Outthinkers

Bruce Vojak, is Managing Director of Breakthrough Innovation Advisors, LLC, and serves on the Advisory Board of Midtronics, Inc., JVA Partners, and the Board of Directors of Micron Industries Corporation, and is a Senior Fellow with The Conference Board.  Further, he has co-authored five book chapters—in addition to numerous peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations—on innovation. He is the author of No-Excuses Innovation: Strategies for Small- and Medium-Sized Mature Enterprises (published 2022) and Serial Innovators: How Individuals Create and Deliver Breakthrough Innovations in Mature Firms  from 2012.

Bruce was formerly the Dean and an Adjunct Professor in the top-ranked Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign. Earlier in his career, he was Director of Advanced Technology for Motorola’s non-semiconductor components business and was on the research staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. 

Bruce brings together real research with real-world practice, while taking a more human-view of innovation. Spanning a career at the intersection of business and technology, Bruce has experienced and explored innovation purposefully and variously.

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In this episode, Bruce shares: 

• The definition of innovation, how it relates to strategy 
• How successful innovators view organization politics and why this is important 
• The key characteristics of innovators seen from years of research, and what sets them apart from the rest 
• How innovators often see patterns others miss, and feel it is their "call of duty" to help an organization see and follow through on these ideas 
• What it takes to be a good manager of innovators—and how they can hold on to these innovators when not equipped to manage these unique individuals 

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:04—Introducing Bruce + the topic of today’s episode
2:57—If you really know me, you know that...
4:06—What's your definition of strategy?
7:13—What's your definition of innovation?
9:00— What sets serial innovators apart from others
14:12—What is a serial innovator, and the specific characteristics?
18:01—  Managing serial innovators effectively
19:35— Politics as part of the innovation process
21:02—  How serial innovators manage politics within an organization
22:30— Motivation for his "No Excuses-Innovation" book
24:40—  Book recommendation for strategists 
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Additional Resources:
Personal site: https://www.breakthrough-innovation-advisors.com/bruce-vojak/
Link to book: No-Excuses Innovation: Strategies for Small- and Medium-Sized Mature Enterprises
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bvojak/

Thank you to our guest. Thank you to our executive producer, Karina Reyes, our editor, Zach Ness, and the rest of the team. If you like what you heard, please follow, download, and subscribe. I'm your host, Kaihan Krippendorff. Thank you for listening.

Follow us at outthinkernetworks.com/podcast

Min Jung  is a vice director of the Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions at the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea and a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. He is also the author of A Brain for Innovation: The Neuroscience of Imagination and Abstract Thinking. 

Min’s work gives us scientific insights into the actual foundation working of the brain, specifically how the brain generates innovative ideas. Min believes that everyone has an ability to be creative.

In this discussion, we dive deep into topics from his book, A Brain for Innovation: The Neuroscience of Imagination and Abstract Thinking seeking to uncover what it takes to do just that.

In this episode, Min shares with us: 

• The many complex, dynamic brain networks and how they function and interact in order to create abstract thinking and creativity 
• His concept of the "3 B's" of creativity, the three states that provide space for innovative ideas to emerge in your brain 
• How organizations can foster environments that facilitate creativity  
• The fascinating critical part “place cells,” neurons in the hippocampus, can play in shaping how we think, remember, organize, and enable organizational transformation

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:16—Introducing Min + the topic of today’s episode
4:00—If you really know me, you know that...
5:38—What's your definition of strategy?
7:07—Understanding the importance of brain networks
8:16—Min's take on abstract thinking
9:59—Min's object recognition neural network graph
11:08— The default mode network in a relaxed state
13:39—How our brains attaches value to things
14:53—The "3 Bs" for creativity
16:41— Finding the right work-relaxation balance
17:43— Comparing brain and organizational idea generation
20:16— The role of place cells in humans and animals
23:12— Using spatial metaphors in strategy to break down thinking
24:33— Tapping into your natural creativity
25:58—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:
Book site:  A Brain for Innovation: The Neuroscience of Imagination and Abstract Thinking

Cathy Hackl is a globally-recognized tech & gaming exec, futurist, & speaker focused on spatial computing, virtual worlds, augmented reality, AI, & gaming platforms strategy. She’s the co-CEO of Spatial Dynamics, a spatial computing and AI solutions company. She is also a top tech voice on LinkedIn, and a fun fact, she was the first person ever to open the NASDAQ market in the metaverse with an avatar. 

