The Innovators Studio with Phil McKinney

I've been going back and looking at past shows that had guests in an attempt to trigger ideas for new guests we should invite to be on the show. During the process, I started to see patterns of common attributes across this group that I label as the most the innovative people I've interviewed.

The show archive goes back to March 2005 and we've had more than 100 innovation experts and authors. These guests range from:

* Sir Tim Berners-Lee – the inventor of the world-wide web — was on the show Dec 10, 2009

* Geoffrey Moore – author of Crossing The Chasm — was most recently on the show July 17, 2015

* Bob Metcalfe – inventor of Ethernet and co-founder of 3COM — was on the show April 10, 2010

* Peter Guber – co-owner of the Golden State Warriors — was on the show Sept 28, 2015

* Nick Titus – co-founder of Myoinc Technologies — was on the show Aug 23, 2016

I've also had the benefit of meeting and supporting other leaders with their innovation projects including Elon Musk (on the large display that is part of the dash in Tesla), Jimmy Iovine (on Beats and bringing it to the consumer electronics market) and Will.I.Am (as a sounding board on his software ideas).

6 Most Common Attributes of the Most Innovative People I've Interviewed

* Curiosity: Highly innovative people have an insatiable level of curiosity. How do they exhibit this curiosity? By asking really great questions. Its through questions that they push to discover more about problem or opportunity and thus allow them to form an ideas or solution.

* Being a non-conformist (brave): These innovation leaders do not fall into a simple category of type or backgrounds. They each have gone their own way to achieve their innovation vision and they've done it without regard to what others thing.

* Chasing the “new”: Innovation leaders are always aware of the latest thing in their area of interest(s). They pride themselves on being on the leading edge – always experimenting and learning. In the technology world, they tend to have the latest devices, applications and services.

* Perseverance: They don't take “no” for an answer. They don't let speed bumps, distraction or corporate/innovation antibodies to get in the way. They find ways to work with and around others to achieve their innovation vision.

* Highly Flexible: Its rare that an idea will manifest itself with out changes and pivots along the way. Highly innovative people will adjust and change as they move along the process of transforming the idea into that new product or service.

* Takes Action: Innovators don't wait around for permission. They act. They don't let themselves get caught in the “resource trap” of believing they need people, time and money to begin. They find a way to start moving forward and let the rest catch-up.

Conclusion

Most people would look at the show guests and believe that each had been blessed with some kind of “super power”. The reality is that we all have been blessed with the superpower of creativity and innovation — we just need to find it, harness it, practice it and then use it.

I've been going back and looking at past shows that had guests in an attempt to trigger ideas for new guests we should invite to be on the show. During the process, I started to see patterns of common attributes across this group that I label as the most the innovative people I've interviewed.

The show archive goes back to March 2005 and we've had more than 100 innovation experts and authors. These guests range from:

• Sir Tim Berners-Lee - the inventor of the world-wide web -- was on the show Dec 10, 2009
• Geoffrey Moore - author of Crossing The Chasm -- was most recently on the show July 17, 2015
• Bob Metcalfe - inventor of Ethernet and co-founder of 3COM -- was on the show April 10, 2010
• Peter Guber - co-owner of the Golden State Warriors -- was on the show Sept 28, 2015
• Nick Titus - co-founder of Myoinc Technologies -- was on the show Aug 23, 2016

I've also had the benefit of meeting and supporting other leaders with their innovation projects including Elon Musk (on the large display that is part of the dash in Tesla), Jimmy Iovine (on Beats and bringing it to the consumer electronics market) and Will.I.Am (as a sounding board on his software ideas).

6 Most Common Attributes of the Most Innovative People I've Interviewed

1. Curiosity: Highly innovative people have an insatiable level of curiosity. How do they exhibit this curiosity? By asking really great questions. Its through questions that they push to discover more about problem or opportunity and thus allow them to form an ideas or solution.
2. Being a non-conformist (brave): These innovation leaders do not fall into a simple category of type or backgrounds. They each have gone their own way to achieve their innovation vision and they've done it without regard to what others thing.
3. Chasing the "new": Innovation leaders are always aware of the latest thing in their area of interest(s). They pride themselves on being on the leading edge - always experimenting and learning. In the technology world, they tend to have the latest devices, applications and services.
4. Perseverance: They don't take "no" for an answer. They don't let speed bumps, distraction or corporate/innovation antibodies to get in the way. They find ways to work with and around others to achieve their innovation vision.
5. Highly Flexible: Its rare that an idea will manifest itself with out changes and pivots along the way. Highly innovative people will adjust and change as they move along the process of transforming the idea into that new product or service.
6. Takes Action: Innovators don't wait around for permission. They act. They don't let themselves get caught in the "resource trap" of believing they need people, time and money to begin. They find a way to start moving forward and let the rest catch-up.

