Innovation Talks

Jim Fava is the former Executive Director of the Antithesis Group, an organization that supports businesses and governments in understanding and navigating risks and opportunities. Regarded as the “Father of Modern-Day Life Cycle Assessment,” Jim is on a mission to make the world a better place and has been one of the leading pioneers in sustainability. He has made significant contributions to the sustainability and environmentalism movement for more than 40 years and has spent his career guiding businesses and governments through risks and opportunities, enabling them to hold environmentally responsible and sustainable operations. Today, alongside Neil D’Souza, Jim co-hosts Five Lifes to Fifty, a podcast that explores the intersection between society, business, environment, and technology and negotiating the path to sustainable products.

Jim joins me today to discuss embracing change for a more positive, sustainable impact. He shares the eighth and ninth Golden Rules for sustainable innovation and discusses the foundational changes needed to embed sustainability and life cycle information into the innovation process. He highlights the role of sustainability professionals in translating environmental and life cycle data into business value. He also outlines the five attributes needed for any kind of change and illustrates how customers around the world are driving the need for greener, more sustainable products.

“The whole ecosystem is changing; customers, governments, regulators, competitors, and markets globally want greener products—and sustainable innovation is the next frontier for greener products.” - Jim Fava

This week on Innovation Talks:

●     Sustainable innovation as the next frontier for greener products

●     The eighth Golden Rule: focusing on positive impacts and results rather than just data and information

●     Why life cycle professionals need to engage with information users and stakeholders at the beginning stages of a life cycle or sustainability study

●     The differences between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom

●     How sustainability and life cycle professionals can bridge the gap for decision-makers by translating data and information into applicable knowledge and wisdom

●     How a computer company connected their sustainability professionals with their innovation team to shift perspective

●     The ninth Golden Rule: actions, changing behavior, and business practices

●     The five attributes that can help you achieve change and embed sustainability into innovation

●     Why companies avoid change regarding positive environmental and sustainability impact

●     How consumers, governments, and regulators are driving the need to integrate sustainability into innovation

Resources Mentioned:

●     Book: Greener Products, 1st Edition: The Making and Marketing of Sustainable Brands by Al Iannuzzi

Related Episodes:

●     How to embed sustainability into your innovation process with Jim Fava

●     Golden rules for a sustainable business with Jim Fava

Connect with Jim Fava:

●     Podcast: Five Lifes to Fifty

●     Jim Fava 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.

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

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.

Alex Slawbsy is the Chief Growth Officer of InnoLead, an organization that creates content, events, and tools to help the world's largest network of corporate strategy, innovation, and R&D leaders drive change more successfully. Over the past 20 years, Alex has dedicated his time to researching, teaching, guiding, and leading corporate innovation strategy development, capability building, and new business incubation. Before InnoLead, Alex was the Director of Innovation at Embraer-X and an innovation consultant for several years for organizations, including Clayton Christensen’s disruptive innovation consultancy, Innosight. Alex holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Brown University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Alex joins me today to discuss why innovation leaders must shape culture to drive organizational change. He explains why innovation is difficult to quantify and how it’s challenging for innovation leaders to argue their necessity to an organization. He outlines why innovating and change-making imply building trust and relationships within an organization. Alex also discusses hybrid work in the post-COVID era and how remote work may affect organizational culture, change-making, and innovation.

“If you’re trying to move the organization, you need to build the relationships, the bonds, the trust, and perhaps the mentorship with the people who will support you.” - Alex Slawsby

This week on Innovation Talks:

●     Alex’s background in corporate innovation and the history of InnoLead

●     The difference between innovation and invention

●     Alex’s insights on current shifts in innovation

●     Current conversations around innovation, uncertainty, and the economy

●     Communicating the value innovation leaders and innovation teams bring to an organization

●     The innovator’s dilemma and navigating innovation and change-resistant people

●     The challenge of getting people to support something that may not be in the best interest of their careers

●     How innovation teams are often perceived in companies

●     How to avoid and manage the clash between innovation and the core business

●     Connecting with consumers to understand what’s best for them

Connect with Alex Slawsby:

●     InnoLead

●     InnoLead on LinkedIn

●     InnoLead on Instagram

●     InnoLead on Facebook

●     InnoLead on Twitter

●     Alex Slawsby 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.

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

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.

Jim Fava is the former Executive Director of the Anthesis Group, an organization that supports businesses and governments in understanding and navigating risks and opportunities. Known for his holistic desire to make the world a better place, Jim has been deemed the “Father of Modern-Day Life Cycle Assessment” and regarded as one of the leading figures in the industry. A pioneer in sustainability, Jim has made significant contributions to the sustainability and environmentalism movement for more than 40 years. Today, alongside Neil D’Souza, Jim co-hosts Five Lifes to Fifty, a podcast that explores the intersection between society, business, environment, and technology and negotiating the path to sustainable products.

