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OutsideVoices with Mark Bidwell

In OutsideVoices Mark Bidwell talks to remarkable and compelling leaders from the worlds of business, exploration, arts, sports, and academia. In these conversations he explores topics of fundamental importance to many of us today, both in work and in life, topics ranging from leadership and performance to creativity and growth. OutsideVoices has a clear purpose: to bring fresh and diverse perspectives that help listeners navigate the world we live in.
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Now displaying: Page 4
Mar 18, 2020

Vas Narasimhan is not your typical CEO, having started his career in public health, where he became passionate about how to impact health on a large scale. Now, many years later and in the role of CEO at Novartis, his passion remains undiminished. The impact the company is having on patients is remarkable, be it with “miraculous” treatments that cure children of deadly diseases with one pill, or with the Novartis Access program.  

In the first half of my interview with Vas, we discuss what Reimagining Medicine means in an R&D based company that is deeply committed to innovation; addressing the needs of the 2 billion people with no access to health care; and the potential for, and challenges of, radically improving patient outcomes with advanced therapies. 

Read the full article on OutsideLens Blog: https://outsidelens.com/reimagine-medicine-vas-narasimhan/ 

Links And Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Mar 18, 2020

I am an anthropologist-turned-executive, who has spent my career as a perpetual outsider. I have helped growing businesses in companies like BP, HayGroup, Syngenta and Terramera using the incredible power of diverse perspectives. Both my academic training and decades in the corporate world taught me the same lesson time and time again: examining your world through the eyes of someone from a different background lets you discover new ways forward. 

Several years ago I left the corporate world to live the second half of my life on my own terms. I had a strong desire to give something back. So with business partners I launched a podcast called the Innovation Ecosystem and over the next 3 years I was fortunate to interview almost 100 people, all leaders in their own fields, about innovation, leadership and change.

While these podcasts helped leaders see the world with fresh eyes, they were all still rooted in the language and perspective of business.  

Feedback from listeners and business partners convinced me that this it was time to explore new areas, to go beyond the foothills and to venture into more challenging and exciting terrain 

As a result I recently created a new business called Outside Lens. The business will help you to escape from the hamster wheel of conference rooms, PowerPoint presentations, and airport lounges. That’s the “Outside” part of the name OutsideLens. And the “Lens” part? As I said, I am an anthropologist by training, and having achieved some moderate success by applying different lenses to business, I understand that fresh ways of looking leads to fresh solutions. Exploring issues through multiple lenses unlocks unimagined possibilities.  

So I founded OutsideLens to leverage this insight, to help leaders navigate the choppy waters of today’s volatile business environment. From the podcasts and my work with organisations and individuals, our goal is always the same: to bring you fresh and diverse perspectives that help you navigate the world we live in.  

With this in mind, what can you expect from me and this podcast going forward?

Well I have a fascinating line up of guests. Given my background, as well as having leaders from the worlds of business, sports, the arts and academia, I am also bringing perspectives from the outside, from the worlds of exploration, photography, anthropology, ethnography.

If you would like to know about us, what else we are doing, or to subscribe to the podcast, explore www.outsidelens.com for more information. I hope you enjoy the upcoming season, and let me know what you think, either on LinkedIn or email me via website.  

Nov 20, 2018

In this episode, we are joined by writer and speaker, Adam Fisher, to discuss his latest book, Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley (As Told by the Hackers, Founders, and Freaks Who Made It Boom). Adam has previously worked as a freelance journalist for a variety of prestigious publications and as Features Editor of New York Magazine and Wired Magazine.

  • The Silicon Valley of today, and why Adam believes the industry is now a game between the old and the young
  • The origins of gaming, and the declining role played by women over the course of its evolution
  • The counterculture of Silicon Valley, and why today’s social media obsessed society has corrupted the science of computing

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • Nerd culture: how today’s popular culture has been taken over by the less popular
  • Morality: how a social media obsessed world is failing humanity
  • Doing: why the future of computing innovation relies on doing and not talking

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode

Nov 14, 2018

In this episode, we are joined by Wanda Draper, who is the Executive Director at Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture to discuss her experience on the board of a museum and how museums can influence innovation. Wanda has over 40 years of experience in both broadcast and print journalism and has previously worked as Director of Programming at NBC-affiliated WBALTV, Director of Public Information for the Governor of Maryland, and as a reporter for The Baltimore Sun.

