Inside Outside Innovation

Ben Nelson is the CTO and Co-founder of Lambda School, a 9-month online education/training program. Brian Ardinger, Inside Outside Innovation founder, spoke with Ben about Lambda School’s disruption of the education market, the creation of an online school, and the use of an Income Share Agreement. Through an Income Share Agreement, students agree to pay back the costs of their training, once they receive a $50,000 a year job. A percentage of their income, up to $30,000, is paid back over the next two-year period. New Business Model & Trends - We started as a code boot camp. Now we’re in our own category. Competitors are changing to mimic the model. Competition doesn’t usually kill early startups. - Universities are overshooting the mark. Saddling students with big debt and students are wising up. People can get in trouble financially. - Fast tech change. People need to switch in the middle of their careers. Lambda is putting elasticity in the labor market.  - More people are moving towards portfolio work and we’re seeing job categories getting disrupted. Need new training - e.g. truck drivers. Provide a path in a new industry.  - Online can scale with more students. Lambda margins can absorb longer payback period and better instructors.  - With students graduating, income share agreements are a valuable security that debt can be borrowed against.  Y Combinator & Lambda’s Future - How can this become a billion dollar company. How do you scale the idea? - It’s a school for startups, and they teach you how to do it, with weekly investor meetings. Provides a network to fundraise. Avoid pitfalls with standardizations. - Amazon started with books. We teach software engineering now. Looking at how to expand into other areas like nursing school.  - We don’t want to focus on ed research. We’re about jobs and accessibility.  Skills and Traits Attractive to the Model & Challenges - We live in a distracting world. Ability to focus and remove distractions is essential. Lambda wants people who are hungry. It’s difficult to predict these qualities. They don’t ask for test scores.  - Lambda has a free course called Intro to programming. Through it they check student’s aptitudes. It’s an open-ended course, with no deadline. If students perform well, we can invest in them.  - We must maintain high standards, but we’re not exclusive. We want a high bar but will accept anyone willing to do the work.  - Need scalable processes for placing students. - Provide more depth and a guided job search. Remove false finish line of graduation. Your certificate is your job.  For more information about Ben and Lambda School, check out www.Lambdaschool.com.  If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also enjoy:   Ep. 93 – Natalie Fratto with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) Ep. 69 – Slava Rubin, co-founder of Indiegogo Ep. 51 – Lucy Beard, founder of Feetz, a 3-D shoe-printing company Find this episode of Inside Outside Innovation at insideoutside.io. You can also listen on Acast, iTunes, Sticher, Spotify, and Google Play.   FREE INNOVATION NEWSLETTER Get the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE HERE For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Energize Your Company's Culture Jon Katzenbach and Gretchen Anderson are co-authors of The Critical Few: Energize Your Company's Culture by Choosing What Really Matters. They spoke with Brian Ardinger, Inside Outside Innovation founder, about why culture is important for innovation and how to tap into the behaviors and emotions that can make a significant cultural impact.  The Critical Few Their book, The Critical Few, looks at working within an organization and drawing on a company’s strengths, rather than looking at what’s not working. Lessons are written within the story of a fictional CEO, focused on a company’s culture. While there are many universal issues of culture, Jon and Gretchen recognize that all cultures are singular and unique and that people within the company impact that culture.  Traits, Behaviors, and Emotional Connectors Jon and Gretchen explain that we must identify what the cultural traits are within a company, behavior that is happening around those traits, and who the people are within the company that have their fingers on the pulse of the culture. These elements are the critical few areas that can impact culture. For example, within one large health care organization, the critical behavior was around collaboration. The company narrowed in on this behavior and found those employees doing it well. Once you understand what’s happening in culture, you can develop programs to address these areas. Ideas need to come from people doing the work.  