Innovation Storytellers

In this episode of Nordic Visionaries, I had the chance to sit down with Magnus Egeberg, CEO of Mastercard Payment Services, live at TechBBQ. Magnus shared his journey from consulting and Nets to leading Mastercard’s Nordic business, and how he found himself at the center of one of the company’s most significant acquisitions. He walked me through what it meant to migrate national payment infrastructures across five countries, handling trillions of dollars while making sure everything worked flawlessly from day one. We talked about the role of account-to-account payments as the backbone of both consumer and business transactions, and why the next wave of innovation lies in embedded finance. Magnus described how payments are being integrated directly into the workflows of professionals in industries such as law and healthcare, making once cumbersome processes faster, safer, and far more intuitive.  Cybersecurity was another prominent theme in our conversation. Magnus explained why security is never an add-on at Mastercard but part of the DNA, from zero-trust design to developer training and global threat intelligence. He also shared a very personal story about his battle with cancer, and how it deepened his admiration for medical innovation. As we wrapped up, Magnus pointed to sustainability as the innovation challenge of our time and why Mastercard is pushing toward net zero by 2040. It was an inspiring reminder of how financial infrastructure, resilience, and human stories all intersect in the Nordics.  

In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with John Rossman, the former Amazon executive who helped launch the Amazon Marketplace and is a co-author of Big Bet Leadership: Your Transformation Playbook for Winning in the Hyper-Digital Era. Our title says it all: How to Continue, Kill, or Pivot Your Pilots with Clarity and Confidence.  John and I get practical about the moments that make or break innovation programs, from shaping the problem statement to running the high-stakes meetings where leaders must choose a path. If you have ever wondered why competent pilots stall, or how to defend a tough call in the room, this one is for you. John takes me inside the “working backwards” mindset and the rewired playbook he built with T-Mobile’s new business incubation team in Bellevue. We also dig into how decisions actually get made.  John lays out the discipline behind those pivotal Continue, Kill, Pivot, or Confusion meetings, including clear criteria, facilitation, and communications so decisions stick rather than drift into ghost projects. We discuss strategic communication and the role of the Chief Repeating Officer, drawing lessons from successes at Amazon and hard-won insights, such as the Gates Foundation’s inBloom post-mortem, where great technology and funding still failed without a proactive narrative that addressed resistance. You will hear how I approach innovation culture as an anthropologist, treating every company like its own country, with its own history, norms, and incentives that shape what is possible. We explore tools that invite people into the future rather than dictate it, such as “imagine if” framing and pre-mortems, which surface risks without killing momentum.  John also shares a few provocative ideas he believes the world needs now, from real-time freedom to shift cloud workloads to snap-switching your mobile carrier, all designed to put choice and competition back in the hands of users. If you are juggling pilots and pressure, this conversation gives you a plain-English playbook for moving from noise to momentum. You will leave with concrete steps to sharpen your problem statements, wire your experiments to the P&L, structure decisive meetings, and communicate like a leader who can carry a big bet across the line. Listen in, take notes, and get ready to make your next decision with clarity and confidence.  

I sat down with Lukas N. P. Egger, VP of Product Strategy and Innovation at SAP Signavio, to explore how storytelling derisks significant transformation and AI programs. We begin with his path from Austrian startup life to leading innovation within a global enterprise, and why early “peacocking” demos are only the first step.  Lukas demonstrates how he and his team transform messy narratives and SOPs into usable process models, then utilize Signavio’s Transformation Advisor to connect business pain points to the first processes worth addressing. What struck me most is his take on strategy as a story. He explains how the correct narrative makes the unfamiliar feel familiar, helping teams bridge silos, align incentives, and transition from feature checklists to real outcomes. I share my approach to co-creating a shared future with stakeholders before pitching any solution, and Lukas adds a candid look at why some high-ROI pilots still fail when they threaten power structures. We discuss reframing, empathy, and the mindset shift innovators need to achieve lasting impact.  Lukas also raises a timely warning about AI systems that can build emotional rapport at the marginal cost of electricity, and why our incentive structures need an upgrade if we want technology to serve people, not the other way around. If you have a high-stakes AI initiative on your desk and you need a story that lowers the cost of failure, this conversation will give you practical ways to start, align, and deliver.  

Mandates, metrics, and momentum decide whether great ideas ever reach the boardroom. In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Jonathan Livescault, Managing Director at Itonics, to unpack how enterprise innovators move from hunches to hard results.  Jonathan shares the origin of Itonics’ “Big Picture” framework, built to give leaders a clear mandate, shared governance, and the right KPIs across the entire innovation lifecycle. He explains why ideation is only one piece of the puzzle, how strategic foresight defines the “where to play,” and what it takes to run disciplined pilots that fold fast and scale faster. You’ll hear how global brands replace scattered spreadsheets with a single source of truth, create a visible performance cockpit for executives, and align risk appetite with a balanced portfolio of bets. We explore culture, transparency, and the handoff problem that kills promising pilots, then dig into practical ways to set stage gates, secure ownership, and measure progress in real time. If you’ve ever struggled to turn innovation into a repeatable business function, this conversation offers a step-by-step view of the processes, mindsets, and tooling that make it work at scale. Tune in to learn how to give your program a clear mandate, choose smarter metrics, and build momentum that lasts.  