  • How Wanda uses her transferable communication skills from her time as a journalist to create a new communicative culture.
  • Why museums can offer fresh and creative perspectives that can help spark innovation.
  • How Wanda is helping to shape a new and different kind of museum experience.

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • Inclusivity: how museums are helping to influence visitors of all generations and ethnicities to learn and connect.
  • Lessons: why exhibitions and artworks offer a lesson to be learned.
  • Growth: how museums today are offering unique and personal learning experiences.

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode

Nov 6, 2018

In this episode, we are joined by cognitive psychologist, Christopher Chabris, who is perhaps best known for his collaborative research on the Ig Nobel prize-winning ‘Gorillas in Our Midst’ experiment and his subsequent popular psychology book, The Invisible Gorilla. Chris is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Union College in New York and a Senior Investigator at Geisinger Health System.

  • Why Chris believes companies often fail the test of inattentional blindness during the product design phase.
  • Why our attention is more limited than we think and how learning self-control can help us to take in more information.
  • Why we overvalue confidence and how we can work to recognize and overcome our own cognitive biases.

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • Inattentional blindness: the surprising facts on how limited our attention is.
  • Illusion of attention: why we think we pay more attention to things than we actually do.
  • Human cognitive architecture: how understanding the limitations and foibles of the human mind can lead to successful product and technology design.

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode

Jun 12, 2018

In this episode, we are joined by economist and entrepreneur, Ricardo Amorim. Ricardo is founder and CEO of Ricam Consultoria, a financial and investment consultancy, and recent startups AAA Academy and Smartrips. Ricardo is also the author of the best-selling book, After the Storm, is a host on Brazil’s leading news channel, GloboNews, and is a lecturer and keynote speaker.

  • Why Brazil’s market has been historically volatile, and what Ricardo believes are the solutions to this
  • Why Ricardo forecasts that despite a recent ‘economic depression’, Brazil’s economy is set to boom in the next three to five years
  • Why Brazil’s agribusiness is set to soar in the near future, and how available land and advancing technology is helping to bring investment to the country’s farmlands

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • How the country is recovering from recent economic crisis by focusing on innovation and startups to rival South America’s smaller markets and the larger global markets
  • The challenges that Brazilian companies face in attracting home and foreign business investments, and why this creates hidden opportunities for potential investors
  • The role that culture and history have played in Brazil’s tendency towards short term thinking in business and the steps being taken to encourage more of an ‘owners mindset’ to to take advantage of the enormous opportunities in that market

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode

May 29, 2018

In this episode, we are joined by entrepreneur and innovation influencer, Jean-Claude Bastos. Jean-Claude is the founder of Quantum Global Group, Banco Kwanza, Angola’s first investment bank, and The African Innovation Foundation (AIF), which aims to support sustainable projects in Africa and hosts the annual Innovation Prize for Africa.

  • Jean-Claude’s perspectives on Africa developed from his long experience through education, innovation hubs, and technology training and why he sees the continent as “the last frontier in business and innovation"
  • How the demographics of Africa - where in 60% of the population is under 19 -years of age - impacts its approach to innovation
  • How the African Innovation Foundation has helped innovators transform $13m of investment into $200m of valuations

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • How the AIF’s created an innovation ecosystem, which includes an incubator, accelerator, co-working spaces, make it spaces, and cultural hubs to connect innovators and investors in Africa
  • How companies who have invested in Africa have used employee ”loyalty programs” as an approach to retain local talent, where social safety nets are often weak
  • The traps international businesses risk falling into if they view Africa as a monolith. Its diversity of histories, languages and cultures, etc., mean that approaches to business vary widely across the continent

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode

 

May 1, 2018

In this episode, we are joined by Whitney Johnson to discuss her upcoming book, Build an A-Team. Whitney is the author of the bestselling book Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Innovation to Work, and is the founder of the accompanying Disrupt Yourself podcast. Whitney is also a noted speaker, and executive and innovation coach, and is a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review.

