The Innovation Crowd with Helen Dawson

In this conversation, Helen Dawson speaks with Chief Growth Officer William Lidston about his career journey and insights into marketing and growth strategies. They discuss the concept of 'super useful super brands' and how brands can create meaningful roles in consumers' lives. William shares his experiences working with McDonald's and emphasizes the importance of product quality, positioning, and technology in building successful brands. He introduces his philosophy of 'win by an inch,' focusing on incremental improvements in business practices. The conversation also touches on the need for collaboration between product, technology, and security teams to create cohesive customer experiences. Finally, William shares a valuable lesson learned in his career: that OK is not OK if you want to win in a competitive landscape.

04:10 Understanding Super Useful Super Brands

10:45 The Magic of McDonalds

14:28 Win by An Inch

22:13 Delivering Technology with Complete Assurance

29:24 OK is not OK

If you're working in construction or asset management, this episode is for you.

They emphasize the importance of proper planning, understanding the goals and needs of both parties, and building strong relationships. They also highlight the need for flexibility, adaptability, and clear communication in order to navigate the complexities of partnerships.

Emma shares her insights on the differences between working with large corporations and smaller, more innovative companies. As ever, the conversation emphasizes the importance of people and relationships in successful collaborations.

Group Marketing Director of Specsavers, Carolyn McKeever, join us to talk about:

In this episode, Helen talks to Warren Minde of Innovation Leap about innovation as a human-centred activity.

We talk about:

You can find Warren at https://innovationleap.co.uk/

In this episode, Nils Jeners joins Helen to dive into methodology and how to build the skills needed to be an innovator. We cover:

Resources:

Double Diamond approach: https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/skills-learning/the-double-diamond/

Business Model Canvas by Alex Osterwalder https://www.strategyzer.com/canvas/business-model-canvas

Lean Start-Up by Eric Ries

Sprint by Jake Knapp

Testing Business Ideas by David Bland and Alex Osterwalder

The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick

Neel Arya, founder of Mettle Consulting, and Helen discuss the attributes needed by today's leaders, operating at the limits of their organisational structure and traditional problem-solving. Rather than definitive answers, we debate:

Resources for further reading:

Richard Holdsworth of V-Box joins us to talk about ways in which collaboration across the maritime industry is helping to use innovation to create better conditions for seafarers. 

We talk about:

And Richard shares some real examples to bring this to life.

Find out more at www.v-box.io

Andrew Webber from tech & innovation company Whitespace pulls on his years of experience building successful ecosystems both as part of Microsoft, during the pandemic with the Emergent Alliance and on behalf of companies like Rolls Royce and BP. The key is collaboration and making sure all boats rise with value for both start-ups and the corporate or public sector organisation. We talk about the mindset needed to work in an open way, objectives beyond revenue, making friends with procurement and the power of diverse thinking.

Elizabeth O'Neill joins us to explain why corporate innovation is not a tech problem but a people and culture problem. Liz is not only a tech leader herself but coaches CTOs to be inspirational technical leaders. Liz explains why positive conflict is a core skill, the myth of "IT being slow," why innovation can create the tech equivalent of space junk, and the actions leaders should take to develop their teams, especially women.