Innovation Storytellers

What if risk management were not about playing defense, but about giving innovation the confidence to move forward? This is a replay of one of the most-listened-to Innovation Storytellers episodes of 2025. I am revisiting my conversation with Rose Hall, a former senior innovation leader at AXA XL, professional engineer, and long-time advocate for rethinking how organizations approach risk, because the ideas shared here feel even more relevant today. Drawing on her experience building digital platforms, business ecosystems, and client-driven innovation programs, Rose explains why risk and innovation are far more connected than most leaders realize. We talk about the often invisible role insurance plays beneath some of the world's most ambitious innovations, from advanced infrastructure projects to space exploration. Rose shares how companies like SpaceX approach complex, layered risk and why traditional insurance models are struggling to keep pace with realities such as cyber exposure, climate volatility, and geopolitical uncertainty. The conversation also turns to emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. There is no single insurance product designed to cover AI, but Rose unpacks how existing policies may respond when things go wrong, and why that gray area demands a more adaptive and informed approach to risk management. It is a reminder that innovation rarely fits neatly into legacy frameworks. Partnerships emerge as a central theme. Rose argues that no organization can solve these challenges alone. Progress depends on collaboration between insurers, startups, and large enterprises who are willing to share insight, experiment responsibly, and rethink old assumptions together. This episode replay challenges the idea that risk management slows progress. Instead, Rose reframes it as a foundational enabler of growth, resilience, and long-term value. When risk is understood and managed well, innovation does not shrink; it accelerates. Has risk management been holding your organization back, or could it be the very thing that helps you move faster and smarter?

What does it really take to innovate at a global scale when speed, precision, and trust all have to coexist? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Dr. Paul Schlinkert, Senior Global Innovation Lead at DHL Supply Chain, to unpack how one of the world's most complex logistics organizations turns bold ideas into operational reality. From robotics and AI to transparency and culture, this conversation goes beyond technology to reveal the human systems that enable large-scale innovation. Paul shares his unconventional journey from biochemistry and nanotechnology to global supply chain leadership, and how a scientific mindset shapes his approach to logistics, problem-solving, and continuous improvement. The discussion explores how DHL has quietly transformed warehouse operations through robotics, automation, and digital tools, while keeping people firmly at the center of the equation. The conversation also dives into the often overlooked side of innovation. Change management, storytelling, and trust. Paul explains why transparency matters, how naming robots can increase adoption, and why open conversations about failure are just as meaningful as celebrating success. Together, Paul and I explore how innovation leaders can cut through hype, build credibility, and create environments where new ideas actually stick. Looking ahead, Paul offers a grounded perspective on what comes next for AI, robotics, sustainability, and supply chains, including where expectations may need to be reset and where long-term value will emerge. The episode closes with a thoughtful reflection on the innovations that shaped humanity, the teams that inspire enduring creativity, and what the world may need next to move forward responsibly. So if innovation really is a team sport, how transparent, human, and honest are we willing to be to bring others along for the journey, and what kind of future are we inviting people to believe in?

Have you ever wondered whether your biggest roadblock is not the idea itself, but the way people see you before you ever open your mouth? This week, we take a very human turn on the Innovation Storytellers Show as I sit down with Lirone Glikman, CEO, global business development leader, and the author behind The Super Connectors Playbook. Lirone has spent two decades helping people understand something many of us overlook. Your brand is already setting the tone for every meeting, every pitch, and every moment when you try to move an innovation forward. Our conversation moves from the deeply personal to the highly practical. Lirone shares how she teaches leaders to understand the strengths and values that truly define them, how to find the gap between who you believe you are and how others read you, and why authenticity paired with strategy is the foundation for any successful relationship at work. My guest explains her six-pillar approach to becoming a super connector, and shows how innovators can use these principles to navigate corporate silos, involve the right allies early, and communicate with greater clarity and presence. Her stories bring workplace dynamics to life, from collaborating with overloaded teams to protecting your ideas in rooms where voices can be overshadowed. We also talk about the future. Lirone offers a candid view on how AI is reshaping personal branding, how to use these tools without losing your human signature, and why relationships remain the real currency inside complex organisations. For listeners working in innovation, product, or transformation roles, this conversation provides the language to understand your place in the system and the practical steps to raise your visibility intentionally. So the question becomes, what story is your brand telling before you even enter the room, and how ready are you to shape it with purpose?

