Killer Innovations with Phil McKinney - A Show About Ideas Creativity And Innovation

It's hard to believe that it was 12 years ago when I released the first episode of Killer Innovations in to the wild. Its been a wild ride. What I find especially interesting is how has innovation changed over the last 12 years. The original motivation for the show came from my mentor, Bob Davis. Early in my career, Bob put me through his for a executive boot camp which had me rotate through the organization — sales, marketing, engineering, finance, IT and customer support. It was that experience that laid the foundation for me to be more than just a creator of products — but to see and understand how an organization and teams come together to achieve success in the innovation game. Later in my career, I asked Bob how I could pay him back for the impact he had on my career. He laughed. He said that I couldn't pay it back but instead I needed to find ways to pay it forward. Thus the idea for the podcast was born. Bob also introduced me to Earl Nightingale whose tapes and training materials were part of the “Bob Davis boot camp”. The original podcast were modeled after Earl's monthly audio magazine, Insight. You can listen to some old episodes of Insight on Spotify. Through the years of the podcast, we've experimented with different formats, segments, topics and guests. We were and are constantly innovating a show about innovation. How has innovation changed? Innovation has gone through a lot of changes over the 12 years of the show. Such as: * In 2005, no one talked about innovation. It wasn't a “thing”. Now days, its the buzzword everyone wants to use. * When we started, there were few who called themselves “innovation consultants”. In 2017, you can't go to an event/conference and not run into a crowd of innovation consultants. * Back at the launch, the title “Chief Innovation Officer” was rarely used. Now organizations consider appointing a CINO as a status symbol. * In the early days, tools to help innovation team succeed where non-existent. Thankfully, we are well supported with great tools from a wide range of vendors. What does the future role of innovation look like? As I've said many time, innovation and creativity are a critical skill that everyone should have in order to succeed. A recent study has predicted that 47% of all jobs are at risk of being eliminated to automation (artificial intelligence/AI, machine learning, robots, etc). This job elimination will start to accelerate around 2020. Some are under the false impression that their job could never be eliminated. Any job that is based on the knowledge/information economy is at risk including Doctors, Lawyers and Engineers. If you can learn the knoweldge to be successful, so can a robot. In the future, success will depend on your ability to create “ideas” that others (including AI and the robots) will “do”. Are you ready to compete and win in the innovation economy? What's next for the Killer Innovations in Season 13? With the strong belief that innovation and creativity are a critical skill, I am committed to helping you win in the emerging innovation economy. How am I going to help you win? * Podcast/Radio Shows: I hope to still being doing the show for another 20 years. In addition, we've formed The Innovators Network and are bringing together ...

I am a believer that constraint based innovation creates better ideas. It forces the team to throw out the old rule book and innovate a new approach. The same applies when you are forced to innovate under financial constraints. While my staff doesn't always agree that constraints are good, in my experience a team that got everything they asked for rarely delivered an innovation that had significant impact. Too many resources allows us to get sloppy and lazy when it comes to the execution of ideas. When it comes to innovation, there are three constraints; 1) time, 2) people and 3) money. So how would you innovate the financial constraint? The way that has worked for me is to find creative ways to other peoples money. Here are 4 options: * University R&D: Participate in university research and development where others are providing a significant portion of the funding. The funding can come from any number of sources including government and other organizations. The key is to find a professor and program that aligns with your objectives. * Pros: 1) Low cost to fund university research, 2) Long term commitments to these programs creates a pipeline of innovations and 3) Great source for new hires (students working on your program) * Cons: 1) Takes a long time (patience), 2) High risk and 3) May have limited influence given funding levels and 4) IP/patent issues * Co-Innovation: A joint effort between you and one other organization. * Pros: 1) Less complex than other options and 2) Builds long term relationships that typically results in multiple projects * Cons: 1) Make sure their is mutual dependency on the project, 2) take a long time to get the first project going and 3) IP and patent issues can delay the start * Startup/Venture Capital (VC) * Pros: 1) Faster than you think when you have motivated startup and 2) You can use your purchasing power to influence the startup * Cons: 1) High risk – does the startup have staying power? and 2) Investors have control in direct proportion to their investment * Ecosystem Innovation: Bringing together a larger group (more than two) to fund and support the innovation effort(s) * Pros: 1) Shared cost across larger ecosystem and 2) Possible larger impact when a large ecosystem aligns the innovation effort and its use/deployment * Cons: 1) Complex collaboration requiring strong program management capabilities and 2) Frustrating governance that requires a strong hand from the person in charge The above are just four examples of how to use other peoples money so that you can innovate under financial constraints. There are many more I'm sure. The message — don't give up. Listen to the show to hear real-world example of how each were applied that resulted in an innovation coming to market.