Jim joins me today to discuss product life cycle assessment and how it can help provide an understanding of impact over an entire product life cycle. He outlines three golden rules for life cycle assessment. He describes the applications and limitations of product life cycle assessment. He shares the story of how The Coca-Cola Company realized the impact of all materials and challenged its suppliers to be greener. Jim also highlights why, when designing a product, you have to think about not just sales, but also how it’ll be used, disposed, reused, recovered, and recycled.

“Life cycle assessment is a process that identifies environmental and social issues associated with a product and how those issues can occur at various stages of a product’s life cycle.” - Jim Fava

This week on Innovation Talks:

●     Three golden rules for life cycle assessment

●     Why there are no green products, only “greener” products

●     The stages of a product’s life cycle and the impacts throughout

●     Life cycle assessment from the perspective of innovation portfolios

●     Why life cycle information is essential, but not sufficient

●     Introducing the LCA Standards in the International Organization for Standardization

●     What Jim’s most proud of in his career

Resources Mentioned:

●     Book: Greener Products: The Making and Marketing of Sustainable Brands by Al Iannuzzi

Related Episode:

●     Golden rules for a sustainable business with Jim Fava

Connect with Jim Fava:

●     Podcast: Five Lifes to Fifty

●     Jim Fava 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.

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

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.

Marie-José van den Boomgaard is the Liaison Manager for Start-ups and Scale-ups at KPN, a Dutch telecommunications company. MJ has demonstrated her passion for open innovation throughout her role as Liaison Manager and through the 300 deals she has closed between KPN and scale-ups. In addition to her role at KPN, MJ is an active board member of Costa, an initiative from VNO NCW where the 25 top brands in the Netherlands exchange information on working with scale-ups. In September, MJ will be launching The Innovation Cast—a podcast sharing and discussing personal stories from innovation heroes—with Kirsten van Rijn.

MJ joins me today to discuss her role as the mediator between KPN and scale-ups. She offers advice to people new to the scale-up world. She explains how COVID-19 has changed the relevance of telecommunications. She describes why process optimization is the easiest innovation type for scale-ups. MJ also reveals how top-level commitment has helped her create successful collaborations between KPN and scale-ups and highlights the importance of assessing your organization’s internal processes when working with scale-ups.

“Experiment and fail fast. Optimize your processes, get a coalition of the willing, experiment, and use a CRM.” - Marie-José van den Boomgaard

This week on Innovation Talks:

●     The responsibilities of the Liaison Manager KPN

●     Why open innovation is highly valued at KPN

●     How to create impactful collaborations between your organization and a scale-up

●     The types of innovation that work best with scale-ups

●     Engaging with scale-ups and the importance of the culture of collaboration

●     Speeding up the deal-making process and the emphasizing strategic relevance of deals

●     Finding, hiring, and developing interns

Resources Mentioned:

●     Magnet.Me

Connect with Marie-José van den Boomgaard:

●     KPN

●     KPN on LinkedIn

●     Marie-José van den Boomgaard on LinkedIn

●     Email: [email protected]

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 | Amazon

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.

Jim Fava is the former Executive Director of the Anthesis Group, which supports businesses and governments in understanding and navigating the risks and opportunities they face. Renowned as the "father of modern-day life cycle assessment," Jim has provided invaluable guidance, tools, and expertise on strategies and actions that enable organizations to operate in a more environmentally responsible and sustainable manner. His efforts have contributed significantly to supporting global decision-making processes and have led the United States delegation responsible for shaping the first generation of ISO LCA standards. He is the co-founder of influential organizations such as the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, Five Winds International, and the Forum for Sustainability through Life Cycle Innovation (FSLCI). Alongside Neil D’Souza, Jim co-hosts Five Lifes to Fifty, a podcast that explores the intersection between society, business, environment, and technology and how to negotiate the path to sustainable products.

Jim joins us today to discuss the golden rules for embedding sustainability into the innovation process. He shares how he was inspired to conceptualize the golden rules of innovation and sustainability. He outlines the foundations of sustainable development and why those foundations need to be led by governance. He explains why sustainability officers need to be assigned directly to an innovation department. Jim also highlights why it’s important for sustainability officers to avoid “sustainability talk” and instead speak the language of their audiences.

“If you’re going to do something different, do it now. Change is part of what we have to do to make it happen.” - Jim Fava

This week on Innovation Talks:

●     The Ten Golden Rules of sustainability and innovation

●     The increasing awareness of sustainability’s importance

●     Integrating sustainability into innovation

●     The foundations of sustainable development

●     Good governance and its role in sustainable development

●     Recalibrating the roles of sustainability officers in an organization

●     The value of speaking the language of your audience

●     How innovation drives marketing and procurement

●     Breaking silos and why people sustainability should be part of the innovation technology department

Related Episode:

●     Golden rules for a sustainable business with Jim Fava

Connect with Jim Fava:

●     Podcast: Five Lifes to Fifty

●     Jim Fava 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.

