Ashish Kothari is an executive coach, author, consultant and founder of Happiness Squad, a company focused on helping individuals and organizations unleash the power of happiness and well-being to achieve their full potential. In this episode, they talk about the nine practices to unlock innovation. This episode also delves into the interconnectivity of productivity, creativity, and innovation. 

More about our guest:

Ashish’s transformational approach, which he covers in his book “Hardwired for Happiness”, is interdisciplinary and integrates learnings across spiritual wisdom traditions, philosophy, positive psychology, neuroscience and organizational development. Prior to starting Happiness Squad, Ashish Kothari was a partner at the global management consulting company, McKinsey & Company and spend over two decades helping thousands of leaders succeed by building new mindsets and capabilities.

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Episode Guide:

1:32 - What is Innovation?

2:37 - Critical pieces of innovation

6:23 - Happiness Squad

8:02 - Hardwired for Fear

9:27 - Losing innovation to survival

11:06 - Hardwiring for Happiness

15:02 - Work and Mind-wandering

17:00 - Creative 'time'

18:57 - New book: Hardwired for Happiness

19:39 - 9 Practices: Self Awareness

21:19 - Practice: Purpose

23:09 - Practice: Community Building

24:00 - Practice: Wellbeing

27:42 - Upgrading our operating system: becoming agile

31:34 - Advice for innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

• Book: Hardwired for Happiness: 9 Proven Practices to Overcome Stress and Live Your Best Life 

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

Dr. Akhtar Badshah is Chief Catalyst at Catalytic Innovators Group, where he advises organizations and individuals to catalyze their strategy focused on social and philanthropic investments. In this episode, they discuss his purpose mindset view of innovation: self, community, and work. This episode also unpacks his five principles of a purpose mindset. 

More about our guest:

Dr. Akhtar Badshah  also conducts Purpose Mindset Leadership Workshops with organizations to help individuals articulate their strengths and values, and craft their purpose statement. A seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in international development, managing a corporate philanthropic program and co-founding a global nonprofit for social enterprise, Dr. Badshah led Microsoft’s philanthropic efforts for ten years, where he administered the company's community investment and employee contributions. He was instrumental in launching both Unlimited Potential and Youth Spark, the company’s focus to bring digital technology to underserved communities and youth all over the world. Dr. Badshah serves on the boards of Microsoft Alumni Network, Global Washington, Restart Partners and The Indus Entrepreneurs, Seattle Chapter. A Distinguished Practitioner at the University of Washington at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, the Business School, at the Bothell campus, and a faculty advisor at the START Center in the Department of Global Health, he is the founder and curator of the University’s Accelerating Social Transformation program, a mid-career professional development certificate course on social impact. In May 2020, Dr. Badshah and his colleagues launched Restart Partners, funded by the Department of Commerce, WA State, and supported by Facebook to increase confidence in mask adoption and vaccines with the goal of helping to restart the economy. He is an accomplished artist, a doctoral graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of the 2020 release, Purpose Mindset: How Microsoft Inspires Employees and Alumni to Change the World (HarperCollins Leadership). Dr. Badshah and his family are very active philanthropists in the Seattle area.

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Episode Guide:

2:09 - What is Innovation?  

4:07 - Trinity: Sales, Community, and Work

6:04 - Capitalist Societal Environment

6:54 - Unfolding from Capitalism: Questioning and Recognizing 'Meaning'  

10:25 - The Purpose Gap: reducing tension and friction

12:25 - Deriving value and purpose in life journey  

14:16 - Purpose alignment

16:05 - What Catalytic Innovators Group works on

17:00 client stories: corneal transplant  

20:02 - Five principles of purpose mindset: work from your strengths  

20:58 - 2nd principle: Lens of Abundance

22:33: 3rd: focus on the effectiveness vs efficiency

24:03 - Working with formerly incarcerated people

26:09 - Scalability and feasibility of working with formerly incarcerated people

28:46 - Advice for innovators / movement starters

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

Doug Shapiro, vice president of research and  insights at OFS. This episode talks about problem-solving, improving life with creativity, and the idea of  'openness'. 