Everyday, we can't avoid reading articles that tout the latest and greatest technology and innovation. What we don't see that often is the role innovation can and should play in philanthropy. If you agree that it has a role, how do you bring innovation to philanthropy? This weeks guest, Jared Angaza, has spent his life experiencing and now re-thinking philanthropy so that it does more than just address the symptoms but innovates ways to address the underlying issues. During this show, we covered a wide range of topics including: * What started him down this trajectory of re-thinking philanthropy (Katrina) * The three types of philanthropy and the role each plays (e.g. Mother Teresa) * His concept of conscious philanthropy * Why innovation hasn't been applied to philanthropy * The role companies can play if they can get away from short-term thinking. About Jared Angaza Jared is a strategist and philanthropist. For 20 years he has created strategies, brands, campaigns, events and teachings that help us re-imagine philanthropy and transform perspectives. Jared coaches and consults for individuals, brands and governments across the globe and is on a quest to contribute to a more harmonious world. Jared lived and worked full time in East Africa for over a decade before moving to Costa Rica for the past year and a half. Now he and his family are living in his home town of Nashville, TN as they prepare to launch a few of their latest philanthropic ventures. Show Links: * Jared's site jaredangaza.com * Jared's podcast Inipi Radio Announcement: New Show! On The Innovators Network, we are announcing a new show, Kym McNicholas on Innovation which is available on iTunes, Google Play and wherever you can find your favorite podcast. In the last segment of the show, we shared a quick click. Below is the full show: Is Tesla The Future Stockcar of NASCAR?

We've heard the mantra in the past. We are all creative. We are born creative. That is a nice idea but not helpful when you need to call on your muse to be creative when you need to be creative. What are the secrets to personal creativity? If creativity is natural – then why is it so hard? Creativity Is A Machine Think of creativity like a machine. If you've ignored the machine, when it need it its not in shape to get the job done. Think of that lawnmower we tossed in the garage and ignored. When we need to use it, its hard to start and runs rough. On the other hand, a well maintained machine is easy to start and runs smoothly. While it takes time to get your creative muscle in shape, there are a few tricks that I use that will have immediate impact on your personal creativity. The Power of The Mind The human mind is an amazing instrument for creativity. It spends its life collecting, cataloging and recalling visual, auditory, physical experiences and information. It then uses that information to help us navigate our day-to-day activities. What we don't appreciate is the role the mind plays in connecting what appears to be random pieces of information to trigger an idea. We have 1000's of ideas in our head. We just can't seem to put our hands on them when we need them. Sometimes it takes that jolt to shake us awake – something that causes us to see a connection that we've never seen or noticed before. Your mind in most valuable asset when it comes to your personal creativity. How do you take care if it? How do you fill it up? The Skill of Observation The skill of observation is tied to being able to see with “new eyes”. What I mean is the ability to see something as if you are seeing it for the first time. This ability to see with “new eyes” then allows you to see problems and opportunities that you most likely overlooked in the past. Why have you overlooked them? Because we all fall in to the trap of comfort and familiarity. We let repeated patterns lull us in to a state of looking past the opportunities that right in front of us. My trick with observation is to be 1) deliberate about look/observing/documenting everything with my customers and prospects and 2) Look for anything that is impacted (or impacts) time and money. Time and money is where 90% of innovations are found. By focusing on looking specifically for areas impacted by time and money, we force ourselves to focus our observation and thereby see things we have overlooked in the past. My Most Valuable Secret to Personal Creativity My go-to tool to get my creativity going is to ask questions. If you've been a longtime listener/follower, this may not come as a revelation. I've talked about the power of questions for years and its the basis for my work in innovation and creativity. With that said, most people don't take the time to really think about what questions they should be asking. They look for the easy way out by searching for a list of pre-canned questions on some site. Your challenges are unique and you should take the time to ask well formatted open-ended questions that challenge an assumption. If take the time to craft some well considered questions, you will be surprised what you might learn.  

As an officer in two public companies and a Board member for a third public company, I've seen up close and personal the challenges executive leadership faces when trying to balance achieving the quarterly results while knowing that they  need to make long term investments in research and innovation.  This short-term thinking on quarterly results has had a significant impact on large organizations ability to prioritize long term strategic investments. In a recent article in The Atlantic titled “How To Stop Short-Term Thinking at America's Companies“, Alana Semuels calls out the risk and challenges caused by the growing focus on the quarterly results. When I read the article, it struck a cord and brought back the memories of the struggles and frustrations I experienced. As the person responsible for the R&D and innovation portfolio for the companies I worked for, I was frustrated that “my boss didn't get it” while also understanding the pressure they were under. It was the classic no-win situation. Short-Term Thinking Some key points discussed in the today's show included: * The focus on quarterly results is the result of how CEO's and their teams are compensated. * The “blame” for this focus? Quarterly results will deliver the best results to the shareholders. * There is a shift in how long “us” hold on to our investments. In 1960, the average was 8 years while in 2016, it shrank to 8 months. * 80% of CFO's from the 400 largest public companies admitted they would sacrifice “economic value” to meet quarterly results! * Share buy backs don't work and redirect cash away from R&D, innovation and workforce investments. * Most equity is held by pension funds and other institutional investors who are focused on long range investment. Therefore, the belief that shareholders are focused on the short term in suspect. * 4 ideas to encourage long term investment covered in the article: * Create a corporate tax structure to encourage bringing money back to the US (repatriation). * Accelerated depreciation by allowing 50% of an investment in equipment to be deducted immediately. * Increased government spending in support of R&D and innovation. * Incentivize  investors to hold assets longer by graduating tax reduction over longer period of times. * Structure voting rights for shareholder tied to how long they've held the shares. * You can have an impact: * Think about your own investment strategies (e.g. your retirement, etc). Are you part of the “short term” problem? * Send the article and this  podcast to your manager, CEO and your government officials. * We can have an impact. We need to have an impact. Additional Resources: * How to Stop Short-Term Thinking at America’s Companies: U.S. companies are hyper-focused on quarterly earnings. What can be done to push them to invest more in the years and decades ahead? by Alana Semuels of The Atlantic  

Innovation is not constrained to individuals, teams or organizations. In some cases, the best to way to innovate is when entire industries comes together to share the effort and the investment necessary. Industry innovation is one approach that is commonly overlook and undervalued. In today's show, we talk with John Osborne who is General Manager of R&D at The Kroger Company and is the Chairman of the Board of the ZigBee Alliance. The ZigBee Alliance is a standards organization around the ZigBee wireless stack used in everything from light bulbs to industrial sensors and monitors. To innovate with an organization such as Zigbee, you need to bring together 400 members and get them to align their efforts to the benefit of everyone involved. Not an easy task. In today's show on industry innovation. John and I discuss: * Comparison of innovating inside a large company to that of driving industry innovation. * The early history of Zigbee. * The transformation of ZigBee to being the platform/stack for IoT (Internet of Things). * The challenges of getting large industry organizations to align and execute. * What does “participation” look like in organizations like ZigBee. * How do members take advantage of the standards and technologies created in organizations like ZigBee. * What does the future look like fot IoT and ZigBee. * How ZigBee is being used that most consumers are not even aware of. Today's Guest: John Osborne II John is currently the Chairman of the Board of the zigbee alliance (a global SDO) and General Manager of Research & Development at The Kroger Co. John’s expertise is in computer science combined with business management, negotiation and purchasing disciplines. He has been responsible for enterprise wide operational and technical projects budgets worth millions of dollars. He has a number of patents and co-authored a global technical specification for zigbee. John graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Ohio University. Show Notes/Links: * ZigBee Alliance * John's personal website * John on LinkedIn

