The Innovation Show

It is known as the bible for startups and the best investment a startup can make. A startup without customers is like a day without oxygen, and the Startup Owners Manual helps founders get it right and shows you how to get, keep, and grow customers, literally every step of the way. This manual walks entrepreneurs step-by-step through the proven, world-renowned Customer Development process for getting startups right the first time. The Customer Development process was developed by a Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur-turned-educator and based on his eight valley startups, four of which IPO’ed. He joined with serial entrepreneur Bob Dorf to build the Startup Owner s Manual as a sequel to his first book, which sparked the Lean Startup movement.  The Startup Owners Manual lays out the best practices, lessons and tips that have swept the startup world, offering a wealth of proven advice and information for entrepreneurs of all stripes. We also discuss innovation within larger, established organisations. The manual: Guides startups of all types in their search for a scalable, profitable business model Explains the 9 deadly sins startups commit most often and helps you to avoid them Incorporates the business model canvas as the starting point for any startup Provides separate paths and advice for physical versus web/mobile products Explains how to test and iterate your company's road to product/market fit Details strategies and tactics for how to get, keep and grow customers Teaches a new math for startups -- metrics that matter Includes detailed checklists at every step of the process and provides hundreds of ideas, watch-outs and how to's for founders and innovators I am delighted to welcome the pioneer of the Lean Startup movement, the legendary Steve Blank

'ZEST' equates to zing, enthusiasm, energy, gusto, eagerness, zeal and fervour. It also suggests a tang, a sharpness. It's the opposite of bland. Today’s book called ZEST is not just a book on personal development. There are an awful lot of those. Zest is a catalyst, a spark that ignites your remembering of what makes you, in a word, you. It drives you to rethink, rejuvenate and reinvent. It also contains a touch of the revolutions. Have you, as a grown-up, fallen into the trap of becoming a Groan-up? You know you should try to make the best of things, but oftentimes you don't know what your "best" is anymore. It's strange. You used to know. What happened? Was it the years of social conformity? There is a whole beige generation out there - a generation that has lost its identity and forgotten who they once were - buried under the crushing, stifling facades of adulthood. If only there was a way to unearth your passions, recover the zest for life you once had. Maybe there is. Zest is a wake-up call for you to explore the formative moments that define your life. It challenges you to believe that your best days are still ahead, to search your soul, to shake things up and bask in the warmth of glorious individuality. Today’s episode will help us: Explore the pivotal, defining moments in your life Examine both the good and bad experiences that define you Reconnect to the essence of who you are Embrace your quirks, qualities and peculiarities Determine to be the person you always wanted to be Zest is your permission to play, your licence to wreak the right kind of havoc. Moreover, it's not about pretending to be someone you're not, it's about squeezing every last drop out of who you already are. We welcome, the Author of Zest: How to Squeeze the Max out of Life, Andy Cope

Why are we obsessed with the thing as we want - only to be bored when we get them?  Why is addiction perfectly logical to an addict?  Why does love change so quickly from passion to indifference?  Why are some people, die-hard liberals and others hardcore conservatives?  Why are we always hopeful for solutions even in the darkest times—and so good at figuring them out?  The answer is found in a single chemical in your brain: dopamine. Dopamine ensured the survival of early man. Thousands of years later, it is the source of our most basic behavioUrs and cultural ideas—and progress itself.  Dopamine is the chemical of desire that always asks for more—more stuff, more stimulation, more surprises. In pursuit of these things, it is undeterred by emotion, fear, or morality. We welcome the author of “The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—and will Determine the Fate of the Human Race.” Daniel Z. Lieberman More about Daniel here: http://www.danielzlieberman.com/ Tags: The Molecule of More, Dopamine, Creativity, Addiction, ADHD, Love, Lust, Daniel Z. Lieberman