[shareable]Ideas without execution are a hobby -- and real innovators are NOT in the hobby business[/shareable]

Conclusion

Most people would look at the show guests and believe that each had been blessed with some kind of "super power". The reality is that we all have been blessed with the superpower of creativity and innovation -- we just need to find it, harness it, practice it and then use it.

These attributes of the most innovative people I know proves that any of us can achieve the same level of success if we want.

The ball is in your court.

I've been going back and looking at past shows that had guests in an attempt to trigger ideas for new guests we should invite to be on the show. During the process, I started to see patterns of common attributes across this group that I label as the most the innovative people I've interviewed.

The show archive goes back to March 2005 and we've had more than 100 innovation experts and authors. These guests range from:

* Sir Tim Berners-Lee – the inventor of the world-wide web — was on the show Dec 10, 2009

* Geoffrey Moore – author of Crossing The Chasm — was most recently on the show July 17, 2015

* Bob Metcalfe – inventor of Ethernet and co-founder of 3COM — was on the show April 10, 2010

* Peter Guber – co-owner of the Golden State Warriors — was on the show Sept 28, 2015

* Nick Titus – co-founder of Myoinc Technologies — was on the show Aug 23, 2016

I've also had the benefit of meeting and supporting other leaders with their innovation projects including Elon Musk (on the large display that is part of the dash in Tesla), Jimmy Iovine (on Beats and bringing it to the consumer electronics market) and Will.I.Am (as a sounding board on his software ideas).

6 Most Common Attributes of the Most Innovative People I've Interviewed

* Curiosity: Highly innovative people have an insatiable level of curiosity. How do they exhibit this curiosity? By asking really great questions. Its through questions that they push to discover more about problem or opportunity and thus allow them to form an ideas or solution.

* Being a non-conformist (brave): These innovation leaders do not fall into a simple category of type or backgrounds. They each have gone their own way to achieve their innovation vision and they've done it without regard to what others thing.

* Chasing the “new”: Innovation leaders are always aware of the latest thing in their area of interest(s). They pride themselves on being on the leading edge – always experimenting and learning. In the technology world, they tend to have the latest devices, applications and services.

* Perseverance: They don't take “no” for an answer. They don't let speed bumps, distraction or corporate/innovation antibodies to get in the way. They find ways to work with and around others to achieve their innovation vision.

* Highly Flexible: Its rare that an idea will manifest itself with out changes and pivots along the way. Highly innovative people will adjust and change as they move along the process of transforming the idea into that new product or service.

* Takes Action: Innovators don't wait around for permission. They act. They don't let themselves get caught in the “resource trap” of believing they need people, time and money to begin. They find a way to start moving forward and let the rest catch-up.

Conclusion

Most people would look at the show guests and believe that each had been blessed with some kind of “super power”. The reality is that we all have been blessed with the superpower of creativity and innovation — we just need to find it, harness it, practice it and then use it.

These attributes of the most innovative people I kno...

While most innovators think about innovation across two types, incremental and disruptive, there is actually a third type; little ideas. Little ideas are complimentary to the existing offerings thus low risk. At the same time, little ideas can have high impact. The risk for little ideas is the desire by managements and the MBA's to apply traditional management approaches. The typical approaches, such as defining success KPI's at the start,  is what will kill innovation inside an organization.

Today's guest, David Robertson, is the author of The Power of Little Ideas and we discuss:

How MBA's Kill Innovation

* The benefits and challenges of management consulting projects with such firms as McKinsey.

* Background on the concept of the little ideas and why its the “third way” to innovate.

* Walk through the four decisions organizations need to make when it comes to innovation.

* What is your key product?

* What is your business promise?

* How will you innovate?

* How will you deliver your innovations?

* How do MBA's kill innovation?

* Why are early metrics a risk to innovation?

* How should companies be organized to take advantage of little ideas?

* Why the metaphor of “innovation is dating” is so powerful

* How do get the MBA to understand why little ideas is different?

About David Robertson ..

David Robertson is a Professor of Practice at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. From 2002 through 2010, he was the LEGO Professor of Innovation and Technology Management at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. Robertson is the host of Innovation Navigation, a weekly radio show and podcast that focuses on the management of innovation. Robertson is the author of Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry and coauthor of Enterprise Architecture as Strategy.