Cathy is a powerful voice on spatial computing and immersive technology, guiding businesses on integrating these into their product portfolios and business models, having worked with companies like Nike, Ralph Lauren, Walmart, & Louis Vuitton. In this conversation, we dive deep into these topics, narrowing in on key insights from her upcoming May 2024 book, SPATIAL COMPUTING: An AI-Driven Business Revolution. 

In this episode, Cathy shares with us: 

• The definition of spatial computing, and how it’s not just a new emerging technology, but rather an expansion of computing as we have known it  
• Spatial computing’s interrelation with the metaverse, and the increasingly blurring boundaries between what we knew of as the “virtual world,” and our physical reality 
• How AI is not just an addition to computing, but a convergence that is opening up new possibilities  
• What areas of their business model leaders need to be thinking of to stay ahead of the curve in light of this new field of technologically that will quickly become the norm 

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:07—Introducing Cathy + the topic of today’s episode
3:58—If you really know me, you know that...
4:21—What's your definition of strategy?
5:30—Cathy's virtual Nasdaq experience
6:40— Clarifying what spatial computing encompasses
10:37—What people often get wrong when envisioning the spatial web 
14:29—How people who grow up with digital experiences think about virtual vs. real world 
16:58—How does supply and demand work with digital goods?
19:42—The opportunity and market size for digital products and goods
21:41—The role and interrelation of AI within the metaverse and spatial computing
24:09—Overlooked business model opportunities for business leaders
26:05—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:
Personal site: https://www.cathyhackl.com/
Book site: Spatial Computing: An AI-Driven Business Revolution
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathyhackl/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CathyHackl

Amy C. Edmondson the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, renowned for her research over the last 20 years on psychological safety and teaming. Her award-winning work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Psychology Today, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, and more. Named by Thinkers50 in 2021 as the #1 Management Thinker in the world, Amy’s TED Talk “How to Turn a Group of Strangers into a Team” has been viewed over three million times. She is the author of The Fearless Organization, Teaming,  and most recently, Right Kind of Wrong. 

In this episode, we dive into the complex territory of navigating risk and failure in the midst of our ever-uncertain world. 

In this conversation, Amy shares: 

• What psychological safety is—and what it is not, with the central idea being grounded in allowing people the space to experiment and fail. 
• The three types of failure, and key characteristics to evaluate what type of failure you might be confronted with 
• 5 questions you can ask to evaluate whether a potentially high-risk failure you are about to take is, as she calls it “an intelligent” failure so that you can avoid hindering your team’s pursuit of new ideas while also taking on too much of the wrong kind of risk 

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:06—Introducing Amy + the topic of today’s episode
2:55—If you really know me, you know that...
3:57—What's your definition of strategy?
4:17—What is psychological safety
5:06— How psychological safety relates to performance stands
6:48—The Bridgewater case 
9:02— Logical link between psychological safety and the right kind of wrong
10:50—The three types of failures
13:59—The unequal license to fail
16:10—Assessing ideas through an intelligent failure lens
20:11—How stakes, reputation and uncertainty influences intelligent failure
23:22—Fast fail or fast scale, shifting organizational culture around failure
27:43—Using AI to eliminate bias in decision making
30:06—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:
Personal site: https://amycedmondson.com
Book site: Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amycedmondson/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmyCEdmondson

John Winsor is a prominent figure in strategic marketing and product innovation, known for his deep understanding of future work trends and open talent strategies. His
expertise in collaboration, co-creation, and open innovation has made him a key
influencer in innovation, disruption, and storytelling. He founded and chairs Open
Assembly, an organization pioneering the adoption of open talent and freelancing.