Today's guest argues that it was cooking that caused the extraordinary transformation of our ancestors from apelike beings to Homo erectus. At the heart of this episode lies an explosive new idea: the habit of eating cooked rather than raw food permitted the digestive tract to shrink and the human brain to grow, helped structure human society, and created the male-female division of labour. As our ancestors adapted to using fire, humans emerged as "the cooking apes”. Covering everything from food-labelling to sexual division of labour to raw-food faddists, Catching Fire offers a startlingly original argument about how we came to be the social, intelligent, and sexual species we are today. A fundamental question that every culture answers in a different way, but only science can truly decide and one today’s guest deeply explore is What made us human? Our guest’s work proposes a new answer. He is a true changemaker, driven by curiosity and believes the transformative moment that gave rise to the genus Homo, one of the great transitions in the history of life, stemmed from the control of fire and the advent of cooked meals. Fire was our first technology. Cooking increased the value of our food. It changed our bodies, our brains, our use of time, and our social lives. It made us into consumers of external energy and thereby created an organism with a new relationship to nature, dependent on fuel.

The way we work is broken. It takes forever to get anything done. Meetings and emails are incessant. Bureaucracy stifles talent and creativity. Is this really the best we can do? Aaron Dignan teaches companies how to eliminate red tape, tap into collective intelligence, and rethink long-held traditions that no longer make sense. In Brave New Work, he shows you how to revolutionise the way you, your team and your company works forever. · Have fewer but better meetings 
· Create a culture of honesty, transparency and trust 
· Cut down on rules to be more efficient
 · Be more agile and adaptive 
· Reignite passion and energy throughout your organisation We welcome Aaron Dignan the author of Brave New Work, Are You Ready to Reinvent Your Organization? More about Aaron here: https://www.bravenewwork.com/

This episode offers practical guidance for teams and organisations who are serious about success in the modern economy. With so much riding on innovation, creativity, and spark, it is essential to attract and retain quality talent—but what good does this talent do if no one is able to speak their mind? The traditional culture of "fitting in" and "going along" spells doom in the knowledge economy. Success requires a continuous influx of new ideas, new challenges, and critical thought, and the interpersonal climate must not suppress, silence, ridicule or intimidate. Not every idea is good, and yes there are stupid questions, and yes dissent can slow things down, but talking through these things is an essential part of the creative process. People must be allowed to voice half-finished thoughts, ask questions from left field, and brainstorm out loud; it creates a culture in which a minor flub or momentary lapse is no big deal, and where actual mistakes are owned and corrected, and where the next left-field idea could be the next big thing. Today we explore a culture of psychological safety and provide a blueprint for bringing it to life. We explore the link between psychological safety and high performance Create a culture where it's "safe" to express ideas, ask questions, and admit mistakes nurture the level of engagement and candour required in today's knowledge economy How can we fertilise creativity, clarify goals, achieve accountability, redefine leadership, and much more. Psychological safety helps bring about this most critical transformation. We welcome the author The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth and the mother of the concept of Psychological safety, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Amy C. Edmondson More about Amy here: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6451

Today’s episode offers a bit of perspective and a lot of insight for anyone seeking long-term success. Success in business is spelled M-O-R-E: better results, faster growth, more revenue, greater efficiency. Do more. Make more. Achieve more. And do it now. Eventually, ambition turns to stress, then to frenzy, then to emptiness as once-ambitious workers endlessly trudge the hamster wheel chasing the next promotion. While top-level performance is the holy grail of business at all levels, there is another, much better way to achieve it: slow down. Yes, you read that right--S-L-O-W. This is your permission to jump off of the hamster wheel. Slowing down is not a luxury, it is a necessity. A frenetic brain simply doesn't perform at optimal levels. By maintaining a snail's pace, you actually achieve better results--at rocket speed--because you're firing on all cylinders. You'll think of new things, approach old problems from new perspectives, and breathe a breath of fresh air into everything you do. This book shows you how to achieve this state of steady, sustainable fire, and how to get further by crawling than you ever did while attempting to fly. Learn how slowing down can lead to better, faster results Achieve optimal performance thought patterns Enhance your creativity and effectiveness Build energy, revenue, and good health in a self-sustaining way You know you're capable of more, but the stress is eating away at your body, your brain, and your soul. Relax, take a deep breath, and buckle down. Clear your mind, and then put it to work. Stop juggling and start doing. Master Your Mind shows you how to supercharge your trajectory by taking it S-L-O-W. More about Roger here: https://freedompersonaldevelopment.com