Innovation Needs to be as Unique as your Thumbprint Critical Few also refers to the traits that have emotional sources which clients can tap into to create critical behaviors. Behavior also depends on where it’s happening within the company. Focus in on a few behaviors. Follow these traits to a few specific emotions that the company can encourage. The company is reliant on specific people who have tapped into these particular emotions. When identifying cultural traits for companies that want to be more innovative, ask yourself “What would innovation look like given who you are.” It must be how an organization already likes to behave. Innovative Companies Focus on Strategy, Operations and Culture Jon and Gretchen see relationships between companies that focus on a broader range of metrics and their ability to innovate, and companies that are less hierarchal and their ability to innovate. Companies are saying that they must approach culture with the same effort as strategy and operations. Leaders understand things are changing. Innovation is going to be easier if you also tackle culture issues. For More Information To connect with Jon and Gretchen check out https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/the-critical-few. They are also on Twitter and LinkedIn where they post new research and articles they love. If you liked this episode, you might also enjoy: - Ep. 130– Canopy Insight’s Victoria Gerstman on Culture’s Influence on Brands & Semiotics - Ep. 124 – Amy Radin, Author of The Change Maker’s Playbook & FinTech Guru - Ep. 104 – Shane Snow – Author of Dream Teams: Working Together without Falling Apart Find this episode of Inside Outside Innovation at insideoutside.io. You can also listen on Acast, iTunes, Sticher, Spotify, and Google Play.   FREE INNOVATION NEWSLETTER Get the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE HERE For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Gary Shapiro is the author of Ninja Future: Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation and president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the U.S. trade association representing more than 2,200 consumer technology companies and which owns and produces CES - The Global Stage for innovation. Gary has helped direct policymakers and business leaders on the importance of innovation in the U.S. economy. Brian Ardinger, Inside Outside Innovation Founder, talks with Gary about innovation, creativity and how to thrive in a changing marketplace. Gary initially worked as a consultant to CES, then was hired to lead the organization. He was excited to discover that the CES board was committed to allowing anyone with an idea to get exposure. This action spoke to him. Years prior, Gary was involved in a lawsuit over the VCR. He coordinated and spoke on the issue, and now sees the parallels in the video, audio, and sharing industry. Today Gary continues to fight for innovators and breakthrough technology.  Pace of Change With the pace of change accelerating, Gary sees the future in areas such as robotics, AI, self-driving cars, drones, medical, dealing with pain, etc. He’s optimistic about the future. Today, the path to corporate success is showing a broad set of skills in a variety of industries and being able to put different things together. Gary is concerned with China’s move on AI and their urbanization leading to an increase in creativity. CES Asia has been happening for five years now with a growing level of innovation.   Ninja Future Gary’s book, Ninja Future, is for people who want to understand what’s going on today and what we should expect in the future. Big companies used to have an advantage; however, they are slow to change. Startups have to adapt to survive in a rapidly changing marketplace. If you act like a ninja, you have to have flexibility to move and change quickly. Get a team that’s not like you. Ninjas are people who recognize that change is afoot. The book also includes life hacks and ideas, a tech overview, and things in Gary’s life that made a difference.  For More Information For more information or to connect with Gary see https://www.cta.tech. CES is held each January in Las Vegas.  You can also check out Gary's previous best-sellers, "Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World's Most Successful Businesses" (HarperCollins, 2013) and "The Comeback: How Innovation will Restore the American Dream" (Beaufort, 2011).  If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also enjoy: Ep. 124 – Amy Radin, Author of The Change Maker’s Playbook & FinTech Guru, Ep. 121 – Herman Miller’s Melissa Steach on Design Innovation, and Ep. 102 – Sunayna Tuteja with TD Ameritrade on FinTech Innovation. Find this episode of Inside Outside Innovation at insideoutside.io. You can also listen on Acast, iTunes, Sticher, Spotify, and Google Play FREE INNOVATION NEWSLETTER Get the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE HERE For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Melissa Perri is the CEO of Produx Labs and Author of Escaping the Build Trap: How effective product management creates value. She believes that as companies scale, they lose track of what makes them successful and they just “ship.” Companies forget to bring products back to the overall strategy and talk with their customers. Brian Ardinger, Inside Outside Innovation Founder, talks with Melissa about getting out of the build trap and having a customer-centric culture.  Companies in the Build Trap - Software startup - Growing and trying to exit. Look for product managers early. Can get out of build trap.  - Enterprises - Haven’t scaled through software. Brings in others to be product managers. A new discipline. Struggles with build trap.  As companies scale, they are close to the customer. As they execute, they forget to talk to the customer. Athena Health developed a portal for user research with its customers.  Escaping the Build Trap Takeaways - Explains how to think about Product Management - Step-by-Step processes - Helps people understand what Product Management is and how to set it up.  - Helps managers implement a system. Product Trends - More people understand discipline - Silicon Valley thought - You own software, streamline, talk to customers, and turn ideas into business models - Agile school of thought - Product owner vs. product managers - Similar roles Product Manager Role - Has authority on how to build, and sometimes on what to build. - Teaches product managers to question why. Can the team build it in a better way? Push back. Show why it should be different. For More Information: For more information on product management or to connect with Melissa, see http://www.produxlabs.com, https://melissaperri.com or on https://twitter.com/lissijean. You can find her book, Escaping the Build Trap on Amazon. If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also enjoy: Ep. 119 – Voltage Control’s Douglas Ferguson on Inside Innovation, Ep. 99 – Ryan Jacoby with Machine & Author of Making Progress, and Ep. 90 – Teresa Torres with Product Talk. Find this episode of Inside Outside Innovation at insideoutside.io. You can also listen on Acast, iTunes, Sticher, Spotify, and Google Play FREE INNOVATION NEWSLETTER Get the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE HERE For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Vivek Bedi has worked in both corporate and startup innovation. His experiences range from positions at Goldman Sachs, to running his own company. Now at Northwestern Mutual, Vivek is the Head of Consumer Experience, Digital Products, working in both New York and Milwaukee. Brian Ardinger, Inside Outside Innovation Founder, talks with Vivek about Northwestern Mutual's digital transformation. Vivek's team is responsible for everything digital that touches Northwestern Mutual’s 4.3 million clients. Three years ago, 150,000 of Northwestern Mutual's customers used their digital products. Today, over 1.8 million customers are engaged in the digital experience. Culture Change Northwestern Mutual is changing the culture around digital development, innovation, and collaboration. - New York had a startup culture, but Milwaukee had subject matter expertise. Both matter. How do they work together? - Pizza Pie teams - Developed small teams across two cities, tasked with one charter and putting something out every two weeks. Teams are virtual and cross-functional (product, design engineers and business) that have standup meetings every day.  - Three years ago there were 89 digital releases. Last year, there were 4,005.  - Culture has also become research and iterative, through research communities with both advisors and customers. Challenges  Vivek has had to overcome a variety of challenges, including: - Getting people to believe the new model will work. The right approach is not reading a book about Agile or Lean. - Highlighting the Pizza Pie team process as a model for other projects. Now Northwestern Mutual has 30+ teams.  - Pizza Pie teams have both a product lead and engineering lead.  - When building talent, Vivek looks for people who can bring people together, gel with groups, and understand different perspectives - Now Northwestern Mutual is trying to understand if the model can work with big systems and legacy components.  - Access to customers is a big theme in Vivek’s work. 60% of his time is spent with advisors, learning the nuances of the business, tools, and concepts. On the client side, he must design for all types of customers, including those who type, swipe, and print. For More Information Connect with Vivek on Twitter @Vivbedior http://www.vivekbedi.com If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also enjoy: If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also enjoy: Ep. 127 – Vanguard & CEC’s John Buhl on Lean Startup at Scale; Ep. 123 – Gatorade’s Xavi Cortadellas on Breakthrough Innovation ; and Ep. 42 – John Bungert with MetLife Find this episode of Inside Outside Innovation at insideoutside.io. You can also listen on Acast, iTunes, Sticher, Spotify, and Google Play FREE INNOVATION NEWSLETTER Get the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE HERE For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Ajay Rajani is an investor, entrepreneur, and author of Navigating the shift to a ‘portfolio career’ - How we should think about our professional identities — when they’re designed to change. Brian Ardinger, Inside Outside Innovation founder, and Ajay talk about building and highlighting a portfolio career. After leading Nexxt, a digital remote accelerator that helps people take ideas and turn them into experiments, Ajay launched Mural. Mural helps people create portfolios based on skills and linked assets. It also makes it easy to curate versions of yourself for different people. Defining a Portfolio Career A portfolio career emphasizes passions, curiosity, and self-actualization. Types of jobs where a portfolio may apply: 1) Someone who wears multiple hats, 2) Someone who wears one hat, but in various contexts, 3) Someone who has different passions to highlight like copywriting and animal activist, and 4) Someone who is building a portfolio like VCs and freelancers.  Portfolio Growth The portfolio trend is increasing because we are adding new skills all the time and it’s easier to share and collaborate online. For freelancers, a portfolio helps customers understand their products, services, frameworks, and templates. It also allows freelancers to productize the services they provide and create a level of trust and fit for customers.  A Portfolio for Corporate Innovators For corporate innovators, with tons of skills and know-how, a portfolio helps to unlock and curate examples of their best work. It can highlight 5 or 6 work assets and can help innovators think through what can they replicate, what are their experience and skills, and what are they comfortable sharing.  For More Information To find out more about Mural or Ajay check out Muralapp.io/ajayrajani. If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also enjoy: If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also enjoy: Ep. 117 – Nicole Rufuku, Author of Hiring for the Innovation Economy; Ep. 93 – Natalie Fratto w/ SVB; and Ep. 48 – Founders of Nex.tt Find this episode of Inside Outside Innovation at insideoutside.io. You can also listen on Acast, iTunes, Sticher, Spotify, and Google Play FREE INNOVATION NEWSLETTER Get the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE HERE For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Michael Frankel is the Managing Director of Deloitte’s New-venture Accelerator, a strategy and operations team for new business models. He believes people need to disrupt themselves continually or they will fall behind.  Emergence of the Hybrid  The broader trend of the journey from human to tech is not happening instantly. Things that require judgment and strategy, need a hybrid solution. A lot of technology has moved ahead of the user’s ability to use them. For example, we’ve digitized everything, because companies wanted the data. Now they are suffering from death by data. Talent profiles, of those better at adapting, are the Connector and Implementor. These are people who can be super users and use the info to solve a business problem. Product managers are critical with the adaptability to collaborate across technologies.  Technology that improves Human Life Conceptual technology that improves human life is an area Michael is excited about. AI, RPA and machine learning can solve a concrete problem in areas we can drive metrics from. Corporations & Startups Corporations interacting with startups is a great challenge. They have mirror image problems. Hard to self disrupt for the corporation. Interacting with startups helps corporate think differently and break the rules. Startups have a blank sheet. Both can benefit from each other. Tactics to collaborate: 1 ) Align your innovation and corporate venturing efforts with people who know sector. 2) Create an environment that allows you to interact. Startups want to talk to people that know the space and can give advice and access.  For More Information Find Michael Frankel on LinkedIn or at www.michaelfrankel.net.  You might also be interested in his publications: - Mergers & Acquisitions Basics The Key Steps of Acquisitions, Divestitures, and Investments - 2nd Edition - Mergers & Acquisitions Deal-Makers: Building a Winning Team - 2nd Edition If you liked this episode, you might also enjoy: - Ep. 118 – ExxonMobil’s Christopher Bailey and Kim Bullock on Corporate Innovation - Ep. 115 – Doug Branson, Author of The Future of Tech is Female - Ep. 112 – Ralph Welborn, Author of Topple on Corporate Innovation Find this episode of Inside Outside Innovation at insideoutside.io. You can also listen on Acast, iTunes, Sticher, Spotify, and Google Play FREE INNOVATION NEWSLETTER Get the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE HERE For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Simone Ahuja, Author of Disrupt-It-Yourself: Eight Ways to Hack a Better Business---Before the Competition Does, researches barriers that are preventing large companies from innovating internally. Brian Ardinger, Founder of Inside Outside Innovation talks with Simone about these innovation barriers and what managers and leaders can do to support innovators.  Highlights from the discussion: Why is it so hard to innovate? - Lack of alignment - Disconnect between senior leaders and feet on the street. Lack of knowledge in the middle. Innovation is a relatively new discipline. There's a difference in metrics and incentives. Need to establish new metrics at all levels, creating space for innovation. - Innovation is different in companies that are large and older, where culture is deep. Not specific to the industry. - Need to encourage people to put forward innovative ideas (Value-creation innovation). It’s the pathway to innovation, but not everyone has to be an innovator or intrapreneur. Innovation Principles - Who is innovating inside large organizations or as a side hustle? How do we harness that? Engage people so they feel satisfied and want to stay around. Only 14% of college grads want to work in large corporations e.g., Medtronic. - How do you identify those people? Managers seem to know who they are. Action-oriented and risk-taking. Don’t know how to support them. Need to provide “air cover.” Built on trust, autonomy, and space. Assisting people in transitional innovation.  - Managers need to have the Idea of fluid and agility. How do you manage info and change? How do we create flexibility in our organizations? What’s exciting you about this space? - Optimistic that innovation is becoming more of a discipline. - The human side of innovation. Passion and purpose and why to harness it.  