The Innovation Engine Podcast

On this episode, we look at the importance of narrative in helping companies and organizations crystalize their message and their identity. Among the topics we discuss are why narrative will only continue to become a more valuable commodity in the world of social media and 24/7 news cycles, why it's imperative to understand the importance between narrative and story, and what some of the component parts of a Narrative Design Session Series should be.

Toby Trevarthen, co-author of Narrative Generation and Chief Narrative Officer at Sparkpr, joins us to talk about those topics and more. Along with Ann Badillo and Tim Donovan, Toby wrote the recently-released book Narrative Generation: Why narrative will become your most valuable asset in the next 5 years. Toby is a visionary executive with a track record for innovating new concepts into living outcomes. His ideology is shaped by a "probable, plausible and possible" lens, and his core career skill delivers monetization in a cross-channel, cross-device world.

Show Notes

• Buy Narrative Generation on Amazon.com
• Visit the Narrative Generation website at www.narrativegeneration.com
• Read about the creative process behind the book at www.narrativeproject.net
• Follow Toby Trevarthen on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tobinw
• Follow Narrative Generation on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/narrativegen

Laura Roeder joins us on this episode to talk about "the art of the pivot." We start with looking at some of the pivots Laura has made over the course of her career to go from Junior Designer to CEO of Edgar. Edgar's SaaS social media product, available at MeetEdgar.com, allows users to get more mileage out of their social media posts. We also look at the types of questions the leader of a business like Edgar is considering when looking to make a big change in pricing, as recently happened with MeetEdgar.com. On a more micro level, Laura talks about how frequently changes are being made to the end product at MeetEdgar and how involved she is - or isn't - in those decisions.

Laura Roeder is the founder of Edgar, a new social media automation tool designed to prevent updates from going to waste. Since 2009, she’s been teaching entrepreneurs how to harness the power of social media marketing and create their own fame at LKR Social Media. Laura was named one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under 35 in 2011, 2013 and 2014 and spoke at the White House about the value of entrepreneurship. Laura has spoken at numerous influential industry conferences including, BlogWorld, The South by Southwest Interactive Conference, Real Estate Connect, The Social Communications Summit and Blogher, discussing online marketing, social media, and personal branding. Laura has been seen on Fox News, Forbes.com, CNET, the Los Angeles Times, Fast Company, Mashable, Yahoo Finance and many more influential publications and media channels.

• Hear more from Laura on social media strategy: http://meetedgar.com/edgar-on-air/
• Visit the MeetEdgar website: https://meetedgar.com/
• Follow Laura on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lkr
• Follow MeetEdgar on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeetEdgar

The concept of an 'Innovation Burst Event' is the topic of discussion for this episode. Mike Shipulski joins us to talk about how to know whether an IBE is right for your company, why it’s important to go off-site with your IBEs, and who should be there when you roll up your sleeves and start getting to work designing the future of your company.

Mike Shipulski is a Product Development Executive with 15+ years of experience leading product development efforts. In 2014, he was named the #1 innovation blogger in the world at InnovationExcellence.com. Mike blogs regularly on his website at www.shipulski.com, where he has published a new article on innovation each and every Wednesday night for the last 7 years.

• Visit Mike Shipulski's website: http://www.shipulski.com/
• Follow Mike Shipulski on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikeShipulski
• Read Mike Shipulski's posts on Innovation Excellence: http://innovationexcellence.com/blog/author/mike-shipulski/

Dr. Max McKeown joins us on this episode to talk about his latest book #NOW: The Surprising Truth About the Power of Now. Among the topics we discuss are what research has shown about impulsivity and how we make decisions, some of the qualities that make "nowists" different than "thenists," and the concept of anti-goals and how to avoid them. 

Prior to #NOW, Dr. McKeown wrote The Strategy Book and The Innovation Book. He is an expert in strategy, leadership, innovation, and how to create a better future. Dr. McKeown works with some of the world’s most successful global brands, helping leaders across sectors develop innovative cultures, products, and services. You can find out more about him and read his latest writings on his website at www.MaxMcKeown.com.

• Follow Max McKeown on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaxMckeown
• Buy #NOW on Amazon

Jeremy Caverly joins us on this episode to talk lean product and customer experience management. We cover some of the forces at play that have brought the lean approach to the forefront in the world of software development, the skill sets and mind sets a team needs to be able to implement lean product methodologies successfully, and why customer experience entails so much more than the more commonly discussed topic of user experience.

Jeremy Caverly is an Intraprenuer, product manager and mobile strategist at In-House Realty, part of the Quicken Loans family of companies. In addition to digital marketing & growth-hacking, Jeremy’s areas of expertise include Mobile Product Development, Enterprise Mobility, Digital Content Distribution, and Blockchain technologies. Just a few of the companies with whom he has worked over the course of nearly two decades are Nike, Whole Foods, Universal Music, PBS, and Visa.

• Follow Jeremy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JeremyCee
• Follow Jeremy on Snapchat at ItsJeremyCee
• A recent TechCrunch article on designing for voice: https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/21/designing-for-voice-differs-from-traditional-ux/
• The Robert Scoble interview with Noelle Lacharite from the Amazon Echo team that Jeremy mentions in the podcast: https://www.facebook.com/RobertScoble/videos/10153811243564655/ 
• A "This Week in Startups" episode with Intercom's Des Traynor, which Jeremy references in the podcast: http://thisweekinstartups.com/launch-incubator-des-traynor/
• Slides from Des' presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7NE0AvrKPFyR25XZnozU19KUkU/view

On a very special episode of the podcast, we take The Innovation Engine on the road to attend the first annual RightsTech Summit in New York. The RightsTech Summit took place on July 26th and brought together a cross-section of companies, associations, and industry leaders to discuss innovation in rights management from Blockchain to Enterprise. Panel discussions included topics like Machine Readable Rights, The RightsTech Technology Stack, and RightsTech in the Enterprise. 3Pillar's Adi Chikara was a panelist on what turned out to be one of the more lively discussions of the day, on Crypto-currencies, Side-Chains, and Fiat Portals.

