Intro It’s no secret that continuous innovation is the key to seizing and maintaining the competitive edge in today’s increasingly challenging business environment. Unfortunately, the process for achieving this holy grail of business has been a mystery—until now. Today's book delivers a proven system for building relentless innovation into your company’s DNA. Our guest, a Professor and former Dean of Executive Education at INSEAD explores the essential practices of many of the world’s most innovative organisations and demonstrates how you can leverage them in your own company. You’ll learn how to drive innovating in product design and creative use of technology―as well as business activities, such as business model redesign, customer service, distribution, finance, talent development, and sales. The big question on the mind of every business leader today is: What can I do to create extra value for my company and the customers we serve? This book provides everything you need to transform your organization into an innovating engine that continually produces new products and processes to generate enormous new value for you and for the customers you serve. It is a pleasure to welcome back the author of “Built to Innovate: Essential Practices to Wire Innovation into Your Company’s DNA" Ben Bensaou, welcome to the show In this episode we get into the nuts and bolts of bringing innovation to life within an organisation. We talk about BASF and William Gore and Sons and creating the right environment for people to have time to innovate.

In episode 4, we focus on The Mystics in an episode called "The Age of Heretics Part 4: Pierre Wack and the Origins of Scenario Planning" with Art Kleiner This is part of a longer series based on the book The Age of Heretics with Art Kleiner.

Intro It’s no secret that continuous innovation is the key to seizing and maintaining the competitive edge in today’s increasingly challenging business environment. Unfortunately, the process for achieving this holy grail of business has been a mystery—until now. Today's book delivers a proven system for building relentless innovation into your company’s DNA. Our guest, a Professor and former Dean of Executive Education at INSEAD explores the essential practices of many of the world’s most innovative organizations and demonstrates how you can leverage them in your own company. You’ll learn how to drive innovating in product design and creative use of technology―as well as business activities, such as business model redesign, customer service, distribution, finance, talent development, and sales. The big question on the mind of every business leader today is: What can I do to create extra value for my company and the customers we serve? This book provides everything you need to transform your organization into an innovating engine that continually produces new products and processes to generate enormous new value for you and for the customers you serve. It is a pleasure to welcome the author of “Built to Innovate: Essential Practices to Wire Innovation into Your Company’s DNA" Ben Bensaou, welcome to the show. Timestamps of content: 3:08 Innovation v Innovating 6:12 Duality of business: Executing v Innovating 9:03  A company’s innovating engine is driven by three key processes of innovating: creation, integration, and reframing 13:10 The Buzzing Fridge of Innovation for Leaders 20:33 The Built To Innovate Framework 34:13 The Power of Thank You The Power of Thank You and Building a Culture of Innovating 40:59 Psychological Safe environments to bring your ideas 48:29 The Importance of a Supportive Board 54:05 Where to start in an organisation and filtering ideas

When postwar American business was a vast sea of gray flannel suits and tasteful ties, a few unorthodox individuals were not so quietly shifting the paradigm toward the breezier, Google-ier workplace of today. These change agents include a raft of idealistic social scientists as well as nonacademics. In this episode of the multi-part series, we highlight labor organizer Saul Alinsky, who pioneered the use of shareholder activism to open Kodak’s doors to more African Americans. Alinsky was the embodiment of the activist principle that behaving badly is sometimes necessary because, in the words of the civil-rights anthem, “The nice ways always fail.” If ever a neighborly company existed, that was Eastman Kodak. to those outside the company, particularly the black people of Rochester, the company was an object of seething resentment. It was the largest employer in Rochester, and it had never let them into the family. In 1964 twenty thousand black residents lived in Rochester, crowded into a few neighborhoods where landlords rented to them. Most of them had come up from the southern states in search of jobs; now they lived in tenements with twenty-four or twenty-eight families squeezed into houses designed for two. Enter Alinsky, whose organization, the Industrial Arts Foundation, had an unparalleled track record for teaching slum dwellers to improve their own neighborhood conditions, often beginning by winning over the neighborhood’s delinquent gangs. In principle, Kodak managers agreed that opportunities for blacks should be increased, but they didn’t see that this was Kodak’s responsibility. Let the blacks pull themselves up, as every other ethnic group in America had done, to the point where Kodak would want to hire them. Anyone who looked at both organizations could see that an impasse was inevitable. We also discuss shareholder activism, CSR, ESG, and corporate activism. We welcome back the author of, “The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management” More about Art: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artkleiner/

Whether you’re building your career or a business of your own, you have a big advantage: Nobody ever sees the rebel coming. The established players in any industry are always fat, sluggish, and content. You’re defiant, swift, and hungry. Because your ideas are daring (and probably defiant), you’ll blindside the competition. By the time they catch on, you’ve picked their pockets, stolen their best customers, and won the admiring press. As a rebel, you will meet resistance, but you look forward to it. Rebellion is an act of war. The established order always counterpunches and usually wears brass knuckles. Rare Breeds don’t get what they want by adapting to the conventional rules: instead, they use the traits often considered shortcomings as tools for creation and growth. Combining examples and practical tools, our guest identifies seven vices-turned-virtues—Rebellious, Audacious, Obsessed, Hot-Blooded, Weird, Hypnotic, Emotional—to help disruptors and trailblazers discover their inner Rare Breed and tap into them to realize their full potential in work and life. We welcome the author of Rare Breed: A Guide to Success for the Defiant, Dangerous, and Different, Sunny Bonnell More about Sunny: https://rarebreedleaders.com

Part 2 in this wonderful series When postwar American business was a vast sea of gray flannel suits and tasteful ties, a few unorthodox individuals were not so quietly shifting the paradigm toward the breezier, Google-ier work-place of today. These change agents include a raft of idealistic social scientists as well as nonacademics, like labor organizer Saul Alinsky, who pioneered the use of shareholder activism to open Kodak’s doors to more African Americans. Alinsky, who was literally willing to smash dishes to get attention, was the embodiment of the activist principle that behaving badly is sometimes necessary because, in the words of the civil-rights anthem, “The nice ways always fail.” Today’s guest uses religious terms to title each of the chapters of his book— “Monastics,” “Pelagians,”“Mystics,” and so forth. At first that seems an odd choice for a study of modern corporations and other secular institutions. But he is insightful to do so. Like the heretic whose rejection of religious orthodoxy might send him to the pyre, our guest's organizational heretic “is someone who sees a truth that contradicts the conventional wisdom of the institution to which he or she belongs—and who remains loyal to both entities, to the institution and the new truth.” The person who is willing to make a great sacrifice to change an institution he or she loves is a hero as well as a heretic because, our guest writes, “the future of industrial society depends on our ability to transcend the destructive management of the past, and build a better kind of business.” We welcome the author of “The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management” and the earlier subtitle was Heroes, Outlaws, and the Forerunners of Corporate Change, Art Kleiner.

Whether you’re leading an organization through new realities, building (or rethinking) your career, forging new relationships, seeking peace, or simply not sure what to do next, you’ll gain tools and insights for how to think, learn, work, live, and lead better with a Flux Mindset. Flux shows you how to slow down responsibly, identify what really matters, make wise decisions, and let go of the rest. Flux challenges your assumptions and expectations in ways that enable you to lean into the future with hope rather than fear, and with clarity and confidence anchored in what makes you, you. We welcome the author of Flux, 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change, April Rinne More about April: https://aprilrinne.com

When postwar American business was a vast sea of gray flannel suits and tasteful ties, a few unorthodox individuals were not so quietly shifting the paradigm toward the breezier, Google-ier work-place of today. These change agents include a raft of idealistic social scientists as well as nonacademics, like labor organizer Saul Alinsky, who pioneered the use of shareholder activism to open Kodak’s doors to more African Americans. Alinsky, who was literally willing to smash dishes to get attention, was the embodiment of the activist principle that behaving badly is sometimes necessary because, in the words of the civil-rights anthem, “The nice ways always fail.” Today’s guest uses religious terms to title each of the chapters of his book— “Monastics,” “Pelagians,” Mystics,” and so forth. At first, that seems an odd choice for a study of modern corporations and other secular institutions. But he is insightful to do so. Like the heretic whose rejection of religious orthodoxy might send him to the pyre, our guest's organizational heretic “is someone who sees a truth that contradicts the conventional wisdom of the institution to which he or she belongs—and who remains loyal to both entities, to the institution and the new truth.” The person who is willing to make a great sacrifice to change an institution he or she loves is a hero as well as a heretic because, our guest writes, “the future of industrial society depends on our ability to transcend the destructive management of the past, and build a better kind of business.” We welcome the author of “The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management” and the earlier subtitle was Heroes, Outlaws, and the Forerunners of Corporate Change, Art Kleiner. More about Art here: https://wiseadvoc8.com

Because the fundamental unit of growth in any organization is the individual, our starting point for talking about growth is you. Some of the questions we will answer are: • Why, despite the desire to learn, can it be so difficult to start something new and stick with it? • What does it take to gain and maintain momentum? • Once we’ve made considerable progress, why do we sometimes tire of what we’re doing and even feel we can no longer do it? Why do we outgrow things so quickly? The more you understand about your deep longing to grow and how to grow yourself, the greater your capacity to grow your people, to grow your company. That’s smart growth. The S Curve of Learning is a map to look at your life: where you were, where you are, and where you want to go—a continuous pathway to achieving potential.  When you can picture yourself moving along this growth curve, you can more easily plan a trajectory and plot your progress.  You can get smart about your growth. We welcome the author of "Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company", Whitney Johnson. Timeline: 3.00 To Want to Grow is Human 5.12 S-Curve as a Map, Post-Traumatic Growth 10.15 Speed of Change 13.08 Transforming Leadership, Leaders must lead from the front 15.00 Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally and rituals 16.20 Principles and Values 20.30 Feedback, Collector Phase of S-Curve 29.53 Shadow Values 33.50 Inner Child, Feeling Seen 35.50 New S-Curves don’t always work out 39.50 What do you do when you have more than one really great choice? 45.54 Watch your self talk at the launch phase? 48.48 C.A.R. Framework: Origins in Self-Determination Theory Connectedness Autonomy Relatedness 52.15 Myron Scholes, all is explained by the tails 56 When leaders peak 60 An ecosystem of/for growth, keystone species In whose ecosystem are you a keystone species? Whitney is available here: https://whitneyjohnson.com https://smartgrowthbook.com

Structural racism has impacted the lives of African Americans in the United States since before the country’s founding.  Although the country has made some progress towards a more equal society, political developments in the 21st century have shown that deep divides remain.  To bridge our divides, our guest, a renowned political scientist calls for ‘radical empathy’ – moving beyond an understanding of others’ lives and pain to understand the origins of our biases. Deftly weaving together her own experiences with the political, she offers practical steps to call out racism and bring about radical social change. We welcome the author of, “Radical Empathy, Finding A Path to Bridging Racial Divides”, Terri Givens. More about Terri: https://www.terrigivens.com