Laurie reveals some of the biggest challenges in her business and how she overcame them, as well as some surprising lessons she learned along the way. We also dive into what it is that makes Smokin Mary so innovative, and how it stays ahead of the competition. Laurie also shares some advice: don’t take feedback personally, and always be open to new uses for your product that you may not have imagined.

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Are you looking for innovation in the wrong place? My guests Joel Clark and Cameron Smith, owners of the knocking it out of the park food brand Kodiak Cakes, think we might be. In fact, they grew Kodiak from a boutique to a $100 million business. The key? They look at categories in decline as an opportunity versus chasing high growth areas that we think we want to jump into. Definitely a mind shift and there’s proof to back it up. We talk about managing doubt from others and in yourself. We even validate some of your gut decisions when we talk about how decisions that don’t have data are often the times you see the trends and patterns before someone has the chance to turn them into data. Joel and Cameron also share how they built a culture of innovation on passion and transparency.

Joel Clark's Everyday Innovatory style: Risk Taker Collaborative

Cameron Smith's Everyday Innovator style: Inquisitive Tweaker

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Cameron Smith on LinkedIn

Kodiak Cakes Homepage

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How do you create a high-performing team where people are leaning into you as the leader, rather than you leaning into them? As a leader, what can you do to ensure you are creating an environment where your team thrives? There’s no better person to tap for insights than a former commander of a nuclear submarine, David Marquet.

Apart from serving as a nuclear submarine commander, David is a student of leadership and organizational design, author of the Amazon #1 bestseller, Turn the Ship Around! and one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers for 2018. Today, he gives keynote speeches on the topics of leadership, how leaders can create workplaces where everyone engages and contributes their full intellectual capacity, and nurturing teams where everyone is a leader.

David's Everyday Innovator style: Inquisitive Risk Taker

As leaders, we often blame our people for not speaking up, but the problem is we have created environments where speaking up is unhealthy, unwanted, unwarranted, and unappreciated. David highlights some other deadly ingredients that make organizations ineffective and how to overcome them. We also dive into the shift of the role of leader from 'obey the clock' to 'control the clock,' from coerce to commit, from conform to connect. David shares his personal experience of what it was like to admit that he as a leader didn’t know all the answers and how that contributed to the change in the atmosphere of the team and some strategies for leaders to give up control and empower your team to lead. Find out how intent-based leadership makes the doers also be the deciders, and what this can do for your organization.

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David Marquet

Turn the Ship Around!, by David Marquet

Leadership is Language: How Small Changes in What You Say Can Make a Huge Difference to Your Team’s Results, by David Marquet

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Have you ever wondered how to take your team or organization from no or low levels of innovation to high levels? How to get people to buy into the idea that innovative thinking and processes are important to success? Heather Kluter, innovation thought leader, did that at Hyundai and she’s here sharing her experience and how she helps companies continue to think big. We talk about how to break down silos, the “not-created-here” mentality that kills innovation, and why doing small things may actually be the right approach at first. Heather introduces us to the term "assertive grace" and how that will help you get buy-in for your ideas. We even talk about cake and huskies.

Heather' Everyday Innovator style: Risk Taker Inquisitive

Heather Kluter on LinkedIn

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You're small and you have fewer resources than your competition. In fact, you are entering a crowded playing field with dozens of options that the customer can't figure out already. But, you've got an innovative product, service, or business model. How do you use your size to gain an advantage? How do you use your lack of resources to get massive results? Whether this is your business or a product or service launch inside a bigger company, how do you think like a successful entrepreneur? Today's guest is going to cover all that and more. Mike Dubin is the founder of Dollar Shave Club. As you may remember, DSC shook up a billion-dollar industry, gained millions of customers, and changed that cluttered aisle in the grocery store forever. Did I mention that he sold Dollar Shave Club for 4 Billion dollars? 

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Dollar Shave Club

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The U.S. Army is not really the place you would think of to find innovation, but at the Army Research Labs, it is an important part of their mission and how they operate. Innovation is infused into the DNA of the entire organization, and Dr. Philip Perconti joins me to share some insight into this unique part of the U.S. military. Recently retired, Dr. Philip Perconti was the Director of the Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (ARL). He has been doing research, working with the U.S. military for 39 years since enlisted in the Navy right out of high school. He led the Army’s corporate research laboratory which is responsible for foundational research to do with the U.S. Army, i.e. keeping our soldiers safe and give them the competitive advantage on the field. How can you drive innovation across an organization as traditional and bureaucratic as the military? Dr. Perconti shares his vision for ARL and why the balance between short-term demands and long-term intention is so critical. He reveals more about the biggest challenges ARL faces in terms of talent acquisition, and how the unique model adopted by the ARL in fostering collaboration and partnerships to integrate with local communities to leverage and absorb as much of the culture in the national innovation hubs has been revolutionary to the organization. We also talk about the five core attributes of the ARL culture, why they picked them, and how Dr. Perconti ensures that they’re being implemented.

Dr. Philip Perconti on LinkedIn

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Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (ARL)

ARL Locations

U.S. Army Futures Command

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Evolving expectations, changing demands, and a world moving forward faster than most of us can keep up with can make innovation challenging. It's easy to stop, put our heads in the sand, and wait for things to settle. But, we both know that's not going to happen, especially in business. As the Managing Director of Consumer Goods - Europe at Accenture, Nevine El-Warraky has in-depth knowledge and experience helping her company and clients navigate major change. She helps us make sense of the shifts and trends impacting business, how to think about innovation in changing times, and how observation is the key to knowing what to do next. Nevine also shares with us the questions we should all be asking ourselves to stay relevant. 

Nevine's Everyday Innovator style: Futuristic Inquisitive

Accenture Website

Nevine El-Warraky on LinkedIn

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A good night's sleep is a game-changer. It improves energy, recovery, health, and even mood. But, getting the elusive deep rest is something many of us struggle with. Dr. Jason Loth and I  go deep into why sleep matters, what happens to our bodies and minds when we don't sleep, and how correct sleep alignment can help us in getting a good night's sleep. Jason also shares his experience launching a new invention into the world, the ups and downs, and how to leverage being an Everyday Innovator. 

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Why do so many innovations fail? The most recent stat I read claims that 97% of new product ideas fail before they hit the one-year mark. Those are pretty low odds. But, not for Taylor Dawson, co-founder of GE's First Build Innovation Lab. They had a high rate of success, especially given they were operating inside a large system with lots of processes and bureaucracies. Taylor stopped by to share with us how to increase your success rates and drive innovation that sticks in the marketplace.

Taylor Dawson's Everyday Innovator style: Risk Taker Tweaker.

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