The Innovation Show

Flex is a manifesto for living and working on your terms. It means looking at the established, rigid ways of doing things and asking: ‘Is this really working for me?’ If the answer to that question is ‘No’ then read on because this book is for you. When we learn how to flex we gain a superpower that allows us to challenge what is holding us back and reinvent the rules for a smarter, happier life. Because things are changing for women across the globe. We are getting married and having children later, if at all. Dual-income families have replaced the traditional template of man as breadwinner and woman as homemaker. Technology allows us to work differently and understand ourselves better. But the old systems still persist. We’re continually bashing up against inflexible structures that were built by, and for, men. We are trying to do everything, but following a rulebook, we didn’t write. We welcome the author of Flex: Reinventing Work for a Smarter, Happier Life, Annie Auerbach More about Annie: https://

It's no coincidence that most of the top 100 most valuable global brands invest heavily in technology to drive innovation into every aspect of their business: product development, operations, marketing, and customer service. In the next decade, a suite of six strategic technologies—artificial intelligence (AI), Blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality, autonomous machines, and 5G networks—will drive unprecedented innovation into products and services, creating entirely new business models along the way. Investment in information technology (IT) will be a strategic imperative for every company. Every company will become a technology company, and every company will become a data company. Business operations will be retooled using both process automation and worker augmentation. Today’s book is both a call to innovate for survival in a rapidly evolving competitive environment, and a moral imperative to use these six technologies to serve people, elevate work, and make a lasting, positive impac

Do you spend too much time learning with disappointing results? Do you find it difficult to remember what you read? Do you put off studying because it’s boring and you’re easily distracted? Today’s book is for you. Our guest struggled in the past with our learning. But has found techniques to help us master material—any material. Building on insights from neuroscience and cognitive psychology, she gives us a crash course to improve your ability to learn, whether you’re studying maths, language, coding, karate, cooking, or anything else. You’ll see why the strategies work because you’ll see what’s happening in the brain when you use them. No, this isn’t a little book of miracles. But you will find that reducing frustration and improving your study success may sometimes feel miraculous. We welcome author of "Learn Like a Pro", Barbara Oakley

Innovators. Changemakers. Entrepreneurs. Intrapreneurs. Catalysts. One of these things is not like the other. That is to say, each of these types of people can make a whole lot of change happen in the world, but within any group of innovators, changemakers, entrepreneurs, and intrapreneurs, are those people called Catalysts, Those of us who have a deep-rooted need to create positive change. Among Catalysts, there is an unmet need to be seen and valued for who we are and how we show up in the world. We move so fast that we lose people. We can break shit without intentionality. And all of that can lead to burnout—frequently. Catalysts feel a deep sense of drive toward a better future state. We can’t help but see potential change and set it in motion, wherever we are. We’re energized and we’re driven by it. We welcome the author of Move Fast. Break Stuff. Burn Out.: The Catalyst’s Guide to Working Well, Shannon Lucas, welcome to the show.

Even before the pandemic, it seemed the world was spinning so fast it’s difficult to keep up. Arguably a lot of the technological disruption that was around in 2019 simply got accelerated – remote working, digitisation and AI to name just three.  Our guest today notes in his new book: Two hundred and fifty years ago the Industrial Revolution replaced our arms and legs at work. The fourth Industrial Revolution is now replacing our brains.   He says The Machine Age is engulfing both organisations and people. This shift is challenging the very essence of what it means to be human.   His book The Human Edge, how curiosity and creativity are your superpowers in the digital economy won Business Book of the year in 2020.   He explores the skills you need to survive and thrive in a world of smartphones and AI. He urges you to stop competing, and instead do things machines can’t. To become a more human, human. We welcome the author of “The Human Edge” Greg Orme. https://gregorme.org

Leaders have experimented with open innovation programs, corporate accelerators, venture capital arms, skunkworks, and innovation contests. They've travelled the world to learn from today's hottest, most successful tech companies. Yet most would admit they've failed to create truly innovative cultures. There's a better way. And it all starts with the power of habit. The central argument in today’s book is that the world’s biggest untapped source of energy isn’t the wind, water, or sun. It is inside existing organisations, which are brimming with innovation energy. Today that energy is largely constrained and contained. You need to release, harness, and amplify it. Today’s book will show you how. We welcome a friend of the innovation show, 3-time guest and author of a plethora of titles author of Eat, Sleep, Innovate Scott D. Anthony welcome back to the show. More about Scott: https://www.innosight.com/insight/eat-sleep-innovate/