I sit down with two innovation leaders from one of America’s oldest and most trusted consumer brands. Leah Fischman Hunter, Director of the Innovation Lab, and Ginny Fahs, Director of Product R&D at Consumer Reports, join me to unpack how a 90-year-old nonprofit is building modern tools for an online world filled with AI hype, dark patterns, and data brokers. I share a personal connection at the top. In 2004, I helped launch Consumer Reports WebWatch in the press, when most sites hid executive names, contact details, and return policies. That early effort to bring transparency to the Internet in the 1990s is why this episode matters so much to me.  Two decades later, the stakes are even higher, with scams in our inboxes, consent buried in legalese, and AI systems shaping what we see and buy. CR has always had our backs and I wanted you to hear how they are doing it again. Leah and Ginny explain how Consumer Reports blends advocacy with product building. Their team translates privacy laws into something people can actually use. We dig into Permission Slip, a free app that lets you reclaim your data and tell companies to stop selling it. We discuss the reality of an opt-out culture in the United States, why people feel powerless regarding data, and how CR’s independence and mission enable it to prioritize the public interest. We also explore Ask CR, an advisor grounded in tested ratings and reporting, rather than ads or affiliate commissions. We zoom out to the bigger shift happening with AI. I raise the worry that conversational agents often deliver a single definitive answer, while consumers still need choice and transparency. Leah and Ginny describe early work with academic partners on pro-consumer agentic systems and what duty of care and duty of loyalty could look like in software built for people, not just profits. We explore why online evidence needs clearer authorship, how to consider deleting data from platforms you rely on, and where education must catch up quickly. If you care about your privacy, your wallet, and the truth behind the products you buy, this one is for you. You will walk away with a clearer picture of what rights you already have, how to exercise them without hiring a lawyer, and why organizations like Consumer Reports still matter when technology moves faster than the rules that govern it.  

In this episode of The Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Thai Nguyen, Managing Director of Diverge, the corporate venture and innovation arm of Hensel Phelps. With more than 20 years of experience in architecture and construction, Thai is charting a bold new path for the built environment by reimagining how disruptive solutions are discovered, tested, and scaled. From laser scanning and drones to the rise of robotics and generative AI, Thai shares how innovation is reshaping everything from fieldwork to leadership mindsets. We explore why simplicity is key to adoption, how “field first” thinking drives sustainable change, and why empathy is critical when overcoming resistance to new technology. This conversation goes far beyond blueprints and buildings. Thai opens up about his nonlinear career journey, the appetite for change that has guided him, and his vision for creating a culture of open collaboration across the construction industry.  Whether you are in tech, design, or business leadership, his insights on navigating complexity, balancing people with technology, and leading through uncertainty will resonate.  

This week, I sat down with Naftali “Naf” Jaman, a man whose career has stretched from engineering roles in the U.S. Air Force to leading open innovation programs for global giants like GM, Airbus, and LG Electronics. Along the way, he has helped launch startups in automotive safety, advised aviation and space ventures, and worked at the crossroads of academia, government, and industry. Our conversation centered on what Naf calls the inception method. It is the ability to plant an idea in someone else’s mind and let them believe it is their own. The process demands patience, empathy, and a willingness to let go of credit in order to see the idea thrive.  Naf described how he built trust inside LG by taking executives out of the office, talking less about technology and more about culture and daily life, until he could gently introduce a concept that eventually reshaped their approach to in-car infotainment systems. What struck me most was his insistence that real influence begins not with clever pitches but with listening and creating the conditions for others to feel ownership of a solution. We explored the challenges large corporations face when they attempt to work with startups, often overwhelming them with bureaucracy or diluting their energy through misguided “startup challenges” that serve more as PR exercises than true collaborations.  Naf’s preference is always to work one on one, helping a single leader take action on a problem they urgently need to solve, and quietly guiding them until the idea becomes theirs to champion. He also spoke about the role academia can play in solving early-stage R&D puzzles, highlighting his time at General Motors, where university researchers provided critical pieces of the hydrogen fuel cell puzzle long before commercialization was possible. Perhaps most provocatively, Naf shared his skepticism about dual-use technologies, which many in the innovation community hail as a promising path between defense and civilian markets. He argued that export controls and the slow timelines of defense procurement often strangle opportunities before they mature, making dual use more of a limitation than a catalyst. His candor about these challenges was refreshing, and a reminder that innovation is as much about what we choose not to pursue as what we chase. By the end of our conversation, I was reminded that the real work of innovation often happens quietly, in the spaces between people. It is about empathy, patience, and sometimes even a touch of psychological sleight of hand. As Naf put it, the greatest innovation of all is the human mind itself, provided we learn how to use it well.  

