The Innovation Show

In The Hidden Spring, our guest Mark Solms takes us on the journey of Feelings. Feelings are difficult to research because they are inherently subjective, but If we exclude feelings from our account of the brain, we will never understand how it works. You tell us, to a fantastic degree, neuroscientists searching for an explanation of consciousness have ignored feelings. Mark Solms takes us on an exploration of Feelings and te work of his friend and collaborator, Jaak Panksepp.

The first in a new project on The Innovation Show. Hire For Neurosignature, Train for Skill: The Brain is Like a Waterbed "Autists are not just square pegs in the round hole of society. The real problem isn't the challenge of fitting them in, it's that in trying to do so we risk destroying their unique shape." — Paul Collins The parents of an autistic young man approached a local convenience store, hoping to secure a job for their son. The retail chain manager, hesitant due to his team's lack of experience with special needs, said he would give the kid a chance. On his inaugural day, the manager tasked the young man with organizing food items by their expiration dates on a single shelf. He figured it would take him at least the whole day. To the manager's astonishment, the young man had meticulously arranged every shelf in the store in just three hours. This young man, perceived as disabled, viewed sorting produce by date as a delightful puzzle. His neurodiversity brought joy to the task and put him in a flow state. But the story doesn't end there. Harnessing the youngster's unique ability, the retailer employed him to travel between stores, solving his 'puzzles' and sorting food items. This valuable skill saved the retailer a significant amount of wastage and helped them to achieve their sustainability goals. Today, this young man earns so much that his father left his previous job to chauffeur his son (who cannot drive) around the country, solving puzzles for the retail chain. "We all have a calling. Each one of us has a role to play on this planet. When we play the instrument that is meant for us in the orchestra of life, we will be in a constant state of bliss" - Joe Vitale The moral of the story? Everyone has a unique place if the world gives them a chance. Unfortunately, a story like this is scarce. The unfortunate reality was recognised best by one of the great geniuses of our times, Albert Einstein, who said, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by Its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid". Because the work system is set up for efficiency, it caters for the majority. It is a drain on resources to cater to everyone. It is even more challenging to interview "everyone", so we hire for homogeneity. And somewhat understandably, as human resources, people officers and hiring executives are already stretched to the maximum. Companies are dealing with a tumultuous business environment. They are preoccupied with quenching multiple fires: AI, digitalisation, remote work, supply chain volatility, business model shifts, data, GDPR, inflation, housing crises, pandemics and even wars. The modern workplace is structured like a fine-cut diamond—rigid, linear, and sparkling with hierarchy. This construct, drawn from centuries of church and military organisation, may bring a semblance of order, but it simultaneously smothers the potential of those who don't fit the mould. Neurodiverse individuals can struggle in these traditional environments. Executives often overlook them (or ignore them outright) due to their distinctive ways of processing information, unique patterns of thought and behaviour, and distinctive communication styles. To ensure that these square pegs aren't shoehorned into round holes, we need to rethink the design of our workplaces. We must build environments that foster neurodiversity rather than suppress it. The modern workplace is more like a network of networks, teams of teams, nuanced and complex. The brain works similarly; the brain is more about connection than calculation. Understanding this can help executives update the workplace. Imagine a world where everyone got to use their talents and didn't have to shore up their weaknesses and, in many cases, disguise those weaknesses. That is the focus of this week's Thursday Thought. The Brain is like a Waterbed  Imagine the brain as a waterbed. When one area is pushed down, or in the case of the brain, damaged, underdeveloped or overdeveloped, the other regions fill the void. This phenomenon mirrors what is known as the 'waterbed effect'. Just as the water in a waterbed redistributes when pressure is applied, the brain can restructure and adapt when certain abilities are not utilised. This isn't necessarily a sign of deficiency. On the contrary, it indicates the brain's wonderful compensatory capacities. When we neglect or underutilise some capacities, the brain develops and restructures in ways that enable us to get even greater capacity out of other aspects. Neurodiversity speaks to different types of intelligence, learning styles, communication styles, appetite for risk, openness to change and much more. When someone has a different "setting", they are not disabled. They are, as singer Danny Deardorff put it, we are all "differently abled." The people who succeed in the workplace (and education system) do so mainly because their intelligence matches the dominant paradigm or they have found

