Innovation Storytellers

If there’s one thing that all innovators have in common, it’s their ability to think outside the box to create solutions, disrupt the market, and revolutionize existing technologies and systems. In other words, they are creative.

Creativity is what pushes people to the next horizon. It’s what makes us see things in a new perspective. It’s how technologies and scientific theories evolve over time. Creativity is a characteristic that sets apart the innovator and their product.

And who better to talk about creativity with than Multidisciplinary Artist, David Drebin.

In this episode of Innovation Storytellers, David talks about where artists get their inspiration, how to stay creative, and how experimenting with different media has allowed him to carve new paths in art - for himself, and for others.

Relationships built on trust are what catalyze innovation in organizations. When we can get people to believe in us and our ideas, they more readily embrace new things and become receptive to change.

In this episode, I talk to Dr. Eric Haseltine and Dr. Chris Gilbert about human behavior and how relationships play a key role in bringing innovations to market. 

When you think about innovation, disrupting an established system such as healthcare insurance may not be at the top of your list. But in this episode, Eric Fennel, Vice President of National Network Strategy, Innovation and Value Based Solutions at Aetna, shares how the company is transforming the healthcare industry, and how they select the best ideas to develop and invest in.

Amazon, Tesla, and FedEx did not see profit during their first five years, but their investors continued to put their trust in them until they finally hit their breakthrough.

How did they make this happen? What motivated the investors to keep investing in these companies? How did they tell their stories?

In this episode of Innovation Storytelling, Dan Toma, author of Innovation Accounting & The Corporate Startup, talks about innovation accounting, how it differs from regular accounting, and why it’s a crucial tool in innovation storytelling.

Accessibility is one of the biggest challenges in healthcare, and it has become even more apparent during the pandemic. Seeing this gap in the market, Derrick L. Miles decided to start a company called CourMed®, with a mission to make healthcare more accessible to people.

CourMed® started out as a courier service for healthcare products, but after securing a partnership with Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, CourMed® is now able to offer other healthcare services to more people.

In this episode of Innovation Storytellers, we’re going to look at Derrick’s journey into founding CourMed®, and what motivates him to continually innovate in the healthcare space. We also delve into the importance of partnering with the right businesses, and how CourMed® has helped people, communities, and businesses during the pandemic.

In previous episodes, we’ve often talked about the concept of celebrating failures as a way of appreciating people’s efforts in pursuit of a goal. Scott Kirsner, CEO and Co-Founder of Innovation Leader, challenges that concept today.

Scott believes that instead of this optimistic view on failure, we must simply acknowledge it as it is. And just like how athletes and coaches re-watch their previous matches with other teams, we must learn to take failures as lessons, identify the mistakes we’ve made, and create a better strategy moving forward.

In this episode, Scott talks about the lessons he’s learned on innovation and leadership as a writer in the tech and business field. He also talks about innovation in Hollywood, how to tell stories that attract early adopters, and how big companies can continue to innovate.

We often think of innovation as something that only geniuses are capable of. But in practice, it’s only through many trials and errors that the world gets to see and experience such remarkable inventions. This kind of belief is very much reflected within Amazon’s company culture.

Amazon’s relentless focus on customer experience has led them to many successes. By encouraging a culture of critical thinking and giving space for calculated risks, Amazon has become one of the biggest tech and e-commerce giants of this generation.

In this episode of Innovation Storytellers, Mark Oehlert, Innovation Success Manager at Amazon, lets us in on Amazon’s innovation process and the culture that they cultivate within the company that allows them to embrace and bet on new technologies.

He also talks about Amazon’s failures and the lessons they’ve learned from it, what the ‘cargo cult’ is and how it hinders companies from innovating.

Ask anyone who’s in the business and tech industry, and they’re sure to tell you that Bloomberg is a global leader in business and financial data, news, and insight.

It’s no accident how they became a leading authority in their field. Over the years, they continually innovate and build credibility through the reliable information and technology that they provide their clients.

Chaim Haas, Head of Innovation Communication at Bloomberg, lets us in on one of their secrets: it’s by creating an inclusive and diverse workplace that they are able to create innovation that impacts people’s lives.

In this episode, Chaim Haas talks about his role as the Head of Innovation Communication at Bloomberg, what innovation communication is, and what diversity and inclusion look like in practice.

He also talks about collaboration and idea-sharing through guilds within their company and how they implement new technologies without disrupting business.

Many technologies have emerged over the years that allowed storytelling to evolve. Now we use TV shows, podcasts, YouTube, Instagram, Tiktok, and other types of media to tell our stories and share our ideas.

So how do we know which medium is the best for storytelling, and how do we use this in telling our innovation stories?

In this episode of Innovation Storytellers, we sit with Edward Roussel, former Chief Innovation Officer at Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, as he talks about choosing the right media for your innovation stories and identifying new media frontiers.