What was covered

  • The S-curve, and how it can be used to gauge not only product growth and investment, but individual learning and innovation
  • The stages of learning in the S-curve, and how to predict challenges and boredom in the individual learning process in order to drive growth and prevent a lack of innovation
  • Why Whitney believes organizations should hire “disruptively”, taking on market rather than competitive risk for this core business process

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • ‘Onrampers’ and ‘boomerangers’, and how organizations can benefit from hiring these ex-employees who return with fresh skills and competitor and client knowledge
  • ‘Taking the pulse of the workplace’ and how to optimize your people for innovation and predict disruption by analyzing the different stages of learning within your team
  • ‘Learn, leap, repeat’; Whitney’s theory for leaders on how to use the S-curve model to lead teams towards innovation by implementing fresh learning cycles

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode

 

Mar 6, 2018

In this episode, author and journalist Warren Berger joins us to discuss his book, A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry in Sparking Breakthrough Ideas, which examines the ways in which deep questioning fuels innovation. Warren has contributed articles and stories to The New York Times, GQ, New York magazine, and The Los Angeles Times, and was previously magazine editor for CBS and contributing editor for Wired.

  • How questioning leads to innovation and why Warren believes the best innovation is fuelled by an endless cycle of questioning at every stage
  • The benefits of both informed and uninformed questioning and how these differences interplay within different work cultures
  • How to get into deep questioning within the constraints of existing processes and routines

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • How to use combinatorial thinking and sharing questions with other people, colleagues, and experts to learn perspectives and arrive at solutions that others hadn’t necessarily looked at before
  • How ‘Why?’,‘How might I?’ and ‘What if?’ questions help to create new realities by combining things that don’t typically work together
  • How to develop the habit of asking questions as a leader, and how to encourage your colleagues and team members to question with courage, curiosity, and focus

Links and Resources Covered in this Episode

Feb 7, 2018

In this episode we are joined by Piyush Chowhan who is the Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer for Arvind Lifestyle Brands, which operates more than a thousand apparel retail stores across India. Piyush has extensive experience in retail strategy, business analytics, customer loyalty and CRM, retail business consulting and supply chain management.

What was covered

  • How technology is rapidly changing the apparel retail industry and how Arvind implements innovation to help to keep up the pace with changing consumer behavior
  • The digital transformation happening in retail as brands look to move from simply selling a fashion product to offering the customer a fashion experience
  • How the next generation of employees in India is leading the change towards a more open, communicative, and grassroots innovation process

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • The concept of ‘jugaad’, an Indian term that is used in a number of situations, including the application of frugal innovation and carving a path for yourself
  •  How a focus on design-led innovation and a marketing shift towards online influencers is helping to Indian brands to reach a global audience in the rapidly and massively changing apparel retail industry
  • Piyush’s observations of the key differences within Indian based organizations compared to the US and Europe, including structural and management differences, and innovative processes

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episde

Oct 24, 2017

In this episode, we are joined by Founder and Director of the IMD Global Board CenterProf. Didier Cossin. Didier is a global expert in governance, and in addition to his role at IMD has served as a consultant to the United Nations, the European Central Bank and multiple major corporations, including HSBC, Vodafone, Schlumberger and Coca-Cola. We speak about four pillars of good board governance: people, information, structure and  processes, and group dynamics.  

What Was Covered

  • Didier’s definition of board governance as “the art of decision making at the top of organizations”
  • The particular challenge that corporations with a long history face to transform and how this requires board leadership that “breaks the internal mould, breaks bureaucracy and opens up to the world”
  • What Didier has identified as the four pillars that constitute good governance – people, information, structure and processes and group dynamics - with good and bad examples of each

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • A good assessment of board effectiveness is the extent to which it focuses on the past compared to the future – and that most boards spent too much time looking back
  • A board must ensure it receives the proper balance of internal and external information, of formal and informal information. That the very best board packs are “synthetic” – they use a variety of tools to synthesize the information that tracks the evolution of the key metrics
  • The criticality of the difficult task of organizing a board so its committees are well structured and focused on the issues of most importance to the organization
  • How a Chairman needs have the “art” of stimulating the right discussions, ensuring all views are considered and bringing these together – and the importance of this to enabling a functioning organization

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Podcast

Sep 26, 2017

In this episode, author and speaker, Akshay Nanavati, joins us to discuss his new book, Fearvana: The Revolutionary Science of How to Turn Fear into Health, Wealth and Happiness, which uses neuroscientific and psychological research to aid personal development. Akshay talks openly about his personal journey, struggle with drugs and alcohol and post traumatic stress disorder diagnosis that led to the research in his concept of Fearvana. Akshay is a Marine Corps Veteran, adventurer, entrepreneur and success coach.

What Was Covered

  • Akshay’s definition of Fearvana as the state of bliss that results from engaging our fears to pursue our own worthy struggle
  • Why Akshay believes that we should change our relationship with, and the benefits that can flow from handling differently our most primitive and basic emotion
  • The view that we should Feel whatever we feel, whatever shows up, it's what we do with it that matters
  • Ashkay’s research into neuroplasticity and the ability to rewire neuro-connections in the brain through introspection and habit changing

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • The importance of acknowledging and accepting our own fears without judgement as the key to mental, physical and spiritual growth
  • Proven techniques to allow us to change the relationship to our emotions
  • How approaches such as visualising obstacles can help us avoid procrastination, or other proxies for fear, and improve our performance in the space between stimulus and response
Sep 12, 2017

In this episode, we are joined by Greg Satell, an entrepreneur, author, speaker, and innovation advisor. Greg has been published in The Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company Inc., The Times of London, and Business Insider, and has just published his first book, Mapping Innovation. Previously, Greg spent 15 years in media businesses in Eastern Europe - from Poland to Moscow to Kiev and from small business journals to large news organizations and lifestyle brands. His work as an innovation advisor spans from Fortune 500 companies, to mid-size firms, and startups.

What was Covered

  • Greg’s approach to mapping innovation, what he calls a “playbook for navigating a disruptive age”
  • How organisations can no longer just look to their internal capabilities and assets to solve their most important problems but need to leverage external platforms in order to extend those internal capabilities
  • How companies like Eli Lilly and Experian used new approaches to problem solving that involved the ecosystems of talent and technology which are key to sustaining innovation in today’s world of work

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • Looking at innovation as an important problem which requires a novel solution – in the end a line manager is less interested in whether an innovation is sustaining or disruptive but if it answers the perennial question of, “What the hell do I do next?”
  • How power is moving from the top of the heap to the center of a network which means the indispensable partners are the dominant players
  • Why managing connections to external ecosystems of talent is today’s essential management skill as competitive advantage switches from being the sum of all efficiencies to the sum of all connections

Links and Resources Mentioned in This Podcast

Aug 29, 2017

In this episode, we are joined by Hanne de Mora, Co-Founder and Chairperson of management consultancy organisation a-connect, to talk about innovation of the future of the world of work. Hanne is also a member of the Board of Directors for AB Volvo and the Supervisory Board for IMD Business School.

What was Covered

  • How Hanne and her fellow Co-Founders created new demand within the traditional industry of workforce and management consultancy services – and how Hollywood provided inspiration
  • How technology changes the consulting, executive education and transportation industries and how these forces also apply elsewhere
  • Why Hanne thinks it is important for business leaders to foster entrepreneurship within organisations through pushing responsibility for human resource and P&L management processes as far down the organization as possible
  • The top skill sets which Hanne thinks are essential to being successful in the future of the world of work

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • How understanding the numbers – how does a business make money and what does its cash flow look like – will remain relevant for any future leader.
  • In a world of ever increasing pace of change the ability to course correct is essential.
  • Inspiration is not hierarchical – it can come from anywhere in an organization. And while mothers and fathers will happily talk about being inspired by their children there remains a resistance within organisations to gain similar inspiration from their cross-generational workforces.   