More about our guest:

As vice president of research and insights at OFS, Doug brings more than 15 years of experience collaborating with product and interior designers from around the globe. After graduating from Millikin University with a bachelor’s in business, he began his career at OFS in international sourcing before transitioning to director of product development. Since that time, he has held a number of roles, including brand manager, director of A+D sales, VP of marketing and regional  vice president for the central U.S.   A well-respected and expressive thought leader in the design industry, Doug is also the host of the highly-rated Imagine a Place podcast that inspires connection and collaboration, while exploring the role place plays in people’s lives. He has hosted guests from Fortune 500 companies and aspiring entrepreneurs alike, facilitating authentic conversations about everything from the latest workplace trends to neuroscience and architecture.   Doug served on the International Interior Design Association’s (IIDA) board from 2015-2020 and still plays a key role in programming for IIDA student members. He supports meaningful IIDA programming efforts, such as Design Your World, a program for high school students that provides educational design opportunities and addresses diversity in design at the source. He also serves on the advisory board for Kansas State University’s Interior Architecture and Industrial Design department. In 2021, Doug received a HiP Award for his leadership in the design industry.   In addition to these accomplishments, Doug is a passionate storyteller and published children’s book author. He loves talking about his career and his four keys to personal growth (Humility, Creative Courage, Optimism, “Go Giver” Mentality), which he often shares with the younger professionals he mentors. 

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:55 - What is innovation?  

2:21 - Problem searching and improving solutions

3:47 - iPad: Problem solving vs life improvement?  

5:39 - Improving life through creativity  

7:36 - Getting good at creative work as is with knowledge work  

9:32 - The idea open of openness

11:14 - creating a creative physical workspace culture

13:15 Judgment: Killer of creativity and the Eisenhower Matrix

15:57 - Getting into the creative mindset  

18:00 - What is not innovation  

20:07 - Creativity: Shaping careers

23:32 - Advice for innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

Monique Childress, Founder and Principal at Horizon Advisory Group in Atlanta, GA, which provides organizational strategy services for purpose-driven organizations committed to supporting and improving the lives of underrepresented communities. This episode talks about one of the critical tools to move from curiosity to impact--the strategic planning process and how ego and the scarcity-abundance mindset can affect innovation work in nonprofit organizations. 

More about our guest:

Monique possesses ten years’ experience in organizational strategy planning and consulting for nonprofits, small businesses, and Fortune 500 corporations. Her company, Horizon Advisory Group states it's mission is to help these organization leaders to define the path to their next horizon through strategic planning, organizational development, and facilitated stakeholder collaboration. Prior to Horizon, she held leadership roles in Management Leadership for Tomorrow’s Advisory practice and Accenture’s Talent & Organization Strategy practice where she worked with client executive and senior leadership teams on large-scale human capital strategy and transformation efforts. A Chicago native, Monique holds a BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from the University of Michigan. She has also completed additional professional training in Human-Centered Design with the LUMA Institute; Design Sprints with AJ & Smart; an advanced facilitation training on “presencing Race, Gender, & Collective Healing”; and Diversity in the Workplace (certificate) through the University of South Florida. In her spare time, Monique teaches yoga, volunteers as Treasurer for the Atlanta Unbound Academy’s Board of Directors, and she is a mentor with Emory University’s Start: ME business training program.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

2:04 - What is Innovation?

2:20 - Breaking down 'curiosity'

4:56 - Bringing curiosity to life: NGOs

7:04 - Getting started: hearing and listening

9:12 - Turning feedbacks into insights

11:10 - Importance of front end listening

14:05 - Passion-led leadership  

15:05 - NGOs: A for-profit view and operations

17:06 - Breaking down 'ego'

19:32 - Ego in NGOs 

20:14 - Non-profits: Strategic planning

25:46 - Charting diversity in strategic planning

29:40 - Executive and big picture visionaries

30:38 - Making space for innovation  

32:10 - Scarcity vs Abundance Mindset

34:04 - what external consulting can provide

36:00 - Strategic Planning Process timeline

40:36 - Advice for Innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

Urvashi Bhatnagar, DPT, MBA, vice president of Business Development, Healthcare at Genpact, discusses how one can differentiate innovation from finding your 'north star'. This episode also unpacks the intersection of analytics and healthcare and how sustainability is reshaping the world. 