At Harvard Business School's Laboratory for Innovation Science (LISH), as an
executive-in-residence, Winsor significantly promotes innovation. He co-authored the
national best-selling book Open Talent: Leveraging a Global Workforce to Solve Your
Biggest Challenges with Laboratory for Innovation Sciences at Harvard co-founders Jin Paik, published by Harvard Business Press in January 2024. Additionally, Winsor leads the Open Assembly Community, a global network of 4000 members focused on
transforming workplaces worldwide.

In this conversation, we dive deep into concepts from Open Talent: Leveraging a Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges, John’s most recent co-authored and national best-selling book with Jin Paik, published by Harvard Business Press in January 2024.  

We discuss the intricate layers of the modern workforce, including:

• The rapid shift of the workforce culture, with the rise of micro-entrepreneurs and freelancers at the core, transforming industries 
• The democratization of talent through digital platforms that provides companies a more varied, diverse workforce while providing individuals more opportunities for work 
• A growing shift away from traditional roles and jobs, towards a focus on tasks and skills to achieve desired outcomes, with an emphasis on speed and momentum given today’s fast-paced momentum 
• How to break through the mental and organizational barriers that impede them from embracing new workforce paradigms to fully take advantage of the modern workforce reality 

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:04—Introducing John Winsor + the topic of today’s episode
3:18—If you really know me, you know that...
4:24—What's your definition of strategy?
6:56—Using strategy to move things in your favor?
11:35—How Open Talent differs from gig work
15:44—Is the talent power shift permanent?
18:24— How is technology transforming talent acquisition?
21:52—Overcoming mental barriers to embrace Open Talent
26:14—The economic benefits of variable workforce costs
28:01—Why innovation is vital for survival
30:08—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:
Personal site: https://johnwinsor.com
Book site: Open Talent: Leveraging a Global Workforce to Solve Your
Biggest Challenges
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johntwinsor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jtwinsor

Jeanne Liedtka is the Professor of Business at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business,  where she teaches both MBAs and executives, as well as consulting on innovation, organic growth and design thinking. Jeanne, has served as Associate Dean of the MBA Program at Darden, Executive Director of the Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation, and Chief Learning Officer at United Technologies Corporation, and consulted with a diverse set of organizations including IBM, Samsung, NASA, The United Nations, and the government of Singapore.  

Jeanne’s interests lie at the intersection of strategy and design. She has written eight books, including her most recent book published this year, 2024: The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide, and many articles on the subject of strategy, innovation, and design thinking.

In this thought-provoking conversation, we discuss why this topic is particularly important, as our research shows that companies truly thriving in today's digital, fast-paced world, discuss strategic experimentation, rather than strategic design, more frequently than their competitors.

In this episode, she shares:

• The concept of design thinking—Jeanne's expertise—which provides the structure, tools, and processes needed to unlock creativity—regardless of one’s background.
• How design thinking is a perfect complement to strategic thinking—and the nuanced differences between the two
• How to strike a balance between risk aversion and meticulous planning with innovation
• The interesting paradox of needing data to make decisions, but not over-relying on data to the point where innovation is stifled

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:01—Introducing Jeanne Liedtka + the topic of today’s episode
3:04—If you really know me, you know that...
4:41—What's your definition of strategy?
6:50—What is design thinking?
11:30— Why do constraints enable creativity?
14:40— How do you foster experimentation in a risk-averse organizational culture?
18:52—When thinking about innovative ideas, why is historical data insufficient?
24:50—From product ideas to testable value proposition
29:19—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:
Personal site: https://jeanneliedtka.com/
Book site: The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liedtkaj/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeanneliedtka

W. Russell Neuman is Professor of Media Technology at New York University, a founding faculty of the MIT Media Lab, he served as a Senior Policy Analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.  

His books like The Digital Difference: Media Technology and the Theory of Communication Effects and his most recent book EVOLUTIONARY INTELLIGENCE: How Technology Will Make Us Smarter are rooted in the view that human intelligence and human communication are intertwined. Language and communication are intrinsically linked to the evolution of human intelligence since the dawn of humankind. As our technologies for communication have advanced over time, so too has the sophistication of our cognitive abilities. As you heard in the highlighted clip, this insight gives us a very interesting glimpse at how human intelligence may next evolve as AI comes into play.   

