The Innovation Engine Podcast

Scott Bales joins us on this episode of The Innovation Engine to dive into the concept of "innovation wars." Among the topics we'll discuss are what corporate strategy lessons can be borrowed from the battlefield and applied in the boardroom, why trust is an essential element within any innovation team, and why anyone in the product space should get a little more familiar with the concept of lead users.

Scott Bales is the author of the forthcoming book Innovation Wars. He is a global leader in the arena he calls "The Digital Shift," encompassing innovation, culture, design, and mobility in a world gone digital. Over the course of his career, Scott has built companies on four continents in industries including insurance, payments, financial inclusion, and consumer products. In addition to Innovation Wars, Scott is the author of Mobile Ready: Connecting With the Untethered Consumer.

• Visit Scott's websites at scottebales.com and innovationlabs.asia to read his writings
• Follow Scott on Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottebales
• Pre-order Innovation Wars: https://publishizer.com/innovation-wars/
• Buy Mobile Ready: Connecting With the Untethered Consumer on Amazon

On this episode of The Innovation Engine, we'll be looking at the importance of cause with Dr. Jackie Freiberg. Among the topics we'll discuss are how one insurance company, National Life, managed to change their industry at least in part thanks to being a cause-driven company; why it's vitally important to define your business' "why" in this day and age; and why employee behavior and overall attitude tend to be wildly different in cause-driven companies when compared to their counterparts.

Dr. Jackie Freiberg joins us on this episode to discuss all that and more. Dr. Freiberg, who along with her husband Dr. Kevin Freiberg, has written numerous books about how some of the world's most successful companies build cultures that thrive on innovation. Their most recent book, Cause! A Business Strategy for Standing Out in a Sea of Sameness, was recently published and can be found in bookstores around the country. In addition to being best-selling authors, Drs. Jackie and Kevin are both sought-after speakers on the subjects of innovation, execution, and corporate leadership development.

• Visit Drs. Jackie and Kevin's website: http://www.freibergs.com/
• Buy Cause! A Business Strategy for Standing Out in a Sea of Sameness on their website: https://store.freibergs.com/
• Follow Drs. Jackie and Kevin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinandjackie

On this episode, we talk with the entrepreneur behind a newly released tool called Bisualizer. Bisualizer was created to help small business owners and entrepreneurs visualize the gears and levers that drive any business forward. We discuss how energy, information, and rules are the 3 constants that move any business forward; the three other constants that they are more commonly known as; and the benefits any corporate leaders stand to gain from modeling the operations of their business.

Mark Rubin, the founder of Bisualizer and a serial entrepreneur who was born with an uncanny talent for visual thinking, joins us on this episode. Mark has owned and grown several successful national franchises and credits his achievements to his innovative method of business visualization. He has worked directly with business coaches and consultants to develop their own Bisualizer diagrams, and as you will hear on this episode he has spent a number of years working on the software-powered version that he just launched to the public.

Show Notes

• Find out more about Bisualizer: http://www.bisualizer.com/
• Follow Mark Rubin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/markianrubin
• Watch a short video on how Bisualizer works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztWEtaeS8ic

On this episode of The Innovation Engine, we'll be looking at the importance of place and space with Rachael Stott of Refraction. Among the topics we'll discuss are how the physical environment of a workplace can have a marked impact on the performance of the teams that work in it, some of the research Rachael conducted over the course of a 3-year period to come to some of these conclusions, why the angle at which a chair can recline can actually influence the way meetings unfold, and how all of these ideas are being put into practice at a co-working space in Northern Virginia called Refraction.

Rachael Stott joins us to talk about all of this and more. Rachael is the Director of Refraction, a co-working space in Reston, VA for business leaders, creatives, and philanthropists. Refraction is a curated hub of creativity, collaboration, and innovation that helps businesses build more dynamic teams and grow their company.

• Follow Rachael Stott on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rachaelstott
• Visit the Refraction website: http://www.refractionpoint.org/
• Follow Refraction on Twitter: https://twitter.com/refractionpt

For a very special episode of the podcast, we're giving you a look inside the 2017 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. SXSW celebrates the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries. SXSW Interactive focuses on emerging technology and has developed a reputation as a breeding ground for new ideas and creative technologies. The festival includes a trade show, speakers, parties, and a startup accelerator.

We took The Innovation Engine on the road to Austin for this episode, where we got the chance to speak with a number of people whose work we found interesting. Subjects include:

• Martin Wezowski, the Chief Designer & Futurist of SAP, who was at SXSW to speak about the future of work. Martin shares a window into his day-to-day working world and talks about why he is passionate about working with others to create a future we all want to live.
• Jen Dante, who leads product innovation for children and family in member experience at Netflix, talks about the culture of A/B testing at Netflix and what those tests have taught their team about how good or bad humans are at predicting features users will like (hint: not that good)
• Conor Egan, Chief Product Officer at Brandcast, who talks about their newly launched product that just came out of beta. Brandcast is a tool designers and creative professionals can use to create eye-catching websites, digital portfolios, and other branded web experiences, without writing a line of code.

Audio wasn't the only thing we had rolling at SXSW! We also compiled a 360-degree video documenting the experience that you can find on:

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqOfOvRK8f8 
• Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/3pillarglobal/sxsw2017

If the video quality on YouTube looks grainy, be sure to set it to the highest 4K resolution! 

On this episode of The Innovation Engine, we look at building the Internet of Things - why it, in many ways, represents the next generation of the Internet, the implications that has for companies in a wide range of industries, and some words of wisdom for those looking to dip their toes into the IoT waters for the very first time.