 

Aug 1, 2017

In this episode, Kyle Nicholas McCray, Director of Innovation at American Pacific Mortgage Corporation, joins us to discuss his experience as an intrapreneur and innovator within an established financial business. We cover with Kyle his early career at Apple, his time as an entrepreneur and how that led him to set up Scrappy Labs, an innovation lab within APMC dedicated to exploring new and innovative products and services to revolutionize the relationship between the company and a new generation of homebuyers. 

What Was Covered 

  • Why Kyle decided to set up Scrappy Labs and the purpose of an innovation lab within a traditionally ‘small i’ innovation organisation 
  • APMC’s approach to ‘institutionalizing innovation’ and its focus on how it communicates with its customers – the foundation of a services business 
  • How Kyle acknowledges generational gaps between the company and its customers and how he responds to and leverages new trends and changes 

Key Takeaways and Learnings 

  • The importance of pivoting, responding quickly to changes in communication and technology, and bridging the gap between older and younger generations of staff and consumers 
  • How nurturing a culture of ‘scrappiness’ has been essential to reducing the risk that new innovations are rejected when they come out of the ‘lab’ and are integrated into the wider organization 
  • The importance of understanding the different communication ‘styles’ of team members how this common language helps to limit conflict and maximize the results of the innovation process 
Jun 27, 2017

In this episode, we are joined by Michael Mueller, partner and co-founder of Acrea, an innovative management consultancy which focuses on helping companies thrive in the digital age. Michael started his career at McKinsey after which he went on to hold a number of senior IT management roles within the banking industry.  More recently he has developed his entrepreneurial career by founding a startup B2B travel company.

What Was Covered

  • The three most typical ways businesses are being impacted by digitization – through the creation of entirely new business models, by establishing new customer experiences, and via transforming the delivery of whole parts the operations of a business via technology
  • The challenge established businesses face in dealing with their technology ‘debt’ in contrast to startups who can build their infrastructures from scratch at a fraction of the cost
  • How a “failure to communicate” still exists between the IT and management groups of businesses – even as the importance of technology to operations continues to grow
  • The reality of customer acquisition costs for startups compared to the established client bases of existing businesses

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • The need for organizations to think long term when it comes to managing their technology costs
  • The importance for startups to understand their intended customer base and to face the reality of customer acquisition costs
  • The need for IT and management to adopt a common language to gain better understanding of how technology impacts their business, what it can do, how much it costs
May 16, 2017

In this episode Pam Marrone, a serial entrepreneur, having founded, built and sold two biopesticide companies, joins us. She is currently the CEO and founder of Marrone Bio Innovations Inc, a Nasdaq listed company at the forefront of the drive towards sustainable agriculture This purpose drove my work at Syngenta, and is central to that of Terramera, the Vancouver-based agtech company that I am on the Board of.

In our discussion we cover: 

  • The arc of Pam's fascinating career.  She shares her unique perspective, developed over four decades in the industry and some of the ups and downs that characterise every entrepreneurial journey
  • How agriculture is being shaped and transformed by digital technologies such as drones, sensors, robotics and big data
  • What it takes to be a paradigm breaker and intrapreneur in an industry like agribusiness, characterised by long product lifecycles, an increasingly challenging regulatory environment, and industry consolidation

Key takeaways and learnings include:

  • Valuable insights for intrapreneurs, irrespective of industry, on to how to drive change from within a large company
  • How important it is for an entrepreneur and business builder to create a strong and sustainable culture, with a focus on hiring slowly and firing fast
  • The disruptions underway in agriculture and the impact these can have on us all
Mar 28, 2017

In this episode, Mark briefly shares his key takeaways from season 3 followed by a special sneak peak at his interview for Nick Skillicorn's Innovation and Creativity Summit coming up next week. Listen in as Nick interviews Mark about his intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial experiences and his key advice for corporate innovators at all levels.

Mar 14, 2017

In this episode we are joined by Tamara Kleinberg, serial innovator, keynote speaker, creator the Innovation Quotient Edge (IQE) Assessment and founder of LaunchStreet, a leading platform for individuals and organisations seeking to innovate.

