Innovation Talks

In this week's episode, we explore the world of innovation excellence in production. Our guest, Huub Rutten, has been at the forefront of innovation in production, working with numerous companies to advance their production methodologies. As companies navigate the increasing complexities of manufacturing and production, Huub Rutten provides valuable insights into the challenges, advancements, and opportunities in this often-overlooked aspect of innovation.

Huub Rutten is the co-founder and Vice President of Product Research and Design at Sopheon. With over 20 years of experience in language management and a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from Radboud University in the Netherlands, Huub is at the forefront of developing Sopheon’s linguistics and knowledge management technologies. He’s been leading the charge into solutions for innovation and has even created a deep dive course on innovation portfolio management.

"You need a strategy; you need a standard way of managing your initiatives. And the programs of initiatives should have a discipline to produce data in a certain way."

 - Huub Rutten

Today on Innovation Talks:

·     The link between portfolio management and innovation in production is critical for the overall success of a company's product portfolio.

·     Geopolitical changes drive the urgency for modernization and innovation in production processes, making sustainability and independence from external factors more essential than ever.

·     The implementation of professional innovation management is urgently required to address the challenges and complexities of production innovation.

·     The need for business management principles in manufacturing innovation to effectively drive production process improvements.

·     Transparency and collaboration between the product and production sides are crucial to driving innovations that serve the business as a whole.

·     Successful production innovation requires a strategic roadmap and disciplined portfolio management to steer initiatives in the right direction.

·     The intersection of Industry 4.0 and production processes opens up opportunities for automation, digitization, and smarter manufacturing practices.

·     The growing urgency for independence from geopolitical factors is accelerating the need for modernization and innovation in production processes.

Connect with Huub Rutten:

●     Huub Rutten on LinkedIn

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you.

For additional information around new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here.

April Dunford is the founder of Ambient Strategy, a consulting firm that helps technology companies grow. She has led marketing, product, and sales teams at companies like IBM, Siebel, and Sybase. April's work is focused on early and growth-stage startups—recognizing that weak positioning can be the difference between success and failure. She also works with large global companies, helping them develop deeper positioning expertise in their product and marketing teams. April's best-selling book, Obviously Awesome, captures her ideas about positioning and provides a methodology that any startup can follow. Today, April is focused on giving back as much as she can. She mentors and advises dozens of startups and is an enthusiastic board member at a handful of startups. April resides in Toronto, Canada, where she enjoys spending time with her kids and small dog in a cabin in the woods.

Today, April joins me to discuss positioning for B2B tech companies. She explains how to position a product to the current market, rather than the company’s vision of the future. She discusses what product managers need to understand about their vision and the current market to craft a successful position. She explains why product positioning is most important in B2B and why positioning is different from messaging. We discuss the importance of positioning to improve marketing and sales performance and why you need to continually refine and evolve positioning over time. April also suggests the best way to develop a positioning thesis and calculate the value it will deliver to the customer.

“The best way to test positioning if you're B2B and you have a sales team is to take that positioning and translate it into a sales pitch, then test it out on qualified prospects in a sales call.” - April Dunford

This week on Innovation Talks:

●     How to explore the best positioning strategy for your company

●     How B2B tech companies can position themselves for their specific market

●     Why weak positioning makes your sales process harder

●     April’s five components of positioning

●     April’s methodology for positioning that any company can follow

●     How to test your positioning

●     The benefits of structured sales pitches

Connect with April Dunford:

●     April Dunford’s Website

●     Book: Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It by April Dunford

●     April Dunford on LinkedIn

●     April Dunford on Twitter

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | iHeart

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you.

For additional information around new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here.

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In this week's episode, we delve into the strategic mindset that sets apart the most successful companies from their competitors. Joining us is business leader Dan Adams, who discusses the concept of the "builder mentality," which is essential for long-term competitiveness and growth. We examine how these principles, laid out in Dan's new book and his research-backed survey, impact leadership styles, succession planning, and the understanding of leaders' roles in shaping companies for future success.

Dan Adams is a visionary in the field of business growth and leadership, serving as president of the AIM Institute. With extensive experience guiding companies toward innovation and market-driven strategies, Dan has authored the groundbreaking book "Business Builders." Dan's commitment to fostering a builder mentality in leaders has significantly impacted the business landscape, encouraging a new wave of transformative leadership.

" Our belief is the duty of a senior leader is to leave their business stronger

than they found it.” - Dan Adams

This Week on Innovation Talks:

• A builder mentality drives company growth: Dan Adams highlights that leadership focused on delivering customer value and expanding the company is most effective at driving growth.

• Different leaders impact organizations in unique ways: Builders, decorators, remodelers, and realtors—each leadership style has a distinct approach, with builders being the most growth-oriented.