It was an honour to catch up with the great Joe Pine to discuss his 20th year edition of The Experience Economy. Joe was in Dublin, Ireland recently, and we caught up for a quick chat. This is the very first innovation show live video. Apple Stores, Disney, LEGO, Starbucks. Do these names conjure up images of mere goods and services, or do they evoke something more—something visceral? Welcome to the Experience Economy, where businesses must form unique connections to secure their customers' affections and ensure their own economic vitality. This seminal book on experience innovation by Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore explores how savvy companies excel by offering compelling experiences for their customers, resulting not only in increased customer allegiance but also in a more profitable bottom line. Translated into thirteen languages, The Experience Economy has become a must-read for leaders of enterprises large and small, for-profit and nonprofit, global and local. Previous full episodes with Joe here: http://www.theinnovationshow.io/2018/01/31/ep-82-experience-economy-business-provocateur-joseph-pine-ii/ and here: http://www.theinnovationshow.io/2018/11/04/ep-129-infinite-possibility-creating-customer-value-on-the-digital-frontier-authors-kim-c-korn-and-b-joseph-pine-ii/

Today’s episode offers innovators, entrepreneurs creatives and marketing professionals a non-tech guide to artificial intelligence and machine learning —twin technologies that stand poised to revolutionise the way we exist in business and life. The future is here, and we are in the thick of it; AI and ML are already in our lives every day, whether we know it or not. The technology continues to evolve and grow, but the capabilities that make these tools world-changing for marketers are already here—whether we use them or not. Today we will touch on how we can take advantage of AI’s unparalleled and rapidly expanding power.  We will look at How we can use AI and ML in ways that speak to the human spirit? How to we translate cold technological innovation into creative tools that forge deep human connections? Written by a team of experts at the intersection of neuroscience, technology, and marketing the book we will discuss today is a must have for anyone looking at where innovation, marketing, branding and creativity is going next. We welcome the author of AI for Marketing and Product Innovation: Powerful New Tools for Predicting Trends, Connecting with Customers, and Closing Sales, Dr A.K. Pradeep https://machinevantage.com/

It is rare today for employees to stay with one organisation for the long tenures that were the norm before the Great Recession. In fact, "job hopping" is the new norm, especially for Millennials. So how can you create a culture where people will stay or return? This episode shares how to leverage this fact rather than fear it. By engendering a lifetime of loyalty from former employees, leaders can see them "return" in the form of customers, partners, clients, advocates, contractors, and even returning employees. This episode is a pragmatic answer to the outdated corporate mindset around employee turnover. Instead, it shifts the focus to creating lifetime loyalty from your alumni who will bring back business again and again. We welcome author of “The Boomerang Principle: Inspire Lifetime Loyalty from Your Employees” Lee Caraher “They’re dead to me.” “I’m not going to spend all this time training them just to have them leave.” “They’re job-hoppers who don’t know a good thing when they see it.” “I’m on a constant training revolving door—as soon as someone’s trained up, they’re out, and I have to start all over again.” “Why am I wasting my time? It’ll be faster if I do the work myself.” These are sentiments you have heard many times from entrepreneurs, CEOs, managers, and supervisors when discussing those who are known as “Job Hoppers”. We discuss: Intergenerational Teams, organisations, and workplaces Millennials, Gen X, Y, Z and Boomers Purpose and Vision The Boomerang Principle How to leverage top talent How to leave well How to create an alumni of past employees More about Lee here: http://leecaraher.com/