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

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.

Huub Rutten is the co-founder and Vice President of Product Research and Design at Sopheon. Huub has over 20 years of experience in language management and holds a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from Radboud University in the Netherlands. He plays a pivotal role in developing Sopheon’s linguistics and knowledge management technologies and leads the organization into solutions for innovation. Huub integrates his expertise in linguistics and information technology to innovate language management technology within knowledge-intensive business processes and has recently created an in-depth course on innovation portfolio management.

Huub joins me today to discuss managing, governing, and balancing an innovation portfolio. He explains why there is no “ideal” portfolio and how the most desirable portfolio is relative to the regional market sector someone is going for. He describes why developing and investing in production and manufacturing plants is as critical in innovation as product research and development. He underscores why larger companies need to create an innovation management council within their organization. Huub also highlights the importance of bridging the gaps between product portfolios and production portfolios and understanding how they impact each other.

“The simplicity of looking at a portfolio as a series of projects is ridiculous. If you want to add value from a portfolio management perspective, you have to connect with its complexity.” - Huub Rutten

This week on Innovation Talks:

●     Huub’s thoughts on innovation portfolio balance

●     Thinking about an innovation portfolio as a “living” business object in itself

●     How the direction of a company’s innovation portfolio demands a continued SWOT analysis

●     Innovation management in production processes and technology

●     Investing in manufacturing and production plants

●     Balancing a portfolio of portfolios

●     Bridging product and production portfolios

●     Creating an innovation management council within a large company

●     How people are reacting to Huub’s courses on portfolio management

Related Episodes:

●     The Importance of Sprint Portfolios with Huub Rutten

●     Pillars of Portfolio Management with Huub Rutten

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.

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

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.

Huub Rutten is the Co-Founder and Vice President for Product Research and Design at Sopheon. With over two decades of experience in language management and a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from Radboud University in the Netherlands, Huub is instrumental in developing Sopheon’s linguistics and knowledge management technologies and continues to lead the organization into solutions for innovation. Huub integrates his expertise in linguistics and information technology to innovate language management technology within knowledge-intensive business processes and, recently, has created an in-depth course on portfolio management.

Huub joins me today to discuss why, when it comes to innovation portfolio management, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. He explains why the front-end of a portfolio needs to be separated from the ‘realization’ end of a portfolio. He discusses why the launch strategy of a new product is as important as its development. He also highlights why companies need to focus on establishing the value of realization instead of the value of the front-end of a portfolio, describes why the portfolio leader needs to ensure a portfolio’s balance and direction, and underscores why portfolio management has to be executed in combination with concrete decision-making.

“Look at a portfolio—and portfolio management—as a business object in itself, a collection of things, of products, of projects that have value, business cases, and risk.” - Huub Rutten

“Companies who look at portfolio management as a tool for change, transformation, and modernization of a company will be more mature.” - Huub Rutten

“Innovation management is about making promises for the future, and you have to believe in the promise of the whole thing.” - Huub Rutten

This week on Innovation Talks:

●     The tendency of people to look at portfolios as reports instead of a business object

●     The fundamentals and foundations of innovation portfolio management

●     Distinguishing the difference between the ‘front end’ and ‘realization’ parts of a portfolio

●     Separating the front end innovation portfolio from your ‘realization’ portfolio

●     Feature development and its prototyping

●     Examples of features and components in different products

●     Considering the pipeline value of a portfolio

●     How a portfolio’s front end is an important knowledge base

●     Portfolio management as an organizational transformation tool

●     Portfolio leadership and why companies struggle to transform their organization

●     Theory versus practice in portfolio management

Related Episode:

●     AI and machine learning in innovation with Huub Rutten

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.

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

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.

Frank Mattes is a thought leader, startup mentor, and expert in corporate business-building. He is the founder and CEO of Lean Scaleup LLC, which co-created the Lean Scaleup Framework, the best practice for overcoming corporate scaling-up problems and creating profitable businesses. As an advisor and mentor, Frank helps corporations accelerate the learning cycle in building new businesses, allowing them to create new revenue streams and move swiftly on their transformation journey. He is the author of the books, Lean Scale Up and Scaling-Up Corporate Startups.

Frank joins me today to discuss corporate business building, its challenges, and how to overcome them. He explains why only a small fraction of companies succeed in bringing new business models into the market. He describes the two value-creation systems that exist under one corporate roof. He outlines three approaches to overcoming the odds of creating new businesses in a company. He underscores how building new businesses requires solving systematic problems. Frank also highlights why achieving success in building new businesses inside a company involves making two incompatible factors work together.