More about our guest:

Urvashi  Bhatnagar is a mission-driven population-health and sustainability expert. She has over a decade of healthcare leadership experience working with clients to advance health outcomes in underserved communities—addressing barriers to care, advancing health equity, and leveraging data-driven approaches to reduce the cost of life-altering high-quality care. She also holds an MBA from Yale University and a Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Boston University. She believes global wellness can be achieved through sustained and intentional investment in environmental justice and healthcare sustainability initiatives for all populations.

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Episode Guide:

1:20 - What is Innovation?

3:08 - Is it improvement or finding your north star?

5:06 - Leaders: meeting innovation

6:25 - Leapfrog innovations and embedded systems

8:45 - What isn't innovation?

11:07 - The next 'it' thing

12:56 - Healthcare: innovation from demand

15:00 - Innovation: Shaping Careers

18:53 - Advice to innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

• Book: The Sustainability Scorecard: How to Implement and Profit from Unexpected Solutions

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

Roger L. Firestien, PhD, president of the Innovation Resources, Inc., and author of several popular book on business, innovation, and creativity, discusses the symbiotic relationship between creativity and innovation in solving real problems. This episode also unpacks the reality and practicality of asking creative questions.

More about our guest:

Roger L. Firestien, PhD has trained more people to lead the creative process than anyone else in the world. He is Senior Faculty and Associate Professor at the Center for Applied Imagination at SUNY Buffalo State, as well as a guest lecturer at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine. As president of Innovation Resources, Inc., he consults, creates training programs, runs Breakthrough Labs, and has created a series of courses for Open Sesame.  He is author of several popular books including Create In A Flash:  A Leader's Recipe For Breakthrough Innovation and WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?: Better Ideas & Decision Making At Home And At Work. For more information, please visit www.RogerFirestien.com

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:45  - What is Innovation?

2:14 - Creativity consultant vs Innovation consultant

4:02 - Book: Solve The Real Problem

5:57 - The Boeing 747 windshield problem

10:05 - Myth: Mandated Innovation System

12:15 - What isn't innovation?

13:47 - Asking the creative questions

15:44 - Innovation and Creativity

17:27 - How has innovation shaped your career?

19:04 - Advice to innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

• Book: Solve The Real Problem (pre-order here!)

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

Carolina Duque Chopitea, Director of Technology and Product at Reciqlo, a Circular Economy company that builds solutions for glass recycling, and Co-founder of Brandformers, a digital marketing and consultancy company that helps brands with their digital transition, discusses why it's important to see innovation as a way of looking at the future, and they unpack the ingredients of innovation that go beyond technology. 

More about our guest:

Carolina Duque Chopitea holds a master’s degree in Business Analytics from Hult International Business School (San Francisco) and has recently co-authored “Tomorrow's people and new technology” , a book that explores how the emerging technologies that power the Fourth Industrial Revolution are changing our lives. With her multidisciplinary background and experience working in technology Carolina helps brands and organizations to build technological and innovative solutions that contribute towards the sustainable development of our plant.

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Episode Guide:

1:20 - What is Innovation

1:59 - Blockchain

2:44 - Book: Tomorrow's people and new technology

6:22 - Big data: shaping it and getting shaped by it

9:08 - Practical Innovation and value

11:56 - Innovation from non-economic projects

12:36 - What isn't innovation?

14:59 - Not something from scratch or zero

17:37 - Innovation Skill: Learning and Promoting

21:32 - Innovation: Shaping Careers

23:45 - Advice to innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

• Book: Tomorrow's people and new technology

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

Hussain Almossawi,  author of  The Innovator's Handbook: A Short Guide to Unleashing Your Creative Mindset and founder of Mossawi Studios talks on how innovation can spring from small ideas compounding into one great big implementation. 