When it comes to innovation, there are a collection of unwritten rules of thumb and myths of innovation that both help and hurt innovators. We all use rules of thumbs and myths in our everyday lives such as estimating how long something will take to complete. At the same time, rules and myths can be misapplied and hold us back from doing something.  For example, using a “rule” to estimate that something will “take to long to complete” and therefore we never start. In this weeks show, we dispel the 5 myths of innovation that get in the way of innovators. 5 Myths of Innovation * The Myth of the Eureka Moment: This thought that ideas come as a bolt of lightning undermines the importance of influence and hard work. Innovation is not easy and requires preparation and practice so that when those sparks of inspiration appear, you are ready to take advantage of them. * The Myth the Best Ideas Win: Our passion as innovators for an idea sometimes gets in the way. We are the first to defend our idea when success is not just about the idea. While you need a great idea to start with, other influences will determine if that great idea is a market success or a market bomb. One influence that continues to trip me up is “timing“. Is the market ready? Is the cycle of technologies needed ready?, etc. * The Myth of the Magic Method: There are consultants who will try to claim that they have derived the magic formula to innovation by studying major innovators. In my opinion, it bogus. Each individual, team and organization is unique and you have to steal, modify and test methods to find what works for you. There is no single one size fits all process to innovation. * The Myth of the Lone Inventor: Just look at the leading, highly innovative companies. A vast majority came into existence because of a partnership. HP had Bill Hewlett and David Packard, Apple has Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and Google had Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Innovation is a team sport. Find partners who fill in your innovation skills gap. * The Myth That Your Boss Knows More Than You: Talk about being uncomfortable. As  CEO, this is one myth that my team reminds me of. We all would like to think we have it all together. The reality, in today's work, the pace of change is accelerating which requires flexible, dynamic teams to keep up the pace of innovation needed. The result is that the skills needed for innovation success are constantly changing. As leader, your role is to recruit. mentor and coach your talent to success. Update: Credit for the original names for the myths of innovation was inadvertently left off the original blog post. Credit should be given to Scott Burken and his book, “The Myths of Innovation“. Our apologizes. Additional Resources Below are additional resources mentioned during the show and ones I thought may be helpful around the subject of dispelling the myths of innovation. * 9 Daily Exercises that I Do to Keep My Creative Muscle in Shape *

Innovation is everywhere – in our pockets, in our cars, in our work and in our home. Where do these new ideas come from? New ideas are the foundation of our future and growing economic driver of society. This emerging innovation economy, which value ideas over anything else, is quickly overtaking the information/knowledge economy that we've all been apart of for the last four decades. In this weeks show, we discuss: * The historical impact of innovation investment on the margins of products and services. * The role of innovation by acquisition to play catch-up when organizations ignored the need to invest in what creates value in the innovation economy. * The impact on gross domestic product (GDP) growth from innovation over the last decade. * A definition of the emerging innovation economy and innovation economics. * CEO view of the importance of innovation. * The role innovation plays in determine the value attached to an organization. * Do CEO's consider their organizations ready to deliver the innovations their organizations need? * The role of critical thinking and problem solving skills on a teams readiness to innovate. * The readiness of individuals today in the job market to have a career in the emerging innovation economy. * What are you to do about it? Announcing The Innovators Network As a result of the growing number of individuals, organizations and governments asking for help with their innovation initiatives, I've been searching for a way to meet the demand while not ignoring my other commitments.  Up till now, I've been able to do both but the requests are growing and my time is limited. My day-job is to drive the innovation economy in my role as a CEO at the R&D/Innovation lab for a global industry and I am 100% committed to my team and the companies that fund my innovation work there. So how do I “pay it forward” to as many as possible? During today's show, we announced the formation of The Innovators Network LLC which will be run by Mark Varricchione.  Mark and I have worked together for more than 20 years. He has taken, and been certified, in all of my workshops and courses over the years and is in the best position to build a team and take my work and help as many individuals and companies as possible. As a result, I have granted The Innovators Network the exclusive worldwide license to all of my content, books, podcast, radio shows, workshops, courses including the Killer Questions. Mark will be the President and CEO while I take on the Non-Executive Chairman role. I have also invested my own money in to this new venture. Over the next few weeks, other worldclass innovators will be joining the network and bringing their expertise, content, courses and other tools with them. Mark's vision for this new entity is .. Stay tuned as Mark launches a number of exciting programs over the next few months .. Slides Used In Today's Show

Many make the mistake of thinking that their lives are going to work out as planned. It never does. What would happen if you treated your life like a startup? The guest for this weeks show, Dr. Anna Akbari, discusses her book, “Startup Your Life: Hustle And Hack Your Way To Happiness.” As an entrepreneur, Anna Akbari learned that one of the best things about startups is their ability to “pivot” quickly — basically a euphemism for failing and trying again. She quickly found that personal success is no different. Anne had the unfortunate timing of finishing college just as the job market went into one of worst downturns anyone has seen. Any plans she had were out the window and her new plans would require her to prototype, test, fail, pivot and try again. Just like a startup. In her book, she shares the lessons that entrepreneurs learn through the school of hard knocks and applies them to ways you can and should look at your life. In this weeks show on how to treat your life like a startup, we discuss: * Her early years and the decision at a young age that show would be a Dr. * Her college experience of searching for what she wanted to be. * The expectations that if you follow the rules of going to school, work hard and get good grades — then you would be successful. * What happens when the expectation can't be met? * The lessons learned from failure. * How startup thinking can be applied to education. Two Pieces of Advice From the Book: * Life VC: Just as startups have venture capitalists, you need life VC's. These are the people who come alongside and who invest in your life. These are not the coaches and mentors you may have but people who invest in your life by being there. * Make Time For Fun: Get away and have fun. Use that time away to recharge yourself so that you can make the next milestone. About Anna Akbari: Anna is a sociologist, entrepreneur, and writer. She is the founder of Sociology of Style, an image and life coaching company, and a partner in HVCK, a Silicon Valley innovation consultancy. A former instructor at New York University and Parsons School of Design, she is a frequent speaker and media personality and has written for and been featured by Forbes, CNN, The Atlantic, The Economist, Financial Times, TED, Bulletproof Executive, TIME, and dozens more. How to follow Anna: * Anna's website * Ann's book, Startup Your Life: Hustle And Hack Your Way To Happiness on Amazon * Anna on twitter * Anna on LinkedIn

This time of year, I take a moment and look at innovations that were announced in the last year whose impact will be significant in the next 12 to 24 months. This year's list contains some intriguing innovations that are less about “new tech” and more about human ingenuity to look at problems and opportunities in unique and different ways. These 6 high impact innovations will change the world. Here is this weeks show … This weeks show notes/links: #6: Edible Drones Pouncer™, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), is the brainchild of Nigel Gifford OBE, who was one of the innovative team behind the unmanned Ascenta™ high altitude, long endurance platform that was acquired by Facebook in 2014 as part of their internet global connective programme. “Pouncer™ addresses the fast reactive need to deliver food aid into remote, difficult, damaged and broken infrastructures by overflying the difficulties and placing life-sustaining nutrition exactly where it’s needed”, said Nigel, who thought of the concept by combining his “far flung food” expedition background with his aerospace skills. The Pouncer™, covered by patent application, has an airframe skin made from biodegradable starch-based thermoplastic, filled with spars of compressed and vacuum sealed foodstuffs. The Pouncer™ fuselage is filled with the staple diet of those receiving supplies and carries water and fuel for cooking. It is to be produced in various weights to meet differing requirements. #5: Wheelchair For Developing Countries SafariSeat is the first project from the social enterprise, and is designed to be low cost, all terrain and open-source, so that it can be made in basic workshops using bicycle parts. Unlike existing wheelchairs, SafariSeat uses a patented mechanism mimicking a car suspension, so that all of the wheels are able to remain on the ground for better stability. As well as costing little to make, the designer will make the blueprints for the wheelchair completely free. This will act as part of an open source toolkit which will enable any workshop to manufacture SafariSeats to be used in the local community. #4: Reusable Rockets Thousands of rockets have flown into space, but not until 2015 did one return like this: it came down upright on a landing pad, steadily firing to control its descent, almost as if a movie of its launch were being played backward. If this can be done regularly and reusable rockets could be used over and over, spaceflight could become a hundred times cheaper. #3: BOTS An artificial-intelligence lawyer chatbot (DoNotPay) has successfully contested 160,000 parking tickets across London and New York for free, showing that chatbots can actually be useful.  The future of chat bots is accelerating and soon will be the primary (and I would argue preferred) way for us to engage with many of the companies, support services and information sources we interact with regularly. #2: Ambient Backscatter Ambient backscatter uses existing radio frequency signals, such as radio, television and digital telephony, to transmit data without a battery or power grid connection. Each such device uses an antenna to pick up an existing signal and convert it into tens to hundreds of microwatts of electricity.[1] It uses that power to modify and reflect the signal with encoded data. Antennas on other devices, in turn, detect that signal and can respond accordingly. #1: ???

It can be extremely frustrating when your ideas can't seem to secure support or backing. Why? Is it the idea or is it you? In this weeks show, I share some of my personal lessons learned along with the collection of frustrations and lessons learned from my mentoring and coaching clients on the challenges of securing backing for an idea. 8 Reasons Why Your Ideas Don't Get Backed Your idea is too small If its small/simple, then just do it. You have permission. Take your idea a “PLUS IT”  Question: What would 10x your idea look like? Your pitch for the idea is underwhelming Do not assume that others “should just get it” Tell a story (3 act play)  Question: How could you create an experience (no PowerPoint) to show & tell your ideas? You haven’t thought through all of the questions that others will ask you What is the hardest/toughest question someone could ask about your idea? Answer it Proof that you’ve thought long and hard about the idea is your preparation for the questions you will get asked Create and update a FAQ Question: What is the hardest/toughest question you will asked about your ideas? Answer it .. It's just an idea How much time have you really spent in deliberate thinking about the idea? If its less a few 100 hours, then you haven’t made an investment into the idea Question: Why is your idea so great? Ask “why” 5 times? You haven’t thought about the resources you need  What time, people and funding will you need? How did you come up with that projection? What’s the risk that you’ve missed on this estimate? How will limit the downside risk while not being overly conservative? Question: What resources will you need?  What are the options to execute while limiting risk/exposure? You’ve ignored or denied that there is real competition to your idea Every idea has competition, even if its the customer “not” doing today  For each competition ask yourself — Who are they? Why are the competition? What is the switch barrier? What is the switching cost? Everything has switching cost. In technology/consumer electronics,  the “new thing” needs be 10x better, 10x fast and/or 10x cheaper to get over switching costs (e.g. Dvorak versus qwerty keyboard example) Question: Who is your conception and why are you unique/different? The impact is underwhelming and/or uninteresting With limited resources, and good supply of ideas, teams should be working on ideas with the biggest impact You are competing for a limited set of resources Question:Why should someone back your idea over another? You haven’t convinced me their others who want/need your idea What validation have you done to prove that the idea solves a need/want of a customer Get up — and go talk to prospects and validate your idea The “starbucks” approach (gorilla validation) Video tape — show it to the person who need to convince .. Question: How could you show, in your prospects words, why your idea is needed in the marketplace?   Additional Innovation Resources: * Managing the Fuzzy Front End Of The Innovation Funnel S12 Ep31 * The Insider’s Guide to Innovation by M&A S12 Ep36 *

Getting innovation advice from actual innovators is invaluable. In this weeks, show, we hear from Tyler Reynolds, the CEO and Co-founder of Trinity Mobile Networks. Tyler and his co-founder,  Stephen Hall, are innovators who were inspired to innovate a solution to a problem they themselves had. During the show, Tyler shares how the idea behind Trinity started at the Harvard / Yale football game 5 years ago. During the game, Tyler and his co-founder found themselves in the same position most have – no wireless broadband because too many people were on their phones during the game. Rather than just vent and complaint, they decided to solve the problem. What is interesting is the problem is well known but has been unsolved for decades. Many industry experts had declared that it was impossible to solve. Tyler and Stephen didn't know this and went about and solved this impossible problem. Topics discussed on this weeks show: * Inspiration can come from the strangest of places (Harvard / Yale football game) * Get the idea right (salt & pepper prototype experiment) * Keep your burn rate as low as possible * Perseverance. It took 3 years to go from idea to launching the company and another 2 years to launch its first product. * Be willing to change the idea based on what you learn as you go through the innovation process. Tyler Reynolds' 3 Pieces of Innovation Advice * Innovation takes longer than expected: In the case of Trinity, they started with a solution that was fully decentralized and over time proved themselves that in fact, the solution needed to fully centralized. A 180 degree change from where they started. They gave themselves the time to work the idea and get it right. * Expect and want your idea to be attacked: If you share your idea and everyone “gets it” then you may not have such a great idea. Innovations should expect to be criticized and labeled as impossible. * Focus on building a business not a technology: Academia is the only place where you can focus only on the idea/technology. Customers don't purchase technology, they purchase solutions and solutions are created by businesses Background/Show Links: About Tyler Reynolds Tyler Reynolds designed the network architecture for Trinity Mobile Networks' software-defined networking platform, TrinitySDN, and leads the company in business development, marketing, enterprise sales, recruiting and fundraising. Connect with him via LinkedIn. About Trinity Mobile Networks: TrinitySDN is a multi-network overlay SDN platform with client-side software designed from the ground up for smartphones and other battery-constrained wireless devices. TrinitySDN allows every smartphone and handheld device to become a Wi-Fi extender. Wi-Fi Cellular and Wi-Fi networks appear to end users as a single network. Trinity also helps network operators provide the best QoS, regardless of connection type. Learn more at Trinity Mobile’s website. You can find more on Upramp at their website.

I have a morning routine where I run down a set of daily questions that help me stay on track and focused on the right things. These question have come about over my years of learning the hard way. The inspiration for the questions came from Ben Franklin who asked himself two questions ever day. In the morning, he would ask, “What good shall I do today” and in the evening, he would ask himself, “What good have I done this day?” I'm a big fan of questions and I'm not along, Albert Einstein reportedly  said, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important this is not to stop questioning.” Here are my 9 daily questions I ask myself .. 9 Daily Questions * What is my biggest strength? * Most people don't search for their strength. The focus on what they are good at. * Stop doing stuff you hate and find your strength so that you can discover your passion. * Am I having fun? * Life isn't always fun. * Overall, you need to enjoy what you are doing to be successful. * What pain do I want in my life? * Happiness requires struggles. * What are you willing to struggle for? * The quality of your life is not determined by your positive experiences, but the quality of your negative experiences. * What pain do you want to sustain? * What will I do today that will matter one year from now? * Need to get our of the minutia and look at the big picture * At the top of my daily to-do, I have one (1) big picture item * Keep your “eyes” up looking the future and not down getting stuck in the tactics. * Is getting rich worth it? * Most people hold the illusion that if they had more money, life would be better. * Then they get rich and they aren't happy. * If you not happy now, you won't be happy because of money. * What isn't working? * Life isn't perfect * Make a list of what is most crappy * Some of the biggest impact is to take the worst thing at make it ‘ok'. * Why so serious? * I tend to go deep when working on a project – and focus on the little things. * I'm both a perfectionist and a procrastinator * This question gives permission that everything doesn't have to be perfect. * How can I learn from this? * We all fail. * Successful people learn from their failings. * Ask yourself how to turn a failure into a learning experience. * Do I pick partners and friends who support me, challenge me, encourage me and help me grow? * We are the average of the five (5) people we spend the most time with * Think through the people in your life – * Are they helping you grow? * Is their life one you would be proud to have as yours? * Be selective if who you keep in your inner circle * Surround yourself with people based on you .. * Common interests * You values * Things you consider important to your personal growth * how you value time, knowledge and friendship Additional Resources * 9 Daily Exercises that I Do to Keep My Creative Muscle in Shape * 15 Ways To Feed Your Creative Mind S12 Ep23

There is an explosion in companies who are securing innovation by M&A (mergers and acquisitions). In the last 36 months, 57% of M&A deals were based on innovation. When companies find themselves behind the market, “innovating by acquisition” becomes a quick way to catch-up through the work of others. At the same time, if an orgnization is not careful, they can put their own R&D and innovation efforts at risk. In this weeks show, I shared my experiences in managing innovation by M&A. Topics covered include: * Is innovation by M&A  the “easiest way” to catch-up? * Isn't this approach a way to hide a corporate culture where failure is not tolerated? * Are the M&A teams within an organization ready for this shift? * Do these teams need to change their tools, methods and decision criteria to be successful? * Does innovation by M&A have an impact on R&D/innovation activities within an organization? * How do competitors respond? * What are the six elements/steps to having a market leading innovation by M&A capability? * Define your M&A/Innovation strategy * Think through your options * Develop a new approach to deal evaluation that accommodates “innovation value“ * Negotiate and close the deal with innovation value in mind * Integration is harder than it sounds * Implementation doesn't stop on ‘Day 1' * What are the most effective strategies for innovation by acquisition? * Having a clear road-map * Clarity of objectives * Defined product road map that is flexible to accept innovations from accusation * Go-to-market that flexible to accommodate new innovations from the outside * Strategic Integration * Team retention and integrations with a strong consideration for culture * Aligning the innovation by acquisition with long term strategic visions * Ownership by sponsors * High degree of involvement by the deal sponsors can greatly improve the success of the deal   Additional Resources: * Innovation By Acquisition (July 2011) * Here Is The Metric That Can Predict Future Innovation Value

Limiting beliefs are those that constrain you in some way. Just by believing them, we do not think, do or say things because this limiting belief inhibits us. Our limiting beliefs originate from self doubts that then become “rules” we apply to our everday activities. In extreme cases, limiting beliefs can sabatoge our hapiness, our family and our careers. In this weeks show, we take a look at limiting beliefs and how they are killing your creativity – and what you can do about it. 6 Most Common Limiting Beliefs * “I can't be myself or I'll be judged” * It is not your job to make everyone in life like you * Be yourself. You are unique and there will be no one like you. * “I can't ask for what I want because I might get rejected“ * Rejection is part of life * To move forward with your ideas, you need to ask which will risk rejection. No is not deadly. * “I can't trust people because they might betray my trust” * Life is too short to not trust anyone * Without trust, you cannot succeed * “I can't persue my dreams because I might fail“ * Do NOT let FEAR hold you back * FEAR = False Evidence that Appears Real * Its your dreams. The only thing holding you back is yourself. * “I don't need to be successful so I'm not going to strive for success” * Do not fall into the “self intellect” trap * You succeed because you can * With success, you can help others to succeed * “It's too late to pursue my dreams“ * It is NEVER too late to pursue your dreams. * Sanders start KFC at the age of 74. What's your excuse. 4 Ways to Get Around Your Limiting Beliefs * Start by writing down your limiting belief * Acknowledge that these are beliefs and NOT truths * Get over the fear and try a different belief * Act on these different beliefs   Additional Resources: * Is the fear of failure killing your creativity and hindering your success? * 8 Tips for Dealing with Rejection * Yes – You Were Born To Innovate Something Great