Faced with the choice of starting a company or joining a large corporation, Steve Jobs believed that it was 'more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy'. But for innovators inside established companies, making a distinction between being a pirate and joining the navy is a fallacy. We have to figure out a way to become pirates in the navy! There is nothing harder in business than trying to innovate within large corporations. Innovators in big companies often face internal opposition as well as their external competitors. It is the management of the core business that tends to get in the way of innovation. If you work in corporate innovation, if you run an innovation lab or work in one, if you are a pirate I’m the navy, there is so much in this episode, there are some hard truths to face, some butter pills to swallow, I certainly know I’ve made some of the mistakes our guest identifies. More about Tendayi here: https://tendayiviki.com

Today’s book was born out of a desire to show how and why ritual is critical in our everyday lives, using examples from across the animal world, including elephants, chimpanzees, orangutans, wolves, dogs, lions, zebras, whales, flamingos, fish, and even insects. Although social animals exhibit many rituals, this book focuses on ten important rituals that are essential to our well-being: greeting rituals, group rituals, courtship, gifting, spoken rituals, unspoken rituals, play, grieving and healing, renewal, and travel and migration. Ritualized greetings, such as mouth-licking in wolves or a handshake in humans, are a form of information gathering, and they have evolved among social animals to strengthen bonds and build trust. Let’s take play For example, play affords individuals the opportunity to experiment with their surroundings and come up with creative solutions critical to a species’ survival. Examples include a lion cub practicing hunting skills by pretending a littermate is prey or a toddler buildi

Paradigmatic shifts in the business landscape, known as inflection points, can either create new, entrepreneurial opportunities (see Amazon and Netflix) or they can lead to devastating consequences (e.g., Blockbuster and Toys R Us). Only those leaders who can “see around corners” - that is, spot the disruptive inflection points developing before they hit - are poised to succeed in this market. Columbia Business School Professor and corporate consultant Rita McGrath contends that inflection points, though they may seem sudden, are not random. Every seemingly overnight shift is the final stage of a process that has been subtly building for some time. Armed with the right strategies and tools, smart businesses can see these inflection points coming and use them to gain a competitive advantage. Seeing Around Corners is the first hands-on guide to anticipating, understanding, and capitalising on the inflection points shaping the marketplace. We welcome author of Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Po

Barry O'Reilly shares how the Cycle of Unlearning is a new way of thinking and a new way of leading organisations in every industry. It’s not difficult to learn more. What is difficult is to know what to unlearn, what to stop, and what to throw away. This is the paradox of success. While thinking and doing certain methods may have brought you success in the past, it’s almost certain they won’t continue to bring you success in the future. We discuss the importance of unlearning How Serena Williams unlearned her way to success The Origins of Disney’s Magic Band And much more. More about Barry here: https://barryoreilly.com

This mind-opening episode summarises some of the groundbreaking analysis of the business, economic, and technological trends of today to predict what the world will look like in 2030 – and how the Coronavirus pandemic will accelerate each of these major trends. Some examples stats from the book and the episode: Birthplace of the next industrial revolution: sub-Saharan Africa The reason: 500 million acres of fertile yet undeveloped agricultural land The size of Mexico: 500 million acres Percentage of the world’s wealth owned by women in 2000: 15 Percentage of the world’s wealth owned by women in 2030: 55 If Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Sisters: global financial crisis averted Worldwide, the number of people who went hungry in 2017: 821 million Worldwide, the number of people who will go hungry in 2030: 200 million Worldwide, the number of people who were obese in 2017: 650 million Worldwide, the number of people who will be obese in 2030: 1.1 billion Percentage of Americans projected to be obe

Today’s focus is a Playbook that helps innovators and entrepreneurs to harness new, extreme ideas despite complex business barriers. This visual guide provides insight, practical solutions and reusable canvasses to help innovation managers, CEOs, Chief Innovators and directors of innovation labs to develop breakthrough ideas. We welcome, authors of, "The Radical Innovation Playbook: a practical guide for harnessing new, novel or game-changing breakthroughs" Olga Kokshagina and Allen Alexander