• The definition of intelligence at its fundamental roots— and how human intelligence is similar to or differs from machine intelligence. 
• How human intelligence has evolved as our forms of communication evolved and what this insight can tell us about the next stage of human intelligence in the era of Ai 
• Why machines and AI aren't going to replace human intelligence, but rather converge with it and complement it--think, compensating for human cognitive biases and weaknesses, not taking over. 
• The future of intelligence as we know it, and how we are already in what Russ calls the “Revolutionary Intelligence” era. 

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:08—Introducing Russ Neuman+ the topic of today’s episode
3:32—If you really know me, you know that...
4:12—What's your definition of strategy?
5:04—What is your definition of intelligence?
8:08—  Four leaps in human intelligence: language, land, leverage and literacy?
13:11—What is the name of our current revolution?
15:42—The regulation of AI
17:46—How machines can help with shortcomings of human cognition
19:41—How can a strategist Use AI as a compensatory tool?
20:52—How can AI tame our natural human biases?
22:17—What are the scenarios we should be worried about with AI?
25:31—How do you see human machine communication evolving?
27:28—Are we already digital beings?
30:14—How many foundational models will there be?
33:01—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Book site: Evolutionary Intelligence How Technology Will Make Us Smarter 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/profwrussellneuman/

Tobias Dengel is President of WillowTree, a TELUS International Company. WillowTree designs and builds digital experiences for the world’s largest brands, and they sit at the forefront of this breakthrough. Tobias understands voice technology's profound, wide-ranging implications for every industry, including marketing, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, media, and more. He counsels leaders in all these fields about how their companies must adapt to the coming age of voice.

He is the recent author, with co-author Karl Weber, of THE SOUND OF THE FUTURE : The Coming Age of Voice Technology,  a dive deep into the sweeping changes we can expect as voice technology gains traction.

Tobias’ insights will really open up your imagination around the future of human-machine communication, particularly around how voice technology, accelerated by recent developments in AI, have the potential to radically alter the way we live and how companies do business.

In this podcast, he shares:

• How voice technology offers a significant advantage in communication efficiency, and will drastically improve productivity across our lives and many sectors  
• Why this efficiency applies more to humans communicating to machines and not the other way around 
• How our interactions with machines will transition from being uni-modal to multi-modal with machines reacting in real-time to our requests in multiple formats. 
• What individuals can expect will change with everyday tasks and jobs, and for business leaders—where to anticipate opportunities for adoption of voice technology in their company. 
• How this next technological revolution will mirror the smartphone one in many ways—and how it’ll differ 

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:19—Introducing Tobias + the topic of today’s episode
3:09—If you really know me, you know that...
4:19—What's your definition of strategy?
5:21—Why is voice an advantage over other forms of communication?
9:25—What has changed about voice recognition software over time, and how does that lead us to today with Gen AI?
13:14—Could you talk to us about the various modes of communication, particularly humans vs. technology?
15:47—Who do you think will winning or losing across industries as voice tech takes over?
15:18—What are the first steps someone should take in pursuing new ideas?
18:04—Where should people start to identify where a business might implement voice technology?
27:55—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal site: https://www.tobiasdengel.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobiasdengel
Twitter: twitter.com/tobiasdengel

All content © 2024 Outthinkers.

Thank you to our guests, thank you to our executive producer, Karina Reyes, our editor, Zach Ness, and the rest of the team. If you like what you heard, please follow, download, and subscribe. I'm your host, Kaihan Krippendorff. Thank you for listening.

Sukhinder Sing Cassidy is the leader of the growth and performance of Xero globally. With more than 25 years’ experience in Silicon Valley as a CEO, digital leader and board member, she has experienced building and scaling global companies including Google, Amazon, Yodlee, Joyus and StubHub. She currently serves on the board of publicly traded fintech, Upstart with previous experience serving on the boards of Ericsson, Trip Advisor, Urban Outfitters, Stitchfix and J.Crew. 