“A common trend we see is that experts in a field can become dogmatic and close-minded over time and they simply lose some of the intellectual curiosity that they had at the outset of their careers. And because they fail to question certain assumptions that they've made historically they aren’t listening to those new voices.” - Michael Roberto Today’s episode is an exploration of the creative process and how organisations can clear the way for innovation.  In many organisations, creative individuals face stubborn resistance to new ideas.  Managers and executives often reject innovation and unconventional approaches due to misplaced allegiance to the status quo.  Questioning established practices or challenging prevailing sentiments is frequently met with stiff resistance.  In this climate of stifled creativity and inflexible adherence to conventional wisdom, potentially game-changing ideas are dismissed outright.  Senior leaders claim to value creativity, yet often lack the knowledge to provide a creative framework.  More on Mike here: https://www.professormichaelroberto.com/

This episode touches on a pioneering account that sets out to understand the structure of the human brain – the place where mind meets matter. Until recently, the left hemisphere of our brain has been seen as the ‘rational’ side, the superior partner to the right. But is this distinction true? Drawing on a vast body of experimental research, our guest argues that while our left brain makes for a wonderful servant, it is a very poor master. As he shows, it is the right side, which is the more reliable and insightful. Without it, our world would be mechanistic – stripped of depth, colour, and value.  We welcome the author of The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, Iain McGilchrist Iain’s website: http://iainmcgilchrist.com/ The RSA animation Iain refers to: https://youtu.be/dFs9WO2B8uI Jordan Peterson and Iain having a chat: https://youtu.be/ea4mEnsTv6Q

Peer Review is the Foundation for Measuring Employee Performance But does it help employees realise their full potential? Does feedback improve a company’s bottom line? No More Feedback is book one in our guest’s new Toxic Practice book series. The book disrupts commonly held beliefs to reveal the following: Why feedback undermines employee development The impact feedback has on our 3 core human capabilities The alternative that leads to self-regulating employees Utilising examples from her decades of work, learn the flaws in the feedback trap and build conditions for employees to flourish for long-term success. We welcome author of “No More Feedback: Cultivate Consciousness at Work”, Carol Sanford, welcome to the show

"Artificial Intelligence: How 50 Successful Companies Used AI and Machine Learning to Solve Problems in Practice" is a fascinating look into how companies use AI and machine learning to solve problems The rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence has expanded beyond research labs and computer science departments and made its way into the mainstream business environment. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are cited as the most important modern business trends to drive success. AI is used in areas ranging from banking and finance to social media and marketing. This technology continues to provide innovative solutions to businesses of all sizes, sectors and industries. Understand some key terminology accessibly Expand your knowledge of recent AI advancements in technology Gain insight into the future of AI and its increasing role in business and industry Realise some threats and opportunities that AI brings to industry, society and humanity More about Bernard here: https://www.bernardmarr.com

Somewhere along the way, we got distracted. As much as we multitask, love our devices and feel like we're in control, deep down we know that something is off. Shortened attention spans, declines in critical thinking, lack of sleep, self-doubt, and decreased creativity are just some effects coming to light in an age of digital distraction. It's time to reclaim our lives. It's time to take control. Lifescale is a journey of self-discovery and growth. It's about getting back into balance and remastering our destinies. Author Brian Solis knows first-hand. He struggled with distraction and all of its ill-effects. To get his life back, he developed a set of techniques, exercises, and thought experiments designed to tame the chaos, and positively and productively navigate our day-to-day lives. Instead of falling victim to the never-ending cycle of newsfeeds, Likes, addictive apps, and boredom scrolling (aka the endless scroll), we can learn to manage our time and inspire our own lives to bring meaning back—without sacrificing the benefits that our devices bring us.  This episode is shorter than usual because our guest has just started a new business, you can find Brian Solis here: https://www.briansolis.com/