To find out more, you can purchase Simon’s book Disrupt-It-Yourself: Eight Ways to Hack a Better Business---Before the Competition Does or learn more at www.Blood-orange.com or on Twitter @simoneahuja. If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also enjoy: Ep. 124 - Amy Radin, Author of The Change Maker's Playbook & FinTech Guru, Ep. 109 - Greg Larkin, Corporate Entrepreneur and Author of “This Might Get Me Fired, and Ep. 78 - Katherine Manuel w/ Thomson Reuters. Find this episode of Inside Outside Innovation at insideoutside.io. You can also listen on Acast, iTunes, Sticher, Spotify, and Google Play FREE INNOVATION NEWSLETTER Get the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE HERE For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Jana Eggers, CEO of Nara Logics, is an expert on Artificial Intelligence. In this episode, Brian Ardinger, Founder of Inside Outside Innovation, talks with Jana about the evolution, promises, and risks of Artificial Intelligence. Jana will be speaking at the E.N. Thompson Forum, in Lincoln, NE, on Feb 26, 2019.  Highlights from the discussion: - Jana trained as a mathematician and has worked at organizations like the National Science Foundation, Los Alamos, and a search engine company where she’s always used AI as a tool.  - Computing power is now commoditized, and there's lots of data from databases like ImageNet. These changes have brought Artificial Intelligence to the forefront again. - AI examples - Calendar scheduling, language translation, Waze, and Google - Machine learning vs. AI - e.g., Artificial light vs. natural light. Ask has the machine learned? Did it calculate how to respond? Did it recognize the context? - We need to understanding AI risks, but people should have a realist attitude. Don’t run in fear. We’ll find more things to do as AI takes over the basics.  - Microsoft’s Tay has been live in China for years. Big difference in internet culture in China vs. US. Tech Companies have had major gaffes on AI applications. There is plenty of thought on how to prevent bad things from happening.  - China is using lots of data and getting practice and application with AI. Government is also investing. The US should invest in infrastructure. Could make a big difference. - In Europe, GDPR will allow us to be better custodians of our data.  - Nara Logics has an AI platform which enables engineers to put AI into their products faster. e.g., Proctor and Gamble creates advisor products using AI. One-on-one customer communication. To connect with Jana Eggers, CEO of Nara Logics, find her online or at https://naralogics.com   If you liked this episode, you might also enjoy: Ep. 107 - Azeem Azhar, Author of Exponential View,   Ep. 101 - Daniel Fozzati with IdeaLondon on System Innovation; and Ep. 80 - Ari Popper w/ SciFutures Find this episode of Inside Outside Innovation at insideoutside.io. You can also listen on Acast, iTunes, Sticher, Spotify, and Google Play FREE INNOVATION NEWSLETTER Get the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE HERE For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Ted Schilowitz serves as Paramount Pictures' Futurist, as well as an advisor to the University of Nebraska’s Johnny Carson School of Emerging Media Arts. He sees himself as an explorer, with an eye toward storytelling and creativity. His modern lab rat approach, allows him to experiment with all types of technology and determine what makes it valuable for the future. Brian Ardinger, Inside Outside founder, and Ted discuss the intersection between storytelling and human behavior. Specifically, they address next-generation screens to create the illusion of reality.  Highlights from the discussion: - VR is an emerging process of teaching people about new ways of using more powerful screens in their lives.  - People want entertainment when they want it and where they want it. Connecting the screen to your eyes and your brain, something that doesn’t exist yet at scale.  - Experiments with VR, AR, and mixed-reality headsets. Logging hours in experimenting, then bringing back experiences to the studio.  - The power is accelerated to create an illusion of things that aren’t real. There are ethical, safety and truth concerns. - Mixed reality or extended reality is the thing to watch.  - VR is a multi-level/multi-year evolution. We’ve seen good progress, investment, and predictive analysis.  - Viable businesses are enterprise and heavy and light industrial markets. Things are getting adopted when people use them differently.  - Read The Innovators Dilemma by Clayton Christianson. - How can people tap into creativity and adaptability? Read Creativity Inc, about Pixar, where story means everything and technology is used in service to the story.  To find out more or connect, find Ted on Twitter at @virtualtedfor email him at ted_schilowitz@paramount.com. You can also learn more from his augmented mixed-reality discussion on the AR Show or from various articles found online.  If you liked this episode, you might also enjoy: Ep. 107 - Azeem Azhar, Author of “Exponential View”; Ep 106 - Amy Jo Kim, Innovation Consultant and Author of Game Thinking, Ep 80 - Ari Popper w/ SciFutures; and Ep 60 - David Mattin w/ TrendWatching FREE INNOVATION NEWSLETTER Get the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE HERE For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy