The Innovation Engine Podcast

Jane McDonnell & Trevor Knoblich of the Online News Association join us on this week's podcast to discuss the future of media. We talk about the myriad ways the media & entertainment landscape has changed in recent years, as well as how emerging technologies and social media platforms are changing the way we both consume and create the news. Jane McDonnell is the Executive Director of the ONA, where she manages the day-to-day operations of the world’s largest membership organization of digital journalists. Trevor Knoblich is the Digital Director of the ONA, where he connects journalists to emerging tools, technology, training and resources, and leads programming for the ONA’s annual conference. You can follow Jane on Twitter at @JaneONA and Trevor at @MobileTrevor. 

Dr. Timothy Chou joins us to discuss his recently published Cloud Computing Trilogy. We talk about ways cloud computing is enabling a new breed of software applications and why he thinks you should know that "service is the delivery of information that's personal and relevant to you." Vince Vasquez also joins us for this episode of the podcast. Vince is the founder of Cloudbook, which published Dr. Chou's Cloud Computing Trilogy. Dr. Timothy Chou is an author, cloud computing expert, and lecturer at Stanford University. Between 1999 and 2005, Dr. Chou served as President of Oracle On Demand, the fastest-growing business inside Oracle during that time. Dr. Chou is also the author of The End of Software: Transforming Your Business for the On Demand Future. His thoughts have been cited in popular publications like Forbes, the New York Times, NPR, Business Week, and The Economist. You can follow Dr. Timothy Chou on Twitter at @timothychou. 

Mike Shipulski, the #1-ranked innovation blogger of 2014, joins us to talk about starting the innovation process. We discuss the concept of an Innovation Burst Event, why extreme time limits can spark creativity, and why the 2 most valuable phrases in the corporate lexicon are "Thank you for your amazing work" and "What kind of pizza would you like?" Mike Shipulski is a Product Development Executive with 15+ years of experience leading product development efforts. In 2014, Mike was named the #1 innovation blogger in the world at InnovationExcellence.com. He was a Six Sigma at GE when the company started its Six Sigma efforts. Mike writes about innovation every week at www.shipulski.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @MikeShipulski.  

On this week's episode of the podcast we discuss "The Innovator's Method." We cover topics like how lean start-up principles and design thinking can help accelerate the innovation process, the 4-step process that makes up the innovator’s method, and the merits of using Minimum Awesome Products to test out concepts and validate ideas. Nathan Furr joins us to discuss those topics and more. Nathan is an author, speaker, and Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Strategy at Brigham Young University. His most recent book is The Innovator’s Method: Bringing the Lean Start-Up Into Your Organization, which he co-authored with Jeff Dyer. Nathan is also the co-author of Nail It Then Scale It: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation, which he wrote with Paul Ahlstrom. Among the outlets in which Nathan's writing has appeared are Forbes.com and the Harvard Business Review. 

Best-selling author and innovation expert Rowan Gibson joins us for the 53rd episode of the podcast to discuss his latest book, The Four Lenses of Innovation: A Power Tool for Creative Thinking. Rowan shares examples of companies like Dell and Rolls Royce that have found success by challenging orthodoxies, talks about how the concept of seeing the future in the present applies to innovating successfully, and discusses the 3 distinct phases in the act of creation.  Rowan Gibson is a world-renowned innovation expert who has served as a keynote speaker on the subject of innovation in 60 countries around the world. Rowan is the internationally bestselling author of two major books on corporate innovation and business strategy: Innovation to the Core and Rethinking the Future, both of which are published today in over 20 languages. Rowan is also the co-founder of Innovation Excellence.com, the most popular innovation website in the world, built on an international group of over 22,000 members from 175 countries. 

Best-selling author and innovation expert Rowan Gibson joins us for the 52nd episode of the podcast to discuss his latest book, The Four Lenses of Innovation: A Power Tool for Creative Thinking. We talk about each of the four lenses and how they can be used to drive innovation, how the four lenses can be employed to emulate the mind of the innovator, and what we can learn about innovation from the greatest minds of the Renaissance. This is the first part of a 2-part interview, the 2nd half of which will air next week.  Rowan Gibson is a world-renowned innovation expert who has served as a keynote speaker on the subject of innovation in 60 countries around the world. Rowan is the internationally bestselling author of two major books on corporate innovation and business strategy: Innovation to the Core and Rethinking the Future, both of which are published today in over 20 languages. Rowan is also the co-founder of Innovation Excellence.com, the most popular innovation website in the world, built on an international group of over 22,000 members from 175 countries. 

On this episode of the podcast we look at the Internet of Things and how connected devices will change the way we interact with the world around us. We look at how the Internet of Things will eventually mean that the Internet as we know it fades into the background of our everyday lives, how mobile and the Internet of Things will feed off of one another symbiotically, and what a typical "day in the life" might look like thanks to the IoT in 5-10 years. Alex Besen joins us to discuss these topics and more. Alex is the Founder & CEO of The Besen Group, a consulting organization with expertise in the mobile data industry. Alex has over two decades of experience in the mobile industry, managing a network of independent consultants and channel partners. He also provides advisory and training services to corporate executives in the mobile data industry. Alex is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has spoken at events like the Sprint Mobility in Action Summit 2014, MVNO World Congress 2013, and CCA Global Expo 2013. He has also been quoted in leading publications like USA Today, the New York Times, Business Week, Computerworld, the Chicago Tribune, and Information Week.

3Pillar Global CEO David DeWolf joins us for a very special episode of the podcast - episode number 50! David plays host on this episode of the podcast and interviews the regular host of the podcast, Will Sherlin. David and Will talk about the 3 main innovation lessons Will has learned from podcast guests, some of the highlights and lowlights from the first year of "The Innovation Engine" podcast, and what training to dunk a basketball and innovating successfully have in common.

Tim Hurson, one of the world's leading experts on corporate innovation, joins us to talk about the power of productive thinking. Productive thinking is the innovation and problem-solving construct that Tim created and teaches alongside his colleagues at ThinkX, an innovation consulting firm that he co-founded. Among the topics we talk about on this episode of the podcast are why the act of thinking can actually be physically demanding, the 6 steps in the productive thinking process, and how to avoid pitfalls like Monkey Mind, Gator's Brain, and the Elephant's Tether. Tim is the author of Think Better: An Innovator’s Guide to Productive Thinking and co-author of Never Be Closing: How to Sell Better Without Screwing Your Clients, Your Colleagues, or Yourself. Throughout his career, he has helped Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 organizations in the US, Canada, and the UK create innovation, marketing, new product, and workplace transformation programs. He’s a Founding Partner at ThinkX Intellectual Capital, an innovation consulting firm that teaches Productive Thinking, a core skill for developing new products and processes, new organizational structures, new marketing and business strategies, and solve problems in general. 

Nir Eyal joins us to talk about how to build habit-forming products. We discuss his recently published book Hooked, which debuted on the Wall Street Journal best-seller list. Among the topics we discuss are his 4-step process for building products that keep users coming back, how tools like the scarcity heuristic can be used to drive intended behaviors, and what the framing effect tells us about the importance of perceived value. In addition to his writing, Nir speaks frequently at industry conferences and Fortune 500 companies. Among the outlets for which he writes frequently are TechCrunch, Forbes, and Psychology Today. He has co-founded 2 start-ups, including AdNectar, which was funded by Kleiner Perkins, and he has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.