On this episode of The Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Dr. William Pao, physician scientist, former Chief Development Officer at Pfizer, and author of Breakthrough – The Quest for Life-Changing Medicines. His journey into medicine began with the loss of his father to cancer when he was just 13 years old, a moment that shaped his life’s mission to develop treatments that change outcomes for patients everywhere. We explore the extraordinary, and often invisible, process of medical innovation. Dr. Pao takes us behind the scenes of eight real-world breakthroughs, revealing the persistence, failures, and unexpected turns that happen long before a drug reaches the market. He shares the story of a 15-year effort to create an HIV capsid inhibitor now given just twice a year, and how a combination of basic science curiosity and problem-solving under pressure turned a limitation into a breakthrough. We dive into the development of CRISPR-based therapies for sickle cell disease and thalassemia, a century-long scientific journey that required insights from genetics, epidemiology, and bioengineering before it could cure patients. Throughout our conversation, Dr. Pao brings these stories to life with the human elements that make them possible. We talk about the “killer experiment” mindset that helps teams decide whether to keep going or shut a project down, the value of institutional memory, and why innovation in medicine requires a rare mix of biological insight, clinical understanding, and technological advancement. We also explore the emotional side of the work, how innovators cope with fatigue, navigate internal resistance, and make hard calls when decades of work are on the line. Whether you are developing life-saving drugs or leading innovation in a completely different field, you will find practical lessons here. Dr. Pao’s experiences show how to work through uncertainty, keep an open mind to ideas from outside your domain, and maintain the discipline to make good decisions even when the stakes are high.  

In this episode of The Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Mary Beth Cicero, co-founder and CEO of 3Daughters, a clinical development company determined to transform women’s healthcare. Mary Beth has spent more than forty years in executive leadership, marketing, and business development, devoting most of her career to contraception, fertility, and the health conditions that affect women most. Her career has spanned work with start-ups, biotech firms, and major pharmaceutical companies, giving her a rare perspective on how innovation can truly change lives. Our conversation begins with an origin story that is as surprising as it is inspiring. A veterinary innovation for performance horses became the starting point for a groundbreaking frameless, non-hormonal IUD designed to dramatically reduce pain, eliminate strings, and adapt to the shape of a woman’s uterus. Mary Beth explains the science behind the device, which uses three self-assembling copper-encased magnets, and how her team developed a new insertion method that prioritises comfort and safety. We also talk about the bigger picture. Mary Beth shares why the contraceptive market has seen so little innovation in recent decades and why she believes women deserve more options for the thirty years they are likely to use contraception. She discusses the investment gap in women’s health, the lack of awareness among many investors, and the importance of creating products that respond to real patient needs. As policies around reproductive health shift around the world, the demand for reliable and accessible contraception is growing, making this not only a medical opportunity but also a critical societal need. From securing grants to navigating the complexities of FDA approval, Mary Beth offers an honest look at the challenges and rewards of bringing a new medical device to market. She leaves listeners with a clear message: innovation in women’s health is not optional, it is essential, and the potential impact reaches far beyond the individual patient. This is an episode that will expand your thinking about what is possible when passion, science, and persistence come together to solve one of the most pressing health challenges of our time.  

What does it take for corporate innovators to stop killing startups and start working with them productively? In this episode of The Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Andy Goldstein, Partner at Venture University, to unpack how large companies can finally bridge the gap between venture capital and innovation that delivers results. Andy is a seasoned entrepreneur and investor with over 40 years of experience founding, scaling, and funding startups around the world. He's worked with thousands of founders, co-launched accelerator programs across Europe, and played a critical role in creating nine unicorns. Now, through Venture University, Andy is training corporate innovation leaders to develop the skills of real VCs by doing the work themselves. In our conversation, we explore why so many corporate innovation programs stall or fail when trying to work with startups. Andy explains that the majority of breakthrough technologies come from startups, not from within the walls of large corporations. Yet many corporations still lack a repeatable system for sourcing, piloting, and integrating those innovations. This disconnect, he argues, isn't just an oversight. It's a strategic blind spot. We talk about the structural flaws in most corporate venture capital teams, particularly the tendency to jump into ownership too soon without proving value through partnership first. Andy introduces the concept of "venture clienting," a model pioneered at BMW that allows corporations to work with startups as paying clients before investing in or acquiring them. This approach, he says, reduces risk, builds trust, and produces measurable ROI long before equity ever changes hands. Andy also shares how Venture University flips the traditional VC education model. Rather than teaching venture theory in a classroom, the program operates as a functioning VC fund. Participants, many of whom are corporate leaders, source real deals, perform due diligence, sit in on partner meetings, and help deploy capital. It's a hands-on apprenticeship designed to demystify the venture process and make it actionable within a corporate setting. Throughout our discussion, Andy offered real-world examples of startups that became critical partners to large organizations. Not because they were acquired, but because the relationship started with a competent pilot, clear value, and mutual respect. He emphasizes that the key to success lies in aligning venture strategies with the real pain points and revenue goals of the business.  The startups that win are those that solve expensive problems, scale well inside complex environments, and come backed with investor confidence.