Innovation Storytellers

Did you know that some of the most incredible innovations are happening in the beauty and fragrance space? This is just one of the many reasons why I invited Shanna Weinblatt, Senior Director, Innovation & Beauty Tech at Coty, to discuss how they are leveraging AR, AI, VR, and ultra-personalization. But to begin with, I learn more about her path into the world of innovation.

Coty is a world leader in beauty and home to an illustrious roster of cosmetic, skincare, and fragrance brands. The company also has a mission to challenge the definition of beauty, encourage authenticity, and celebrate diversity. Most of all, the company's ethos is to think big and challenge convention.

We discuss how everyone is a creator in an increasingly digital world where everything is becoming more decentralized. Shanna also shares why she believes there will be a place in the metaverse where people will visit beauty brands. To further strengthen this point, we discuss Decentraland's Metaverse Fashion Week and how it received more industry attention than any digital fashion event before.

Well-established companies are born out of innovation and will continue to thrive with innovation. But why do big companies sometimes struggle to innovate and break new boundaries? 

This week on Innovation Storytellers we have Tendayi Viki, Author of Pirates In The Navy and Associate Partner at Strategyzer. In this episode, he shares the factors that make innovation work, what it takes to get people to rally behind an idea and the important role of corporate intrapreneurs in the pursuit of innovation. He also talks about creating business models and ecosystem designs for innovation.

During August, I am taking time to reflect on some of my favorite interviews since I launched this podcast. Steve Rader is not only an award-winning speaker, innovator, and thought leader on innovation, but he has also taught most of us more about Open Innovation than any other I know.

Over the past eight years, Steve served as the Deputy Director for the Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation at NASA. He has found a way to harness the power of the crowd and their love of outer space to get people from around the world to collaborate on the next set of innovations that will take us to Mars and beyond.

In this episode, Steve shows us how open innovation brings diverse new talents to large organizations like NASA, ushers in new ways of thinking, and inspires an even greater level of collaboration and innovation culture at the organization.

How do you stay at the cutting edge of innovation as a 169-year-old company? Marty Curran and Anis Fadul have been inventing and reinventing innovation at Corning for 30 years. One of their amazing stories lies in the motto that hangs in the Innovation Center at Corning, “Not In Our House.” In other words, Corning does not intend to be disrupted by anyone other than their own innovation team. In this episode, you’ll hear how the company supports Tesla to become a leader in sustainability and how innovations from 90 years ago still yield new fruit.

Laura Blumenschein, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, appeared on my radar after being selected for MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 list in the category of AI and robots. She was chosen for her work on the Vine robot project, a growing robot inspired by the growth and adaptability of plants. Her contribution to the field of soft robotics expands upon the potential uses for autonomous robotic systems to interact in the human world.

Laura joins me on this week's episode of the Innovation Storytellers podcast to share her insights on working with innovation teams and exploring the history of robotics. In addition, she shares how her research focuses on creating more robust and adaptable, soft robots inspired by plants. Finally, I learn more about how robots grow to explore their environments and build structures that pave the for more seamless human-robot interaction.

Innovation in the pharma space seems to be something we all take for granted. We naturally assume that this is where great innovation is always happening as we read about new diseases, outcomes, and breakthroughs in research. In today's episode, we explore the role of innovation in the industry and the difference it makes to all of our lives.

My guest is Michelle Shogren, and she leverages a combination of over 25 years of experience in clinical trials, nine years in driving innovation, and a lifetime passion for helping people and patients to help companies turn creative ideas into very innovative results. Michelle shares how she began working in clinical trials and fell into innovation. But it all started with constantly thinking there's a better way to do things. 

We discuss the importance of diversity in clinical trials and how COVID acted as a catalyst for change across the pharmaceutical industry. We also talk about functional fixedness and how this cognitive bias can prevent a person or an entire team from exploring opportunities outside of their traditional mindset.

Recharge Health is an international medical device company in the transition from a startup to a structured scaleup. Based operationally in Chiang Mai, Thailand, they are developing into a Norwegian-led health tech company with the USA as their primary market. But I wanted to find out more about the story behind the company and their first creation called FlexBeam.

Join me in a conversation with Dr. Zulia Frost and Bjørn Ekeberg where we explore the world of recovery tech. I learn more about how the world’s first wearable and targeted red light therapy device uses NASA-developed technology to relieve pain, repair injuries, and improve recovery. We also discuss how innovation paved the way for a non-pharmaceutical and non-invasive solution with no side effects inspired by love and powered by purpose.

Many leading organizations looking for insights on Global Data Privacy, Data Protection, and Emerging Technologies, have sought Debbie Reynolds, a world-renowned technologist to speak to audiences around the world on complex issues. These are just a few reasons why I am excited to speak with her on today's episode of the Innovation Storytellers podcast.

Anyone working in innovation will be working with transformative systems around data that are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. As data continues to become a huge part of all our lives, Debbie shares some of the pitfalls she has observed in businesses and busts the myth that the more data we get, the more insights that we will derive from it, especially as it doesn't mean it's accurate.

We also discuss the rise of global regulations around personally identifiable information and policies around restricting who has access to data. However, on a more positive note, we talk about the importance of leveraging emerging technologies that empower data scientists to unlock insights that were not available now and why we should all be thinking bigger when it comes to innovating with data.

We've just hit the first anniversary of this global podcast called Innovation Storytellers. The show enables chief innovation officers, product managers, top consultants, and even product marketing and user experience leaders to share stories of how they got their innovation over the finish line. In just one year, we've learned so much about what it's like to take great ideas and move them forward through the obstacles and internal politics to get ideas out the door and into the market.

Over the past five years, I have also been helping big businesses navigate through uncharted digital waters on a journey of innovation and change. I've been running workshops, hosting keynotes, performing one-on-one coaching, and consulting with executives at some of the biggest companies in the world. In addition, I have worked with startups that are growing rapidly and need to get a handle on how to talk about their breakthrough ideas and disruptive opportunities in ways they haven't before.

These are just a few reasons I'm so excited today to announce the launch of Innovation Storytellers. My communications consultancy is dedicated to helping leaders learn, formulate and share stories around their breakthrough ideas through workshops, keynotes, team consulting, personal coaching, and even drafting the innovation narratives around new products, services, or business lines.

Essentially, I'm helping innovators tell the million-dollar stories that get the resources, runway, and recognition they deserve internally and in the outside world. I'd love to hear your stories, and I can't wait to see what innovation storytelling you'll be doing next.