“The success rate of building sizable, profitable businesses is 3%. It’s not that companies don’t know how to create new products, but it’s all about knowing how to launch new businesses.” - Frank Mattes

This week on Innovation Talks:

●     Corporate business-building, how it works, and the history of Amazon

●     Innovation and creating new business models

●     The defined “red shirt” value-creation system

●     The innovative “blue shirt” value-creation system

●     The success rate of companies creating new businesses and business models

●     Frank’s definition of innovation

●     The Kodak vs. Fujifilm innovation story

Connect with Frank Mattes:

●     Lean Scaleup

●     Book: Scaling-Up Corporate Startups: Turn innovation concepts into business impact

●     Book: Lean Scaleup: A proven framework for building new businesses from innovation

●     Lean Scaleup on LinkedIn

●     Lean Scaleup on Twitter

●     Frank Mattes 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.

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

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.

Carla Johnson is a marketing and innovation strategist, author of ten books, and keynote speaker. She has partnered with leaders and Fortune 500 brands to train thousands of people to rethink the work they do and make an impact. Carla’s goal is to teach one million people how to become innovative thinkers by 2025. She is the Leap Advisor at Demand Spring and was previously the Programme Director of Digital Marketing at HARBOUR.SPACE. Carla has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and is a graduate of the Influence / ICAN Leadership Institute.

Carla joins me today to discuss creating consistent innovation through new, impactful, and reliable ideas. She defines innovation, and outlines where to find it as well as how to reignite it alongside creativity. Carla shares her five-step “Perpetual Innovation Process” and reveals the things that block innovation, such as the complexity bias. She talks about recognizing those with the courage to pitch new ideas and how to give feedback. Carla highlights the six different personality types that contribute to innovative teams and how they bring ideas to the table.

“In order to get fantastic ideas that have an extraordinary impact and outcome, you have to slow down and observe the world around you.” - Carla Johnson

This week on Innovation Talks:

●     Carla’s definition of innovation

●     Drawing inspiration for innovation by looking outside your industry and what it takes to be successful

●     What perpetual innovators are, learning to be one, and waking up your innovative muscles

●     Carla’s five-step “Perpetual Innovation Process”

●     Inspiring a team to create ideas and the two vital parts of giving feedback

●     The six different archetypes of innovative teams: strategist, collaborator, culture shaper, psychologist, orchestrator, and provocateur

Connect with Carla Johnson:

●     Carla Johnson’s website

●     Book: RE:Think Innovation by Carla Johnson

●     Carla Johnson on LinkedIn

●     Carla Johnson on Instagram

●     Carla Johnson on Facebook

●     Carla Johnson 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.

Cris Beswick is a highly acclaimed global authority on innovation strategy, leadership, and culture and is renowned for his groundbreaking work in assessing corporate innovation maturity. He co-authored the best-selling book 'Building a Culture of Innovation,' which received recognition from the CMI as a Top Innovation Book in 2017. With a position as adjunct faculty at a business school and advisory roles on the boards of The Innovators CoLab and The Global Innovation Institute, Cris actively contributes to the field. He is also a co-founder of OUTCOME, a boutique innovation advisory firm.

Today, Cris and I discuss the importance of leadership and culture in driving innovation within organizations. We emphasize the need for a systemic approach to innovation and owning the innovation agenda. We analyze why designing an intentional culture is crucial to foster innovation, focusing on understanding a culture's significance, fostering a growth mindset, providing psychological safety, and continuous culture design. We highlight the effect of strong leadership, particularly during uncertain and disruptive times. We also discuss how to proactively shape organizational culture to drive innovation and adapt effectively.

“It's now becoming evident that the innovation system as a whole isn't where organizations really need it to be because they're recognizing that the system needs all of the components to work in harmony.” - Cris Beswick

This week on Innovation Talks:

●     The challenges and opportunities for innovation organizations

●     Why leadership and culture are crucial factors in driving innovation

●     Why Cris advocates for a systemic approach to innovation

●     Why ownership of innovation is not limited to the CEO

●     How to design an intentional culture that fosters innovation

●     The four key principles of design culture

●     Why culture design is a continuous process

●     The importance of strong leadership during uncertain times

●     How to proactively shape an organization to adapt

Connect with Cris Beswick:

●     Cris Beswick’s Website

●     OUTCOME Website

●     Book: Building a Culture of Innovation: A Practical Framework for Placing Innovation at the Core of Your Business by Cris Beswick

●     Cris Beswick on LinkedIn

●     Cris Beswick on Twitter

●     Email: [email protected]

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 | Amazon

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.