Over the course of the episode, we have a conversation with the creators of the RightsTech Summit, and select clips from a number of panels that took place over the course of the day. We also had the opportunity to interview a few panelists who are looking to change the way compensation works for artists in the music space. We also had the 360-degree camera rolling during Adi's panel discussion and will have that available on 3Pillar's YouTube channel shortly, in addition to the "regular" video that is already live! 

• Visit the RightsTech Summit website: http://rightstechsummit.com/
• Visit 3Pillar's YouTube channel to watch videos of Adi Chikara's session: https://www.youtube.com/c/3pillarglobal

On this week’s episode, we take a look at security in the software development space. Among the topics we discuss are why security is of paramount importance when it comes to developing software, how a company called Codiscope is working to help developers of all stripes build more secure software from the start, and the role their new developer tool called Jacks plays in that mission.

Gary Jackson, CEO of Codiscope, joins us on this week's episode. Gary has over 25 years of software leadership experience. He grew Shunra Software to become an industry-recognized authority in network virtualization and application performance engineering before being acquired by HP in 2014. He also spearheaded the growth and sale of Ounce Labs to IBM, whose technology has become IBM’s flagship enterprise code scanning tool. Gary has previously held leadership positions at a variety of high-tech companies including Quova (an IP geolocation service), Ozro (contract negotiation software), and Vantive (CRM Software).

• Visit the Jacks website: https://jacks.codiscope.com/
• Visit the Codiscope website: https://codiscope.com/
• Follow Codiscope on Twitter: https://twitter.com/codiscope

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with the founder and president of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, Perianne Boring, about the promise of blockchain technology and how regulatory actions in the financial services space will either accelerate or suffocate the next wave of tech-fueled innovation in the sector.

Among the topics we discuss are the role of government here in the U.S. in fintech as compared to other countries, how public policymakers are approaching and learning about financial innovation, and why creating a friendly regulatory environment for financial innovation is one of the most important initiatives in policy today.

Perianne Boring is the founder and president of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, which first opened it’s doors in July 2014. She currently oversees the Chamber’s operations and government affairs and public policy initiatives. Perianne previously worked in network broadcast news and as a Forbes contributor, after beginning her career working on Capitol Hill as a legislative analyst advising Representative Dennis Ross on finance, economics, tax, and healthcare policy.

• Visit the Chamber of Digital Commerce's website: http://www.digitalchamber.org/
• Follow the Chamber of Digital Commerce on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChamberDigital
• Follow Perianne Boring on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerianneDC

For a very special episode of The Innovation Engine, we welcome 3Pillar CEO David DeWolf back into the studio for our 100th episode. David was the very first guest to appear on the podcast, and he has been on the podcast numerous times to discuss technology trends and corporate leadership.

On this episode, we talk about David's journey as an entrepreneur and the path he has taken over the course of the last 10 years to go from a company with fewer than 10 employees at the outset to one that now has more than 700 employees worldwide. Among the keys David cites as critical to his success are a true passion for what he does and the ability to hire the right people and then trust them to do their jobs well. We also discuss some of the trends that were the hottest topics at this summer's major technology conference, including the invasion of the bots, the connected home, and how advances on both fronts are bringing us closer to the concept of having "relationships" with technology.

David DeWolf is the Founder and CEO of 3Pillar Global, one of the Mid-Atlantic’s fastest growing technology companies. Since founding 3Pillar in 2006, David has guided the company to a leadership position in the Product Development Services sector, establishing 3Pillar as the go-to innovator for content, information, and data-rich companies looking to grow revenue through software. David is passionate about software product innovation, entrepreneurship, and principled leadership. In 2012, he was named one of SmartCEO Magazine’s “Future 50.” In 2011, he was recognized by the Washington Business Journal as one of “40 Under 40” who are Washington, D.C.’s brightest young business leaders. David writes frequently about leadership, business, life and technology at DavidDeWolf.com. David and/or his writing has appeared in publications like Fortune, Fast Company, Investor’s Business Daily, Pando Daily, ZDNet, and many more.

• Visit David DeWolf's website: http://www.DavidDeWolf.com
• Follow David DeWolf on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ddewolf

On this episode of the podcast, we look at the concept of "visual intelligence" and discuss how to see and communicate more clearly in all aspects of life. We talk about how to benefit from looking at the world around you the way you look at a piece of art, the three questions you can ask yourself to immediately make sense of a situation, and how one word can drastically change the way we understand a situation.

Amy Herman joins us to talk about those topics and more. Amy is the author of the recently released book Visual Intelligence: Sharpen Your Perception, Change Your Life. She is a lawyer and art historian who uses great works of art to systematically sharpen observation, analysis, and observation skills. Amy has instituted a multitude of programs to help medical students and members of the FBI, the State Department, Fortune 500 companies, and the armed forces improve their observational skills so they can recognize and synthesize the most useful information in any given situation. She was also the Head of Education at The Frick Collection for over 10 years, where she oversaw all of the Collection’s educational collaborations and community initiatives. Amy's work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, on CBS This Morning, and on NPR, among others.

• Visit the Artful Perception website: http://aop.artfulperception.com/
• Buy Visual Intelligence on the Artful Perception website: http://aop.artfulperception.com/courses/book
• Watch Amy's TEDEd video, How Art Can Help You Analyze: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubEadhXWwV4