Innovation Answered

We introduce a new segment of the show — Innovation Answered: Essentials. Designed for innovators on the go, we break down one of our articles and read it aloud for you. In this episode, we take you inside innovation at The Nature Conservancy. Innovation Leader’s Managing Editor Kelsey Alpaio shares her takeaways and the reporting process. Want to read along? Get the latest issue of our magazine or visit our website.

Over the summer, we gathered listener questions about corporate innovation. Hari Nair, a current fellow at Harvard University and a former Global Managing Director at Kimberly Clark, shares best practices from his 25 years of experience in the innovation space. Innovation Leader’s Managing Editor Kelsey Alpaio shares tips that’s she’s learned in her reporting.  Have questions for future episodes? Email podcast@innovationleader.com.

Last week, we discussed best practices for tech scouting. In order to see advice in action, we went to Miami to visit Royal Caribbean’s ship, Navigator of the Seas. We also take a look inside the company’s innovation lab and hear about the company’s digital transformation strategy. Guests include Joey Hasty, Head of Innovation and Transformation at Royal Caribbean, and Josh Nakaya, Creative Director and Lead Designer at the innovation lab.

Every company knows that responding to technological change is important. But scouting for emerging technology can be really overwhelming. To gather best practices, we visited The New York Times’ headquarters and talked to Marc Lavallee, the paper’s Head of R&D. Other guests include Mona Vernon of Fidelity Labs and John Woods of Kalypso. 

Innovation teams have no shortage of ideas, but scaling initiatives requires a different set of skills. So, how do you turn a promising but fragile idea into something really big? To get best practices, Innovation Leader traveled to Shell TechWorks in Cambridge, Mass. Experts from ESPN and KPMG also share their advice.  For more best practices on scaling, read our Benchmarking Innovation Impact 2020 Report.

In our recent Benchmarking Innovation Impact 2020 Report, 75 percent of respondents cited leadership support from CEOs, business unit leaders, and others as their top enabler. But how do you find innovation allies? To find out, we went to the Bose headquarters in Framingham, Mass. to talk to NB Patil, Head of the Bose Corporate Concept Group. We also spoke with Bill Gaussa of Philips Healthcare and Fiona Grandi of KPMG to get their insights.    For more best practices on building allies, read our Benchmarking Innovation Impact 2020 Report.

We're back and better than ever. This season, we took our show on the road to Miami, Philadelphia, and New York to Learn from Innovators in those ecosystems. We also talked to innovators at Ahold Delhaize, Bose, Panera, and more. Subscribe for new episodes starting next week on Tuesday morning. 

"Invention is a flower. Innovation is a weed," innovator Bob Metcalfe explains his famous quote during in this special bonus episode. Metcalfe also shares his experiences as a founder at 3Com, the company culture that allowed him to invent Ethernet, and why big companies should work with startups.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the world of data and how Experian’s DataLabs spread innovative data solutions across the company. Originally focused on credit reporting, Experian now works with all types of data, software, and decision analytics. The company also runs four DataLabs in San Diego, London, São Paulo, and Singapore. Eric Haller, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Experian DataLabs, discusses the mandate of the DataLabs and the talent that drives the program.

Silicon Valley and Seattle have created a number of startup unicorns turned trillion dollar companies — like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google (FAANG). In order to find out what makes FAANG more innovative than other companies, we sat down with Faisal Masud, Chief Operating Officer of Wing at Alphabet Inc. Innovation Leader CEO Scott Kirsner also shares insights from his interviews with FAANG founders. This episode also features Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder of Apple.