More about our guest:

Hussain Almossawi is also renowned designer and innovator who has worked across industries around the world creating and consulting for companies, including Nike, Apple, Google, Adidas, EA Sports, Intel, and Ford Motor Company. As a regular keynote speaker on innovation and design, Hussain has also taught at several universities such as The New School.

In 2019, he founded Mossawi Studios, a multi-disciplinary design studio specializing in creating memorable, iconic, and bold experiences. He loves blurring the lines between product design, visual effects, and storytelling. 

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

1:25 - What is Innovation?

2:13 - "Bettering an idea"

3:12 - Improvements and Collaborations in the footwear industry

5:49 - Innovation and Invention: a crossroad

8:52 - FingerWorks and SoundJam: Apple acquired companies

11:56 - What is not Innovation?

12:54 - Innovation and Invention: becoming erroneously synonymous

14:06 - Innovation shaping careers?  

15:16 - Book: The Innovator's Handbook (out on sept 6)

16:50 - The First Principles Method

20:44 - Advice for Innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

•  The Innovator's Handbook: A Short Guide to Unleashing Your Creative Mindset - Out on September 6, 2022!
• The First Principles Method

Companies Mentioned:

• SoundJam
• FingerWorks
• Mossawi Studios

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

David Cutler, founder and CEO of The Puzzler Company, facilitator of the leading immersive 'GAME of Innovation' talks about how gamifying innovation works, the many ways that innovation is not always what is seems to be, and why music and innovation naturally work together. 

More about our guest:

David Cutler, facilitates the leading immersive "GAME of Innovation' where these powerful, team-based experiences have empowered business, arts, and education communities from around the globe to solve creative challenges while becoming better collaborators. He is also an award-winning, multi-genre musician and Yamaha Master Educator.  Cutler is a Distinguished Professor at the University of South Carolina, where he teaches innovation and entrepreneurship, and a member of the Liberty Fellowship and Aspen Global Leadership Network.

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Episode Guide:

1:20  - What is Innovation?

3:08 - Extraordinary problem solving: process and gamification

5:40 - What is G.A.M.E?

8:01 - Article: six things kindergarten teachers know that most CEOs do not 

9:43 - Being problem agnostic

1239 - 6 types of non-innovation

1339 - Not imitation

1423 - Not magic

1509 - Not anarchy

16:48 - "Not everything"

17:33 - Not a big a idea

20:35 - Bonus: not an industry - not therapy, and not easy

21:39 - Innovation: Shaping careers

22:15 - Book: The GAME of innovation

2429 - Classical music, Jazz, and Innovation: an intersection

3137 - Innovation and Diversity

3208 - Murder of George Floyd: becoming more inclusive

3412 - Advice to Innovators

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Resources Mentioned: 

Books / Articles:

• 6 Things Kindergarten Teachers Know That Most CEOs Do Not
• The GAME of Innovation: Conquer Challenges. Level Up Your Team. Play to Win

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.

Todd Skidmore is Sr. Director of Digital Marketing, eCommerce and Analytics at Mohawk Industries, the largest flooring manufacturer in the world. 

More about our guest:

Todd leads a team of talented digital marketers, eCommerce managers and analytics professionals to drive growth and create best-in-class experiences across all of Mohawk’s digital platforms including B2C, B2B and B2B2C. Prior to Mohawk, he held multiple roles over a 16 year career at The Coca-Cola Company from eCommerce, marketing strategy and digital marketing through team and program management. When he’s not driving digital transformation, Todd is spending time with family and friends, travelling, cooking and enjoying the outdoors.

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Episode Guide:

1:21 - What is Innovation?  

2:14 - "Finding good ideas"

5:05 - Evaluating and Executing the ideas

6:27 - Middle section of Innovation: due diligence

9:38 - Criticality of Collaboration and bringing in skillsets

11:25 - Bridging the risk adverse and risk taking ends

12:45- Enterprise organizations: longer term results  

14:46 - Innovation in the Ecommerce and Analytics space

16:43 - "Why does this take so long"  

18:47 - Transition from programs into ecommerce

20:32 - Advice for innovators

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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.