The Innovation Show

The podcast discusses how to save the world from AI and explores the key to successful organizational change, overcoming resistance, identifying shared values, and the challenges of contributing to AI in a commercial context.

I was MC for the tech stage at the Fifteen Seconds Festival in Graz, Austria. I had the pleasure of meeting the brilliant Phaedra Boinodiris. A fellow with the London-based Royal Society of Arts, Phaedra has focused on inclusion in technology since 1999. She is the business transformation leader for IBM's Responsible AI consulting group and serves on the leadership team of IBM's Academy of Technology. She is the author of the book "AI for the Rest of Us", and is a co-founder of the Future World Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to curating K-12 education in AI ethics. She is pursuing her PhD in AI and Ethics at University College Dublin's Smart Lab. In 2019, she won the United Nations Woman of Influence in STEM and Inclusivity Award. Women in Games International recognised her as one of the Top 100 Women in the Games Industry as she began one of the first scholarship programs in the United States for women to pursue degrees in game design and development. Find Phaedra here: https://phaedra.ai

Helen Edwards joins us for part 2 of a 2-part episode on her book, "From Marginal to Mainstream Why Tomorrow's brand growth will come from the Fringes – and How to get there first." Her book shows why businesses, marketers and entrepreneurs need to break free from their 'mainstream inhibition' and turn their attention to the margins - to confront, evaluate and embrace the 'strangeness' of behaviours, ideas and ways of life at the fringes. Using original research and analysis of the brands that have successfully backed marginal behaviours, Helen provides a framework for understanding and evaluating this non-obvious, untapped potential. Marginal behaviours may be unpromising, untested, weird, even sometimes repulsive - yet they can point the way to the future. T oday's margins are tomorrow's pot of gold - if you know where and how to look.

Helen Edwards joins us for part 1 of a 2-part episode on her book, "From Marginal to Mainstream Why Tomorrow's brand growth will come from the Fringes – and How to get there first." Her book shows why businesses, marketers and entrepreneurs need to break free from their 'mainstream inhibition' and turn their attention to the margins - to confront, evaluate and embrace the 'strangeness' of behaviours, ideas and ways of life at the fringes. Using original research and analysis of the brands that have successfully backed marginal behaviours, Helen provides a framework for understanding and evaluating this non-obvious, untapped potential. Marginal behaviours may be unpromising, untested, weird, even sometimes repulsive - yet they can point the way to the future. Today's margins are tomorrow's pot of gold - if you know where and how to look.

Our guest is the author of 15 books, over 160 practitioner articles, and over 60 Darden cases, etc. dealing with innovation and learning. Every time I catch up, he goes and writes another book. He has become a dear friend, thought partner and mentor. He honoured me by asking me to pre-read the manuscript and offer an endorsement, and this is what I wrote: "A life-changing book written by an old soul. Old souls are wise beyond their years, humble, and curious. They see the big picture, feel connected to everything, and recognize their fellow old souls. I feel like an old soul when I read Ed's books. I invite you to enjoy this book and gain wisdom beyond your years." It is a sincere pleasure to welcome the author of "Own Your Work Journey!: The Path to Meaningful Work and Happiness in the Age of Smart Technology and Radical Change." Edward D. Hess. Find Ed here: https://www.ownyourworkjourney.com And here: https://www.edhess.org

Metaphors show people how to look beyond the surface levels of life, to an enlightened truth. This book attempts to point to something deep, spiritual, and powerful. Metaphors, stories, and musings speak to the heart, not to the brain. Listen with your heart; that is where we all find inner truth. It is a great pleasure to welcome the author of "Life is a Metaphor: Metaphors, Stories and Musings for the Heart", George Pransky, joined by his wife and long-time business partner Linda Pransky, guys, you are very welcome. Find George and Linda here: https://www.pranskyandassociates.com

The aim of mind-wandering, odd as it might sound, is to improve the efficiency of your generative model. As ordained by the Free Energy Principle, a model is only efficient if it uses the minimum resources necessary to perform the work of self-organisation. That boils down to finding the simplest model that successfully predicts sensory samples of the world. The simplest model does not arise naturally from voluntary action. Voluntary action is a haphazard process. Simplicity is increased by pruning redundant synaptic connections that formed while we learned from experience. We are cutting them back to avoid 'overfitting' our models to noisy data, needlessly preserving eccentric and weak correlations. The shears are the by-now familiar mechanisms of memory consolidation and reconsolidation: by activating memories, we can strengthen, alter and even erase them. Mind-wandering is one means by which this is achieved. It involves spontaneous forebrain activity (the 'resting state' or 'default mode'), which occurs without any specific external stimulus. This kind of activity often goes on in the background through an 'imaginative exploration of our own mental space'.

We caught up with Dr Robert Hogan during his 2023 worldwide tour. Robert challenged decades of academic tradition to demonstrate personality's impact on organisational success. He pioneered the use of personality assessment to improve workplace performance. One of his key findings is that organisations should look for humility in a leader rather than charisma. A humble leader channels energy into the improvement of an organisation, whereas charismatic leaders leave a trail of chaos and ruin. Hogan says, "Organisations often overlook humble employees for leadership positions favouring charismatic ones. Charismatic people are charming and inspirational, but many turn out to be narcissistic, arrogant, and potentially exploitative. In contrast, humble leaders empower followers and promote team learning."

Today's book offers a comprehensive approach to extraordinary problem-solving. Conceived by a super-creative quartet of top-tier business consultants, the book builds upon a novel premise: What if you framed problems as if they were games of profound significance? How might you design something new or reimagine the old, particularly when competition increases, technology disrupts, change accelerates, money tightens, and the rules of success are constantly evolving? The book then shares a flexible methodology for designing powerhouse innovation GAMEs (Guidelines, Arena, Materials, Experience), Aligning teams with 5 problem-solving "lenses," building consensus behind change, and leading and managing the process. This uncommon, easy-to-read, visual book is packed with actionable strategies that will help you and your community thrive when playing The GAME of Innovation. It is a pleasure to welcome the author of The GAME of Innovation: Conquer Challenges. Level Up Your Team. Play to Win: Gamify Challenges, Level Up Your Team, and Play to Win, David Cutler

Today's book draws on a decade of research and 50 case studies to present six mindsets that help business leaders and nonprofit equivalents be more confident and creative about strategic problem-solving and be successful where others are afraid to act (or act recklessly). The concept is modelled after innovative companies such as Patagonia which are not afraid to step out into risk using small moves that build capabilities, assets and understanding. The imperfectionist strategy creates opportunities unavailable to those with conventional strategic thinking based on old structural models. The world is changing faster and faster, with increasing uncertainty and the threat of external disruption in every business and nonprofit segment. Conventional approaches to strategy development assuming a world devoid of probability no longer work. It Is a huge pleasure to welcome a friend, previous guest and author of "The Imperfectionists: Strategic Mindsets for Uncertain Times", Charles Conn. More about Charles here: https://bulletproofproblemsolving.com