• Understanding one's leadership style is key: Adams encourages leaders to use the self-assessment tool on his website to measure their belief system and adopt a builder mentality.

• Balancing leadership styles for sustainable growth: While different leaders have varied priorities, a balance of strategies is crucial for organic growth.

• CEOs must evolve with their companies: As companies grow, the need for a builder mentality remains critical, making succession planning pivotal.

Connect with Dan Adams:

LinkedIn

Resources Mentioned:

- Book: "Business Builders" by Dan Adams

- AIM Institute

- Builder Mentality Self-Assessment Tool

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | iHeart

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you.

For additional information around new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here.

In today's episode, we're peeling back the layers of organizational innovation with expert Chris Beswick, who introduces a transformative approach to measuring innovation maturity. We're delving into the advanced methodologies that assess where a company stands on the innovation curve and provide actionable steps for progression. With a non-linear and sentiment-based assessment tool called AIM, Chris guides us through the pillars of a comprehensive innovation system and how companies can diagnose their innovation health.

Chris Beswick is a pioneer in innovation strategy and a dedicated advocate for changing how organizations approach innovation maturity. As a seasoned thought leader, Chris has implemented his unique assessment model in companies ranging from modest start-ups to global giants, proving that size does not dictate the necessity for innovation introspection. With a keen eye for the interconnectedness of culture, strategy, and leadership, he empowers companies to comprehensively assess and evolve their practices. His passion for data-driven decision-making and the democratization of innovation insights makes him a vanguard in the field.

"We need to replace traditional assessment answers with statements of truth to reflect where an organization stands in terms of innovation genuinely." - Chris Beswick

Today on Innovation Talks:

·     Innovation maturity should encompass culture and leadership, not just processes and tools. It's about shifting the focus to address the overarching innovation ecosystem within the organization.

·     AIM as a pre-investment analysis tool: Revealing how AIM can be used to assess portfolio companies' potential for driving growth through innovation.

·     The five pillars of the innovation system are strategy, processes, governance/management, and culture/leadership, and each has its importance in the innovation journey of a company.

·     The necessity of a data-driven approach: Beswick emphasizes relying on hard data rather than subjective opinions to make significant innovation decisions.

·     Capturing sentiments of the whole organization: The importance of gaining a holistic view of the company instead of limiting the survey to a select group is vital for an accurate measure of innovation maturity.

·     The impact of hidden deltas and polarization: Beswick outlines how the AIM tool can uncover hidden issues affecting a company's innovation.

·     Building a self-sustaining framework: Developing a next-step approach that enables companies to address specific innovation maturity barriers independently.

·     The scalability of innovation assessments: Beswick's model's adaptability to varying-size organizations highlights its broad applicability.

Contact Chris Beswick:

·     LinkedIn

·     Contact directly for innovation maturity discussions: Chris Beswick, Outcome Co.

Resources Mentioned:

AIM (Assessment of Innovation Maturity): A tool described by Chris Beswick for measuring innovation maturity across different organizational pillars.

Remember, understanding your company’s innovation maturity is pivotal, and taking the steps to improve it can set you on a path toward sustainable progress and competitive advantage.

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | iHeart

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners like you.

For additional information about new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s monthly newsletter, where we share news and industry best practices! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here.

Greetings, innovation enthusiasts! Today, Paul is joined by Innovation Talks producer Emma Hughes. Together, they reflect on a stellar year of insightful conversations and forward-thinking guests whose stories have left indelible marks on our understanding of the innovation landscape.

Emma Hughes is not only the producer extraordinaire with an uncanny knack for identifying transformative narratives but also a voracious learner whose grasp of innovation and its nuances has deepened with every episode produced—Emma's perspective in each considered conversation that makes the podcast a treasure trove of industry knowledge.

Our affable and knowledgeable host, Paul Heller, illustrates the quintessential curiosity that drives our conversations at Sopheon. With an impressive lineup of guests throughout 2023, Paul has enriched our podcast with profound and practical discussions, demonstrating a persistent pursuit of what it truly means to lead and innovate in today's dynamic environment.

"Innovation is not just about breakthrough technologies; it's the human side of things that can sometimes transform the workplace even more profoundly." - Emma Hughes

This week on Innovation Talks:

·     Reflecting on a year of empowering and motivational content from thought leaders like Carla Johnson, Aisha Armstrong, and William Mulholland.

·     The personal and professional growth Emma and Paul have undergone through their interactions with podcast guests.

·     A look at cultural shifts in the workplace, emphasizing the human element post-coronavirus.

·     Paul's insights into the evolving role of product managers and the maturing of business innovation.

·     The appropriate approach to integrating AI in products while maintaining a human touch in content.

·     Emma and Paul's favorite podcast episodes of 2023 that sparked discussion and innovation in sustainability, strategy, and leadership.

· The hosts' conversational approach to interviews creates an atmosphere for natural and insightful dialogues.

·     An invitation to listeners to influence the podcast's future direction with feedback and participation.

Resources Mentioned:

How to Make Innovative Thinking Your Competitive Advantage with Carla Johnson

Fearless Transformation: Revolutionizing B2B Services for Profitable Productization with Eisha Armstrong

Insights from an AI Product Manager with William Mulholland

This podcast is powered by Sopheon, leading the charge in enterprise innovation management solutions. Our mission is to help businesses achieve exceptional long-term growth and profitability through sustained innovation.

Discover more about Sopheon

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | iHeart

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners like you.

For additional information about new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s newsletter, where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here.

Today, on Innovation Talks, Paul Heller and Greg Coticchia, the CEO of Sopheon, bring a wealth of experience in product management. In this episode, they delve into the challenges and opportunities faced by product managers, highlighting their crucial role in driving innovation and business success. Greg emphasizes the importance of leadership, collaboration, and strategic thinking for product managers to excel in their roles. He stresses the need for product managers to gain the trust and support of their executive team and the development and sales teams.

Greg and Paul discuss the evolving nature of the product manager role, noting how it has changed over the years. They highlight the shift from product managers being solely focused on feature prioritization to becoming business owners responsible for their products' overall health and success. They emphasize the need for product managers to go beyond just being a proxy for the customer and actively engage with customers, salespeople, marketing, and development teams to gain a holistic understanding of the market and drive product success.

The conversation also touches on the importance of executive support and understanding of product management. Greg emphasizes that executives need to recognize the value and impact of product management on the company's growth and profitability. He encourages executives to educate themselves on the role of product management and how they can support and empower product managers to make strategic decisions.

Throughout the episode, Greg and Paul stress the need for product managers to learn and develop their skills continuously. They recommend taking sales and marketing courses better to understand the customer journey and the sales process. They also highlight the importance of staying updated on digital marketing strategies and tools to market and sell products in the digital age effectively.

"If you're an executive and you don't know a lot about product management, you should. You should understand it as a profession. You should understand its role. You should understand how it helps you and your business." ~ Greg Coticchia

Greg Coticchia is the CEO of Sopheon and a seasoned expert in product management. With a wealth of experience in the industry, Greg has witnessed the transformation of product companies over the years and deeply understands the challenges faced by product managers and the evolving expectations placed upon them. Instrumental in reshaping the role of product managers, Greg lobbies for their involvement in strategic decision-making and their ability to drive business growth. He strongly advocates for product managers to develop leadership skills and build trust with key stakeholders, including developers, sales teams, and executives. Greg's insights and expertise make him a valuable resource for anyone navigating the complex world of product management.

This Week on Innovation Talks:

• Product managers should not fear or avoid working with sales organizations but rather find ways to collaborate and support them.
• Building relationships and trust with developers, sales teams, and executives is crucial for product managers to succeed.
• Education in strategy, business leadership, and sales can enhance the skills and effectiveness of product managers.
• Leadership is a key aspect of the product manager role, and they should strive to demonstrate leadership qualities in their work.
• Building relationships with sales teams is important for product managers to understand customer needs and effectively sell the product.
• Education in sales methodologies and digital marketing is essential for product managers to understand the customer journey and effectively support sales efforts.
• Understanding the role of product management and its impact on the organization is important for executives to provide the necessary support and resources.
• Product managers should not just focus on technical aspects but also understand their products' business and financial aspects.

Resources Mentioned:

• Sopheon
• Agile Manifesto- The Agile Manifesto that changed the role of product managers.
• HubSpot
• Salesforce

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | iHeart

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners like you.

For additional information about new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s monthly newsletter, where we share news and industry best practices! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here.

In this week's episode, we dive into the fascinating world of product development and innovation. We explore the evolution of the StageGate methodology, which has been a cornerstone of successful product launches for decades. Our guest, Dr. Robert Cooper, is a renowned innovation thought leader who has spent over 40 years studying the practices and pitfalls of new product projects. With his extensive knowledge and expertise, Dr. Cooper shares valuable insights on how companies can refine and improve their innovation processes to stay ahead in today's rapidly changing business landscape.

Dr. Robert Cooper is one of the most influential innovation thought leaders in the business world today. With a career spanning over four decades, he has dedicated his research to studying the practices and pitfalls of thousands of new product projects across various industries. As a prolific author and recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Cooper's expertise in innovation and product development is highly regarded. He is currently a Professor Emeritus of Marketing and Technology Management at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University and a Distinguished Fellow at Penn State Institute. With his wealth of knowledge and experience, Dr. Cooper continues to shape the field of innovation and help companies navigate the ever-changing landscape of product development.