Working across such a diverse, prominent portfolio of companies has given Sukhinder a unique counter-perspective on how leaders and business owners look at risk and reward. Her book, Choose Possibility: Take Risks and Thrive (Even When You Fail) sheds light and dives deep into what she’s learned in her extensive career as a leader in tech, where risk-taking and volatility is the norm.
 
In this discussion, we journey through the art of risk-taking and decision-making, with its intricate interplay of creating a portfolio of bets, understanding variability, and fostering an environment that embraces ambiguity and iteration.

In this episode, she shares:

• The interrelation between possibility and decision-making, and how it’s too-often wrapped up in the “myth of the single choice,” as she calls it 
• How taking a big risk often starts with building and evaluating a portfolio of small possibilities—and how you build this 
• How, as a leader, you shouldn't force people to give you false precision—which often results in failures, plus three more mistakes leaders make that inhibit risk-taking and the exploring of possibilities 
• How the best risk-takers aren’t successful from an absence of fear, but rather, by learning to master what Sukhinder calls “the universal risk equation.” 

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:14—Introducing Sukhinder + the topic of today’s episode
3:06—If you really know me, you know that...
4:10—What's your definition of strategy?
5:26—Why did you name your book, Choose Possibility?
6:53—What is the "risk of the single myth"?
10:18—What advice do you have for someone that realizes they're falling into the trap of narrowing on too few ideas?
12:00—How do you know if you have too few or too many ideas?
15:18—What are the first steps someone should take in pursuing new ideas?
16:48—How should leaders create a risk-taking environment?
19:36—Could you talk to us about the psychological impact of taking small bets?
21:59—What is "the universal risk equation"?
25:09—What can a company do at zero to maintain agility as they grow?

27:55—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

choosepossibility.com book
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sukhinders
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sukhindersingh

All content © 2024 Outthinkers.

Jayshree Seth is a Corporate Scientist at 3M who currently holds 80 patents for a variety of innovations, with several additional pending. Jayshree was appointed 3M’s first ever Chief Science Advocate in 2018 and as is using her scientific knowledge, technical expertise and professional experience to advance science and communicate the benefits of science and the importance of diversity in STEM fields to drive innovation. She has a MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University, New York and bachelors of tech in chemical engineering form the prestigious NIIT Trichy in India.  

In this discussion, we dive deep into the topic of some of books, especially her latest, The Heart of Science, with material from her upcoming book, Engineering Blueprint  and a fascinating Fast Company article she co-wrote with our good friend Rita McGrath titles, A guide for managing innovation: 4 big mistakes technologists wish their business leaders would stop making.  She has a lifetime of experiencing building bridges between science and business, something 3M is uniquely good at.  

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In this episode, she shares:

• How the scientific and technical community embraces ambiguity and failure--and what business leaders can learn from them 
• Tips on how to foster effective, collaborative communication with your technical employees on the frontline, that are in line with both strategic goals with realistic expectations. 
• How to foster and optimize the opportunity for "uncommon connections” —or or fortuitous collision of ideas—to happen. 
• A sneak peek into the culture of empowerment at 3M that makes them a powerhouse of innovation 

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:46—Introducing Jayshree + The topic of today’s episode
4:13—If you really know me, you know that...
5:30—What's your definition of strategy?
6:36—Do you believe that the field of management is scientific?
10:59—Can you lay out the four mistakes leadership make when working with techical people on a high level?
11:50—The first mistake: Misdefining ambition
14:53—The second mistake: Limiting collaboration
19:20—Can you lay out the idea of leveraging vs. learning, and how leadership plays a role in this?
25:02—The third mistake: Dismissing technical process
23:58—What are your thoughts around the rise in dynamic pricing?
27:37—Could you describe some attributes unique to 3M that activate innovation
32:19—What are some last thoughts you'd like to share with us?

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Additional Resources:

Fas Company Article: A guide for managing innovation: 4 big mistakes technologists wish their business leaders would stop making.

Books

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayshree-seth-6287b45

All content © 2024 Outthinkers.