In this episode we cover:

  • The lessons Tamara has learnt throughout her 20 year career advising companies such as Disney, General Mills, RICOH, P&G, J&J on how to create innovative cultures.
  • Why she so firmly believes that everyone has the possibility to be an innovator and the implications of this for leadership in large, established organisations.
  • We walk through Tamara’s IQE Assessment the only tool designed to decipher a person's natural innovative strengths and create the right environment for them to thrive.
Feb 28, 2017

Pondering the cure for cancer, developing vaccines for genital herpes, seeking that next big scientific breakthrough and mopping a basement floor is a day in the life of this episode’s guest Dr. Jessica Baker Flechtner, Chief Scientific Officer and Biosciences Pioneer at Genocea Biosciences.

Jessica joined innovative biotech startup Genocea in 2007, soon after the company was founded, and played an essential role in progressing the small company through startup phase to going public. At the same time as building a company, Jessica used her 18+ years of experience in immunology, infectious diseases, cancer and vaccine treatment to lead the Genocea efforts to develop T cell-directed vaccines and immunotherapies.

Jessica is also a member of the prestigious 40 women over 40 for her passion project to encourage more young women to embark on careers in STEM – learn more about it here. She joins a number of our previous guests, 40 over 40 founder Whitney Johnson, Pamay Bassey and Celine Schillinger in this extraordinary forum.

In today’s episode, learn from Jessica’s journey and rationale for joining an innovative biosciences startup despite her illustrious research career; her key role in bringing a company from the acquisition of venture capital funding through to going public in year and how she and the Genocea team create a culture of discussing failure and celebrating success that helps them maintain their competitive edge in an ever-changing and demanding pharmaceutical industry. This episode is an intriguing soire into the life of a Biosciences startup pioneer and the challenges that come along with it, we hope you enjoy!

Feb 21, 2017

Do you stop and smell the roses every once in awhile ? Do you remember what a raisin really tastes like? Do you take the time to listen to what your inner monologue are really saying?
Today’s guest Josh Spodek has made it his job to remind leaders to do just that. Labelled by Forbes and ABC News as a “Rocket Scientist”, Josh is nothing short of a serial overachiever. He has found success across many fields and disciplines such as science, invention, entrepreneurship, art, leadership, coaching, and education. He is an Adjunct Professor at NYU, leadership coach and workshop leader for Columbia Business School, columnist for Inc and founder of Spodek Academy. Josh holds five Ivy League degrees, including a PhD in Astrophysics and an MBA, and studied under a Nobel Prize winner.

Josh’s fascination with leadership as something that could be learned drove him to study it himself and eventually led him down the path of leadership and as an executive coach. He now leads seminars in leadership, entrepreneurship, creativity, motivation and sales at Harvard, Princeton, MIT, INSEAD (Singapore), the New York Academy of Science, and private corporations, including: UBS, EY, Deloitte, McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Time Magazine, Google and many more. He also leads seminars in Leadership, Creativity, Sales, Strategy, and Motivation at Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, MIT, and INSEAD Singapore, among others. Following visits to North Korea, he lectured on North Korean strategy at Columbia University, and in South Korea and China wrote a book on the topic reviewed as “a very thought-provoking read that may totally change how you interpret the country.”

If his professional achievements alone aren’t enough. Josh also swam the Hudson River, did over 80,000 burpees, wrote over 2,400 blog posts, took over 250 cold showers, coined the term sidcha, and has jumped out of two airplanes. He now lives in New York City’s Greenwich Village and blogs daily at www.joshuaspodek.com.

In this episode, Josh and Mark discuss Josh’s journey from PhD student of astrophysics to launching and failing in the business world and finally becoming a sought-after leadership coach and professor at NYU. They also experiment with some practical tools and exercises Josh uses to build the leadership muscles (for those of you hungry for tools); Finally, they explore the importance of experiential learning or project-based learning for building leadership and personal skills.

Jan 23, 2017

In today’s episode, futurist and simplification guru Lisa Bodell and our host Mark Bidwell reconvene to share more essential tools for leaders and teams to simplify their work environment from her second book Why Simple Wins (check out our book review on Amazon here); they explore insights into how companies like SAP, Southwest Airlines and Syngenta are putting simplification principles into action; and get a sneak peak at her favourite tool “killing complexity” that you can try out for yourself and your team.