"Artificial intelligence has just overtaken marketing... the other thing that it's taken over is things like pricing, dynamic pricing. Some of you may be familiar with Uber and how they do their pricing. The price goes up when the demand goes up. That's AI-based."

 - Dr. Robert Cooper

Today on Innovation Talks:

• StageGate methodology has stood the test of time: Dr. Robert Cooper, the creator of StageGate, highlights that the basic principles of StageGate have remained relevant and effective over the years.
• Lean processes are crucial for efficiency: Many companies struggle with bloated processes and excessive documentation in their product development.
• Agile and StageGate can be combined: Dr. Cooper acknowledges the growing interest in Agile methodologies and their application in product development.
• Portfolio management is crucial for resource allocation: Many companies struggle with managing a large number of projects simultaneously.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming product development: AI is playing an increasingly significant role in various stages of product development.

Resources Mentioned:

· StageGate: A methodology for product success introduced by Dr. Robert Cooper in 1986.

· Agile: A project management methodology that can be combined with StageGate for more efficient product development.

· Lean Six Sigma: A set of methodologies used to streamline processes and eliminate waste, which can be applied to the new product development process.

· Digital Twins: Virtual replicas of physical products or processes that can be used for simulation, testing, and optimization.

Resources:

·     Dr. Robert Cooper’s Books

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | iHeart

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you.

For additional information around new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here.

In today's episode, I dive into governing digital products using an agile development approach. I discuss the challenges of transitioning from physical products to digital products and how the traditional phase gate model can be adapted to suit the unique needs of digital product development. I outline a four-gate process model that includes decision points such as funding development, MVP review and reconfirmation, decision to launch, product review, and strategic adjustment. I emphasize the importance of cross-functional alignment and understanding throughout the development process and highlight the need for regular review meetings to ensure the product's success in the market. Join me as I explore the intricacies of governing agile development and provide insights into how companies can effectively manage their digital product development.

"So much failure happens here because the product is ready and the company is not."

~Paul Heller

Today on Innovation Talks:

• The success of launching a digital product relies on the readiness of the entire company, not just the product itself.
• PhaseGate principles, which are used to manage and reduce risk in product development, can be applied to digital products as well.
• The four primary gates: decision to fund development, MVP review and reconfirmation, decision to launch, and product review and strategic adjustment.
• The MVP review and reconfirmation gate is crucial for understanding and adapting to changes in the product, market, and competitive landscape.
• The decision to launch gate focuses on assessing the readiness of the company as a whole.

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | iHeart

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you.

For additional information around new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here.

You might have heard the term Stage-Gate when discussing product development processes, from Idea to Product Launch. The name comes from one, Dr. Robert Cooper, one of the most influential innovation thought-leaders in the industry. He trademarked the term Stage-Gate and its methodology, which was implemented by almost 80% of North American companies. In his framework, a product's genesis will go through discreet stages until it hits the market with expected high success rate results.

In today's episode, I want to take some time to explain the Stage-Gate methodology in layman's terms and what Robert Coopers' research delivered after observing why some companies are very successful at bringing products to market while others are less so. I discuss the stages of Concept Development and the deliverable 'Gate-Meetings' each product would go through. I discuss the benefits of early concept development and how this is a form of quality control. I also discuss how Stage-Gating will maximize your chances of bringing winning products to market.

"By and large the concept of Stages and Gates is always there. It's just the deliverables, the gatekeepers, the way the decisions are made; they become unique to each company." – Paul Heller

"You can think of it almost as a risk management methodology. It's a lot like what a venture capitalist would do. If they were going to invest in a firm, they don't just give the big check right up front, right?" – Paul Heller

"That methodology took a lot of risk out of these products and would identify the products early on that were less likely to succeed in order to make it really work well." – Paul Heller

"Your gatekeepers are a critical role. They need to be people who from the cross-functional parts of your company are going to try to make the business decision to go to the next stage. And they're going to base that on intuition. They're going to base that on experience." – Paul Heller

"You're not just bringing products to market, but you're filtering and bringing the winning products to market. And that's what the stage-gate system was all about." – Paul Heller

This week on Innovative Talks:

• Breaking down the meaning of Stage-Gate in industry
• How a successful company breaks down initial concept development
• The Five-Stage model for product development
• How Stage-Gating is a form of quality control
• Why Gatekeepers are critical to the success of a product
• What the Money-Gate means for serious investment

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: Winning at New Products by Robert G. Cooper

Connect with Paul Heller:

·      Paul Heller on LinkedIn

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you.

For additional information around new product development or corporate Innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly!

The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here.