This episode is about getting to grips with how to actually change your behaviour so you stay curious a little bit longer. It sounds like it should be easy, but it's not. You have to tame your Advice Monster, that part of you that jumps in to offer up ideas, opinions, suggestions and advice. And it's taming your Advice Monster that's at the heart of this book. But there are also some specific coaching strategies, particularly on how to focus on what matters most. We welcome author of The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious & Change the Way You Lead Forever Michael Bungay Stanier More about Michael here: https://www.mbs.works

Our guest was used to giving orders. In the high-stress environment of the USS Santa Fe, a nuclear-powered submarine, it was crucial his men did their job well. But the ship was dogged by poor morale, poor performance and the worst retention in the fleet. One day, he unknowingly gave an impossible order, and his crew tried to follow it anyway. He realised he was leading in a culture of followers, and they were all in danger unless they fundamentally changed the way they did things. He took matters into his own hands and pushed for leadership at every level. Before long, his crew became fully engaged and the Santa Fe skyrocketed from worst to first in the fleet. No matter your business or your position, you can apply his approach to create a workplace where everyone takes responsibility for their actions, people are healthier and happier - and everyone is a leader. We welcome the author of Turn the Ship Around! and his latest book Leadership is Language, Captain David Marquet. More about David here: ht

For millennia, dominant groups have had the habit of framing themselves to be the best, deep down: the more powerful they become, the more power begins to be framed as natural. When you see how power has shaped the idea of race, then you can start to understand its meaning. In Superior, celebrated author Angela Saini explores the concepts of race and caste, from their origins to the present day. Engaging with geneticists, anthropologists, historians and social scientists from across the globe, Superior is a rigorous, much needed examination of the insidious and destructive belief that race is biologically real. More about Angela here: https://www.angelasaini.co.uk

Ozan Varol reveals simple strategies from rocket science that you can use to make your own giant leaps in work and life - whether it's landing your dream job, accelerating your business, learning a new skill, or creating the next breakthrough product. Today, thinking like a rocket scientist is a necessity. We all encounter complex and unfamiliar problems in our lives. Those who can tackle these problems -- without clear guidelines and with the clock ticking -- enjoy an extraordinary advantage. Think Like a Rocket Scientist will inspire you to take your own moonshot and enable you to achieve lift-off. More about Ozan here: https://ozanvarol.com

Four out of five adults report feeling that they have too much to do and not enough time to do it. These time-poor people experience less joy each day. They laugh less. They are less healthy, less productive, and more likely to divorce. In one study, time stress produced a stronger negative effect on happiness than unemployment. Our guest offers us a playbook for taking back the time you lose to mindless tasks and unfulfilling chores. We welcome Author of Time Smart: How to Reclaim Your Time and Live a Happier Life Ashley Whillans. More about Ashley here: https://www.awhillans.com

There is a painful gap between what people want and what they actually do. The disconnect between want and do has been blamed on a lot of things — but we blame it on ourselves for the most part. We internalize the cultural message of “It’s your fault! Our guest is here to say: It isn’t your fault. creating positive change isn’t as hard as you think and when it comes to change tiny is mighty. We welcome, founder of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University and author Tiny Habits, BJ Fogg. Sign up for BJ's free course here: https://www.tinyhabits.com/join

In business, government, and every area of contemporary life, leaders today are struggling to find workable solutions to greater and more complex challenges. As a former senior Pentagon official and CEO of a billion-dollar company, our guest has seen firsthand that the current model for solving diverse problem sets no longer works. Organizations and individuals need to adopt an entirely different approach to the biggest challenges they face and embrace a new model to ensure they emerge triumphant. That model is The Renaissance Campaign. We welcome John Rogers, the author of "The Renaissance Campaign: A Problem-Solving Formula for Your Biggest Challenges". More about John here: https://www.johnrogers360.com

Our guest today brings us a powerful blend of cross-disciplinary research and battle-tested tools to help you diagnose, design, and implement a reinvention system that allows your company to stop combatting or resisting change – and instead helps you turn every disruption into your greatest opportunity. We welcome author of "The Chief Reinvention Officer Handbook: How to Thrive in Chaos" Nadya Zhexembayeva More about https://www.learn2reinvent.com