About David Books, The Power of Little Ideas ..

The Power of Little Ideas looks at how well-known companies, including CarMax, GoPro, LEGO, Gatorade, Disney, USAA, Novo Nordisk, Victoria’s Secret, and many others, used this approach to stave off competitive threats and achieve great success. The book lays out a clear four-step process for implementing this approach to innovation, outlines the organizational practices that can unintentionally torpedo this approach in companies, and shows how organizations can overcome those challenges.

While most innovators think about innovation across two types, incremental and disruptive, there is actually a third type; little ideas. Little ideas are complimentary to the existing offerings thus low risk. At the same time, little ideas can have high impact. The risk for little ideas is the desire by managements and the MBA's to apply traditional management approaches. The typical approaches, such as defining success KPI's at the start, is what will kill innovation inside an organization.

Today's guest, David Robertson, is the author of The Power of Little Ideas and we discuss:

How MBA's Kill Innovation

• The benefits and challenges of management consulting projects with such firms as McKinsey.
• Background on the concept of the little ideas and why its the "third way" to innovate.
• Walk through the four decisions organizations need to make when it comes to innovation.
  • What is your key product?
  • What is your business promise?
  • How will you innovate?
  • How will you deliver your innovations?
• How do MBA's kill innovation?
• Why are early metrics a risk to innovation?
• How should companies be organized to take advantage of little ideas?
• Why the metaphor of "innovation is dating" is so powerful
• How do get the MBA to understand why little ideas is different?

About David Robertson ..

David Robertson is a Professor of Practice at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. From 2002 through 2010, he was the LEGO Professor of Innovation and Technology Management at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. Robertson is the host of Innovation Navigation, a weekly radio show and podcast that focuses on the management of innovation. Robertson is the author of Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry and coauthor of Enterprise Architecture as Strategy.

About David Books, The Power of Little Ideas ..

The Power of Little Ideas looks at how well-known companies, including CarMax, GoPro, LEGO, Gatorade, Disney, USAA, Novo Nordisk, Victoria's Secret, and many others, used this approach to stave off competitive threats and achieve great success. The book lays out a clear four-step process for implementing this approach to innovation, outlines the organizational practices that can unintentionally torpedo this approach in companies, and shows how organizations can overcome those challenges.

While most innovators think about innovation across two types, incremental and disruptive, there is actually a third type; little ideas. Little ideas are complimentary to the existing offerings thus low risk. At the same time, little ideas can have high impact. The risk for little ideas is the desire by managements and the MBA's to apply traditional management approaches. The typical approaches, such as defining success KPI's at the start,  is what will kill innovation inside an organization.

Today's guest, David Robertson, is the author of The Power of Little Ideas and we discuss:

How MBA's Kill Innovation

* The benefits and challenges of management consulting projects with such firms as McKinsey.

* Background on the concept of the little ideas and why its the “third way” to innovate.

* Walk through the four decisions organizations need to make when it comes to innovation.

* What is your key product?

* What is your business promise?

* How will you innovate?

* How will you deliver your innovations?

* How do MBA's kill innovation?

* Why are early metrics a risk to innovation?

* How should companies be organized to take advantage of little ideas?

* Why the metaphor of “innovation is dating” is so powerful

* How do get the MBA to understand why little ideas is different?

About David Robertson ..

David Robertson is a Professor of Practice at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. From 2002 through 2010, he was the LEGO Professor of Innovation and Technology Management at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. Robertson is the host of Innovation Navigation, a weekly radio show and podcast that focuses on the management of innovation. Robertson is the author of Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry and coauthor of Enterprise Architecture as Strategy.

About David Books, The Power of Little Ideas ..

The Power of Little Ideas looks at how well-known companies, including CarMax, GoPro, LEGO, Gatorade, Disney, USAA, Novo Nordisk, Victoria’s Secret, and many others, used this approach to stave off competitive threats and achieve great success. The book lays out a clear four-step process for implementing this approach to innovation, outlines the organizational practices that can unintentionally torpedo this approach in companies, and shows how organizations can overcome those challenges.

When I was in college, the way we learned was lecture, reading and testing — with a little bit of lab work tossed in for good measure. When it comes to leadership, universities still teaches using this same model. The result is the struggle for graduates to understand the difference between management and leadership. To prepare […]

When I was in college, the way we learned was lecture, reading and testing — with a little bit of lab work tossed in for good measure. When it comes to leadership, universities still teaches using this same model. The result is the struggle for graduates to understand the difference between management and leadership. To prepare leaders, we need to innovate the way we teach leadership.