We're joined by Maciej Kranz, the author of the recently released book Building the Internet of Things: Implement New Business Models, Disrupt Competitors, Transform Your Industry. The book hit the New York Times Business bestseller list at #3 in December 2016, and it was named a "must-read book for entrepreneurs in 2017" by Fortune. Maciej is the Vice President of the Corporate Strategic Innovation Group at Cisco Systems.

He leads the Cisco team focused on incubating new businesses, accelerating internal innovation, and driving co-innovation with customers, partners, and startups through a global network of Cisco Innovation Centers. Prior to this role, Maciej was General Manager of Cisco's Connected Industries Group, where he drove IoT business for key industrial markets. Maciej has been involved in the IoT space since the mid-2000s, helping Cisco lead the way at enabling innovative IoT solutions in areas like smart cities, manufacturing, and many more.

Show Notes:

• Visit Maciej's official website: http://www.maciejkranz.com/
• Read Maciej's posts on the Cisco blog: http://blogs.cisco.com/author/maciejkranz
• Follow Maciej on Twitter: https://twitter.com/maciejkranz
• Buy Building the Internet of Things: Implement New Business Models, Disrupt Competitors, Transform Your Industry on Amazon

On this episode of The Innovation Engine, we look at the upcoming O'Reilly Design Conference, which will run from March 19-22nd in San Francisco, CA.

We'll take a look at who the conference is for, explore some of the most topical points in the design space attendees can expect to hear about, and discuss what the future of design holds beyond the traditional user interfaces we've all become accustomed - and in some cases addicted - to.

We're joined by Mary Treseler on this episode to discuss all that and more. Mary is the Strategic Content Director at O'Reilly Media and the Co-Chair of the O'Reilly Design Conference. In this role, she helps shape the agenda for the conference by helping choose speakers and topics for the 4-day conference, creating tracks for the Design Training Courses that make up the first 2 days of the conference, and much more.

Mary has been with O'Reilly Media for more than 10 years. She has been a key part of the company's mission to spread the latest knowledge on cutting-edge topics in the technology space like artificial intelligence, Big Data, design, security, software, and more.

Show Notes:

• Learn more about the O'Reilly Design Conference and register to attend using the above discount code: http://www.oreilly.com/designcon
• See what other conferences and events O'Reilly has coming up: http://www.oreilly.com/conferences/
• Visit the O'Reilly website: http://www.oreilly.com/
• Follow Mary Treseler on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryTreseler
• Subscribe to listen to the O'Reilly Design Podcast that Mary hosts on iTunes

On this week’s episode, we’ll be learning how to think like innovators by exploring the importance of lateral thinking. Among the topics we’ll discuss are how lateral thinking can be applied in a business context, what the famous Fosbury flop can teach us about thinking like an innovator, and much more.

Joining us on this episode of the podcast is Paul Sloane, author of Think Like an Innovator: 76 Inspiring Business Lessons From the World's Greatest Thinkers & Innovators and How to Be a Brilliant Thinker, among others. Paul was a top salesman with IBM, as well as the Marketing Director, Managing Director, and CEO of various software companies like Ashton-Tate and Mathsoft. Among the many companies who have benefited from Paul’s innovation workshops are Nike, Novartis, Microsoft, and Glaxo Smith Kline.

Paul is the author of over 25 books on leadership, innovation, lateral thinking, and puzzles, and he specializes in speaking and teaching on lateral thinking and innovation in business. He blogs often on his website at www.destination-innovation.com, where you can also find information on the many books he has written and get your hands on a number of resources like lateral thinking puzzles, an innovation audit and more. Paul Tweets on innovation-related topics regularly at @PaulSloane. 

• Read Paul's blogs on his website: http://www.destination-innovation.com/
• Buy Think Like an Innovator on Amazon
• Follow Paul on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaulSloane

Braden Kelley joins us on this episode of the podcast to talk about how to make change efforts stick within any organization. Among the topics we discuss are how non-software companies can still benefit from Agile methodologies, how to develop actions when the desire to make changes reaches a groundswell, and ways to make changes seem less overwhelming and more human.

Braden Kelley is a co-founder of InnovationExcellence.com and the author of Charting Change: A Visual Toolkit for Making Change Stick and Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire: A Roadmap to a Sustainable Culture of Ingenuity and Purpose. Braden advises companies on how to grow revenue, cut costs, and build sustainable innovation cultures. He is also a popular keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, and thought leader on the topics of continuous innovation and change. He works with his clients to create innovative strategies, digital transformations, and increased organizational agility.

• Visit the site Braden co-founded, InnovationExcellence.com
• Buy Charting Change on Amazon
• Visit Braden Kelley's website: http://bradenkelley.com/
• Connect with Braden on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradenkelley

For a special episode of The Innovation Engine, we pass the mic to Julia Slattery of our sister podcast, Take 3. We've been hard at work recently helping get Take 3 published to iTunes, so we wanted to share the latest episode of Take 3 with you here in the spirit of cross-promotion.

On this episode of Take 3, Julia talks with Oana Stinga and Daniel Markovitz about DL Labs, an initiative that 3Pillar client Decision Lens has undertaken to help fuel innovation across teams and disciplines. Listen to hear how Decision Lens uses these annual events to drive innovation, source fresh product ideas, and give multi-disciplinary teams the opportunity to work together. You'll find out more about Decision Lens as a company, hear how Decision Lens runs the DL Labs initiative each year, and find out some of the benefits they've seen from doing so.

• Visit the Decision Lens website: http://decisionlens.com/
• Subscribe to Take 3 on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/take-3/id1175033982
• Visit Take 3's home on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/take3pillar