Want to keep up with our guests visit our website and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

Dec 20, 2016

Elmar Mock is the Founder of Creaholic, but he began his career as an engineer in a deteriorating watch industry. Elmar approached top-level management within his company with an insane idea, a new way to completely innovate the industry and improve sales. Everyone thought he was crazy and his co-workers distanced themselves from him, but that turned out to be a good thing. Today’s topics include:
● His experience and frustrations as a young inventor in the dying watch industry and the unique mindset he employed.
● Using examples from the natural world he highlights the diverse approaches to innovation, change, and creation.
● Gives constructive advice for those of us pushing for change, within ourselves, the organizations we work for, and the society we live in.

  • 02:55 - Who is Elmar?
  • 05:10 - Elmar decided to pitch the watch company he was working for an innovative idea. To his surprise, they said yes.
  • 08:05 - The point of innovation is to make the impossible, possible.
  • 10:50 - The watch company and the industry were suffering. They had let go 4,000 people in four years. No one wanted to associate themselves with Elmar and his friend.
  • 14:25 - Did Elmar succeed? How did the project end?
  • 18:45 - How did Elmar come up with the name Creaholic?
  • 20:15 - How easy is to drive innovation in an organization?
  • 27:05 - Elmar explains why he hates the ‘intrapreneur’ title.
  • 33:20 - What has Elmar changed his mind about recently?
  • 35:25 - What does Elmar do to remain creative?
  • 37:35 - What does Elmar attribute his success to in life?

FULL SHOW NOTES: http://innovationecosystem.com/reviving-the-swiss-watch-industry:-the-remarkable-story-of-swatch-with-elmar-mock/

Dec 6, 2016

Marc Vollenweider is the CEO of Evalueserve and has spent over 15 years guiding Evalueserve to become a global research, analytics and data management solutions provider. This is the second time Marc has appeared on the podcast; you can listen to his first interview here. Marc has recently written the book titled, Mind+Machine:A Decision Model for Optimizing and Implementing Analytics, which Mark and Marc cover on this week’s show. Some of the other topics covered in this interview are:
● Marc’s transition from being a McKinsey partner to founding a business employing over 3,500 people.
● The winner-takes-all characteristics of the markets Marc plays in, and his strategies to go after these markets, are detailed in his new book Mind+Machine.
● The counter-intuitive benefits arising from simplification and automation.

  • 04:30 - When Marc transition from executive to entrepreneur, what did he learn the most during that journey?
  • 06:05 - How did Marc grow his business so rapidly?
  • 09:50 - A couple of months ago, Marc helped automate a key process for a lot of investment banks. Fast-forward to today, what results has Marc seen from that work?
  • 18:15 - Technology can get very complex quite quickly, but Marc is able to simplify these processes and leverage what technology is supposed to do in the first place: work efficiently and effectively.
  • 21:15 - Marc doesn’t believe he’s disrupting the industry. He believes he’s exposing new trends, which then lead to new possibilities.
  • 23:55 - When looking at the future of businesses, where does Marc see the biggest opportunities?
  • 29:00 - Why did Marc write the book Mind+Machine?
  • 33:05 - What kind of topics in Marc’s book resonate the most with readers who are fresh to the subject?
  • 40:25 - In a lot of ways, small companies have a bigger advantage when it comes to disruption.
  • 43:20 - How does Marc simplify his personal life?
  • 47:00 - What has Marc changed his mind about recently?
  • 48:20 - What does Marc do to remain creative and innovative?
  • 50:15 - What does Marc attibutue his success to in life?

FULL SHOW NOTES: http://innovationecosystem.com/mindmachine-strategies-that-enable-corporations-to-develop-new-innovation-capabilities-and-make-better-decisions-faster-with-marc-vollenweider/

Nov 16, 2016

Creating the Space for Innovation, in many respects, that's what we're doing with the show. We are inviting you to come out of your day-to-day life of always-on communications, with people making enormous demands of your time, and to reflect a little bit on different individuals with diverse perspectives on the subject of change, leadership, and innovation with the hope that it gives you some inspiration, some insight, some tools to actually progress your personal or organizational innovation agendas.

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