Topics we covered discussing how to innovation the way we teach leadership ..

* Joshua's experience growing up in Philadelphia and the social norms for nerds

* On going through school and ultimately getting his PhD in Astrophysics

* His work experience as a “rocket scientist”

* Getting the entrepreneurial itch and doing his first startup

* The realization that management does NOT equal leadership

* Why he went back to school to get his MBA

* What he learned and didn't learn getting his MBA

* How acting exposed him to experiential learning

* How applying experiential learning transformed how to prepare leaders to lead

About Joshua Spodek

Joshua Spodek, bestselling author of Leadership Step by Step, is an Adjunct Professor at NYU, leadership coach and workshop leader for Columbia Business School, columnist for Inc., and founder of Spodek Academy.

He has led seminars in leadership, entrepreneurship, creativity, and sales at Harvard, Princeton, MIT, the New York Academy of Science, and in private corporations. He holds five Ivy League degrees, including a PhD in Astrophysics and an MBA, and studied under a Nobel Prize winner. He helped build an X-ray observational satellite for NASA, co-founded and led as CEO or COO several ventures, and holds six patents.

He earned praise as “Best and Brightest” (Esquire Magazine’s Genius Issue), “Astrophysicist turned new media whiz” (NBC), and “Rocket Scientist” (ABC News and Forbes) and has been quoted and profiled by ABC, CBS, NBC, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He has visited North Korea twice, swam across the Hudson River, and has done burpees every day for six years, 90,000+ and counting. He lives in Greenwich Village and blogs daily at www.joshuaspodek.com.

Show Links:

* Bonus: Download of a bonus from Joshua's book

* Joshua's website

A few shows back, I ranted on why I disagree with an article from an executive at Accenture who said that innovation inside large organizations was impossible. In this show, rather than you listening to more of my experiences, I decided to bring on a listener of the show who has direct experience of being a successful […]

A few shows back, I ranted on why I disagree with an article from an executive at Accenture who said that innovation inside large organizations was impossible. In this show, rather than you listening to more of my experiences, I decided to bring on a listener of the show who has direct experience of being a successful innovator inside a large organization. In this case, U.S. Bank.

Bradley Matthews has been a long time listener who recently wrote an article on LinkedIn titled “Getting an Elephant to Run: 7 keys to getting your legacy company acting like a startup“. In this article, he shares a list of “what worked” for him and the team who recently went from ideation to launch of a significant innovation — in six months.

After reading the article, I knew I had to have Bradly come on the show and share his hard earned lessons on what it takes to be successful innovator inside a large organization.

How To Be A Successful Innovator Inside a Large Organization

In the show, we cover a wide range of topics, challenges and what it takes to be successful at innovation inside of a large organization — including:

* Bradley's background and how ended up in the role he is in.

* The project that triggered the article he posted on LinkedIn.

* The 7 lessons learned from a successful project:

* Speed is your friend – Speed is contagious and can help pull people along and make them champions for you

* It’s Ok to Challenge ‘No’ – Embrace the people most inclined to say no and challenge them to be creative.

* Risk and Compliance are your friend – Don't wait until you “have” to go through risk and compliance; engage them early to make them your champion.

* Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – Work around your likely biggest chokepoint, IT, by minimizing the need to use them.

* Become the poster child – Get your leadership excited about your speed to become their role model of what they want the business to act like.

* Recognition is not bribery, but can be as effective – A little recognition goes a long way, and a lot of recognition makes people hungry to work with you again.

* Have fun! – Be like Willy Wonka’s factory, a little wacky and a little fun, and you will have people clamoring to join in.

* Bradley shares his experience inside U.S. Bank and how he learned to be a successful innovator.

* Two pieces of advice for innovators inside of large organization

* Never stop learning: Use whatever works from you but never stop learning

* Have a partner in crime: Find someone who is like minded who is also willing to be candid and challenge your thinking to improve the likelihood of success.

About Bradley Matthews:

Bradley Matthews leads the strategic development and marketing of commercial purchasing and travel card programs for U.S. Bank’s middle market business-to-business customers in North America, a position he assumed in February 2015. Before that he led the bank’s strategic travel payment product team. Matthews has been in the financial services and payments business since 1998. His experience includes 13 years leading strategy, development and operations for financial services technologies at American Express. Bradley has a bachelor's degree from the University of Cincinnati.

Show Links:

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