Why do so many people still picture utilities as dusty infrastructure, monthly bills, and storm alerts, when in reality they sit at the centre of some of the most inventive work happening in our communities today? This question sets the stage for a conversation that opens the door to a world most listeners rarely see. In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I speak with Robb Dussault, Manager of Grid Edge Innovation at Duke Energy, who brings decades of experience in engineering, product development, customer programs, and safety innovation. Robb helps listeners understand how a modern utility actually works and why the future of energy depends on the ideas emerging from teams like his. From early work on hazardous switchgear to the rise of remote sensors, robots, drones, and even autonomous flaggers on road crews, Robb explains how practical questions about safety and reliability often drive innovation. He shares stories about customer research that shifted major programs, the growing influence of agile methods in a traditionally conservative field, and the value of checking every shiny idea against real human behaviour. Listeners also hear how batteries, home energy storage, electric vehicles, and residential demand response are quietly reshaping the grid and changing the relationship between customers and utilities. Robb offers clear insight into how this shift toward interactive energy is accelerating far faster than most people realise. The conversation moves from early memories of intimidating power labs to a thoughtful look at what comes next for communities facing rising demand, new electrification trends, and pressure to deliver cleaner, more affordable energy. Robb shares his hopes for the next wave of innovation, the role of AI in sectors like healthcare, and why innovators in any industry should pay closer attention to customer needs before building ambitious pilots. It is a grounded, eye-opening dialogue that reveals the creativity and responsibility within the utility sector.

What happens when innovation is shaping your life in ways you never see? That is the question at the heart of this conversation with Portia Lane Child, Director of Innovation and Strategy Services at BAE Systems. While most of us recognise the consumer brands that dominate our daily world, far fewer realise how deeply companies like BAE Systems influence the systems that keep us connected, protected, and moving. Portia's work lives in that fascinating space, where advanced engineering meets national mission, and where the innovations you never hear about are often the ones shaping your future. During our discussion, Portia shares how she helps steer innovation inside one of the world's most complex aerospace and defence organisations. She talks about the human side of innovating within a massive enterprise, the challenge of moving ideas across technical and organisational silos, and the lessons she learned growing up as a lobster fisherman's daughter that still guide how she builds teams and champions new ideas. Her story about creating an internal accelerator that changed how the business nurtures ideas is a powerful reminder that innovation only takes root when people feel supported to experiment, communicate, and stretch beyond familiar boundaries. We also explore the shifting incentives shaping today's innovators, from the pressure of short-term financial cycles to the growing importance of longer horizons in the age of AI. Portia opens up about what it really takes to move from idea to impact inside a mission-driven organisation, why customer conversations matter more than ever, and how modern innovators can develop the resilience and curiosity needed to operate in fast-moving technical environments. My guest also shares inspiring reflections on the inventions that shaped her, the role models who sparked her imagination, and the breakthroughs she believes the world needs most.

Susie Braam, former head of innovation at UK national security agencies, shares her groundbreaking insights on risk and secrecy. From her journey in counter-terrorism to innovation, she illustrates how to dismantle institutional silos and make decisions under uncertainty. Susie emphasizes the need for a culture of curiosity and alignment across teams. She also discusses how corporate leaders can embrace probabilistic thinking and harness innovation frameworks, all while reflecting on the often-contrasted portrayal of intelligence work in media.

This week on Innovation Storytellers, I sit down with Robyn Bolton, Founder and Chief Navigator at MileZero, to uncover how one of the most successful household products almost never made it past the boardroom. Before launching her consultancy helping leaders of large companies use innovation to drive consistent growth, Robyn was part of the Procter and Gamble team that created and launched Swiffer, a product that changed how millions clean their homes and reshaped the way corporate innovation is judged. Robyn takes us inside the high-stakes moments at P&G when the data said Swiffer would fail while real-world tests told a completely different story. She describes how passionate storytelling, courage, and evidence from the field ultimately won the day. In that pivotal boardroom, one leader even put his career on the line to ensure the product's launch, proving that innovation is as much about conviction as it is about numbers. We also explore the cultural lessons from Swiffer's global rollout, including why the product thrived in the United States but struggled in Italy, where cleaning was seen as an act of devotion rather than efficiency. Robyn explains how understanding emotional and social context can make or break a global innovation. Her insights extend beyond consumer products to any leader trying to turn bold ideas into scalable reality. In the final part of our conversation, Robyn reflects on her years working with Clay Christensen and why she continues to champion the "Jobs to Be Done" framework. She shares how innovators can use storytelling to connect with hearts and minds, and how companies can equip internal champions to advocate for change. This episode is a masterclass in balancing data with belief, logic with emotion, and vision with timing to bring truly transformative ideas to life.

In this episode of Innovation Storytellers, I sit down with Annalisa Gigante, Vice Chair and Governing Board Member of the Henry Royce Institute, to explore how innovation truly works inside organizations. Annalisa has spent her career turning complex ideas into commercial realities. From helping bring new materials to everyday products like toothbrushes and ski poles to shaping billion-dollar innovation strategies for companies in life sciences, chemicals, and digital technologies, her story is both convenient and inspiring. We begin by tracing her unexpected path into innovation, back when it was still referred to as "business development." She recalls being handed a new material and told to find a market for it. That challenge taught her one of the most powerful lessons in innovation: how to transition from a technology-driven approach to a market-driven one. Annalisa explains how curiosity led her to discover possibilities that her company's engineers had overlooked, opening up new consumer markets and changing how her teams thought about value. It was the beginning of a career spent helping organizations connect invention to impact. Throughout our conversation, Annalisa shares what it takes to create a lasting, innovative culture. She discusses building bridges between R&D and finance, how to measure and manage risk, and why learning to speak the language of every department is crucial. She describes innovation as a living ecosystem that depends on balance. Too much money and comfort can stifle creativity, but too little structure leads to chaos. Finding the "Goldilocks zone" for innovation, she says, is the real work of leadership. We also discuss deep tech and advanced materials, where patient capital and long-term vision are crucial. Annalisa offers a clear-eyed look at how breakthroughs move from the lab to the market and why the same principles apply whether you are scaling a startup or steering a global enterprise. She believes that innovation is as much about mindset as it is about technology, and that the most resilient organizations learn to treat failure as data, not defeat. Before we ended, Annalisa shares her passion for supporting women founders in the healthcare and life sciences sectors. With only a small fraction of funding going to female-led startups, she argues that closing this gap is not only fair but vital to solving the world's most challenging problems. It is a conversation about vision, courage, and the systems that allow great ideas to take root and thrive.

In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Jesper Kamp, Regional Director for Europe at Atom Computing, to explore how quantum computing is redefining what's possible in innovation. Jesper and I first met at TechBBQ in Copenhagen, surrounded by thousands of entrepreneurs, scientists, and visionaries. Our conversation picks up where that meeting left off, inside the historic Niels Bohr Institute, where we dive into how this extraordinary technology will change the way we analyze data, design products, and solve the world's biggest challenges. Jesper shares his remarkable journey from diplomacy to deep tech, describing how his twenty-five years at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs led him to roles in Silicon Valley, China, Turkey, and beyond. Now at Atom Computing, he's helping Europe harness the world's most powerful quantum systems to accelerate discovery and innovation across industries, from pharmaceuticals to materials science. This isn't a technical lecture. It's a conversation about what every innovator, product leader, and entrepreneur needs to know about the quantum era that's arriving faster than most people realize. Jesper explains how quantum and classical computing will soon work hand in hand, why companies must prepare their teams now, and how the next wave of breakthroughs will come from those ready to experiment early. If you've ever wondered how quantum computing will shape your world, this episode will leave you rethinking the future of innovation itself.

What happens when music, art, and technology collide in the hands of a true innovator? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Damian Kulash Jr., frontman and co-founder of OK Go, the Grammy-winning band known for turning creativity into spectacle. From dancing on treadmills to performing in zero gravity, OK Go has redefined what a music video can be, transforming pop songs into visual experiments that blend engineering, art, and unfiltered joy. Damian opens up about the punk roots that shaped his DIY approach to innovation and the thrill of breaking rules in pursuit of authenticity. He reflects on how the band's viral experiments were never about chasing clicks but about creating something so unexpected and so human that it makes people stop and feel wonder again. From silk-screening posters in art school to building massive Rube Goldberg machines in warehouses, his creative journey reveals how experimentation and emotion power real innovation. Together, Damian and I explore how art and technology can amplify empathy, why authenticity resonates more than virality, and how collaboration remains humanity's best innovation. We discuss the parallels between creative risk-taking and corporate invention, the need for radical cooperation in an AI-driven world, and why OK Go's work continues to spark curiosity and connection around the globe. This conversation is full of laughter, honesty, and creative insight, reminding us that innovation does not always come from the lab or the boardroom. Sometimes, it comes from a garage, a camera, and a belief that wonder itself can change the world.