In The Hidden Spring, our guest Mark Solms does not dive too deeply into Karl Friston's mathematics. As you will discover, he summarises its implications, describing Friston's free energy as a quantifiable measure of how a system models the world and how it behaves. This notion leads to a very different idea of consciousness from Descartes's reason-centric version that set up the puzzling dualism of "mind" and "matter", a la Damasio's Descartes Error. Mark explores the "cortical fallacy," which refers to his view that neuroscientists who have argued that the "seat of consciousness" is in the cortex are wrong. Recent neuroscience has shed light on where this is. As Mark points out, damage to just two cubic millimetres of the upper brainstem will "obliterate all consciousness." So where does it "Spring" from? 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:12 Teeing Up "The Cortical Fallacy" with hydranencephaly, a rare condition in which the brain's cerebral hemispheres are absent and replaced by sacs filled with cerebrospinal fluid. 00:02:37 "The Cortical Fallacy" 00:18:14 The Report-ability Problem of Consciousness 00:31:00 Chemical and Pharmacological Probes 00:37:00 1949 discovery of the Reticular Activating System 00:55:25 The Reticular Activating System: Salience, Filtering, Gratitude, Law of Attraction 00:58:00 The Mr. W joke and The Global Workspace Theory

Why does it feel like something to be alive? For one of the boldest thinkers in neuroscience, solving this puzzle has been a lifetime's quest. Now, at last, Mark Solms, who discovered the brain mechanism for dreaming, has arrived at his answer. More than just a philosophical argument, the Free Energy theory will profoundly change how you understand your existence. The very idea that a breakthrough is possible may seem outrageous. Isn't consciousness intangible, beyond the reach of empirical methods? Yet Solms shows in forensic detail how misguided assumptions have concealed its nature. Only by sticking closely to the medical facts does a way past our obstacles appear. Join him on an extraordinary voyage into the strange realms beyond and learn what we are. In this episode, we cover this and more: 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:58 Consciousness research was frowned upon in Neuroscience 00:01:17 Mark's Sleep-Wake Cycle Research, REM Sleep 00:19:11 Oliver Sachs' Patients and Dopamine Treatments 00:30:31 The Challenge of Dopamine Medication and Loss of Motivation, ADHD, Parkinson's and More. 00:44:11 Neuro-Psychoanalysis and the case of Mr S and Confabulatory Amnesia 00:54:49 Fredu's Wishful System 01:01:12 Common Language and the Baggage of Language 01:07:19 Conclusion The open access article authored by Mark Solms and Karl Friston: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02714/full

Part 1 of a 9-part series with the brilliant Mark Solms. Why does it feel like something to be alive? For one of the boldest thinkers in neuroscience, solving this puzzle has been a lifetime's quest. Now, at last, Mark Solms, who discovered the brain mechanism for dreaming, has arrived at his answer. More than just a philosophical argument, the Free Energy theory will profoundly change how you understand your existence. The very idea that a breakthrough is possible may seem outrageous. Isn't consciousness intangible, beyond the reach of empirical methods? Yet Solms shows in forensic detail how misguided assumptions have concealed its nature. Only by sticking closely to the medical facts does a way past our obstacles appear. Join him on an extraordinary voyage into the strange realms beyond and learn what we are.

If you could make a change—any change you wanted—what would it be? Would it be something in your organization or your industry? Maybe something it's in your community or throughout society as a whole? Creating true change is never easy. Most startups don't survive. Most community groups never get beyond small local actions. Even when a spark catches fire and protesters swarm the streets, it often seems to fizzle out almost as fast as it started. The status quo is, almost by definition, well entrenched and never gives up without a fight. I was MC at the fifteen seconds festival in Graz, Austria and I was joined on stage by my friend and bestselling Author, Keynote Speaker and Innovation Advisor Greg Satell. Greg suggested the topic: How to Save the World From AI. This is that conversation. After the panel, Phaedra asked about using humour to lower resistance to change. Greg suggested laughtivism. Here is a video about laughtivism with Srdja Popovic: https://youtu.be/dAiDviKqWZI More about Greg Satell here: https://gregsatell.com/books/

I was MC for the tech stage at the Fifteen Seconds Festival in Graz, Austria. I had the pleasure of meeting the brilliant Phaedra Boinodiris. A fellow with the London-based Royal Society of Arts, Phaedra has focused on inclusion in technology since 1999. She is the business transformation leader for IBM's Responsible AI consulting group and serves on the leadership team of IBM's Academy of Technology. She is the author of the book "AI for the Rest of Us", and is a co-founder of the Future World Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to curating K-12 education in AI ethics. She is pursuing her PhD in AI and Ethics at University College Dublin's Smart Lab. In 2019, she won the United Nations Woman of Influence in STEM and Inclusivity Award. Women in Games International recognised her as one of the Top 100 Women in the Games Industry as she began one of the first scholarship programs in the United States for women to pursue degrees in game design and development. Find Phaedra here: https://phaedra.ai

Helen Edwards joins us for part 2 of a 2-part episode on her book, "From Marginal to Mainstream Why Tomorrow's brand growth will come from the Fringes – and How to get there first." Her book shows why businesses, marketers and entrepreneurs need to break free from their 'mainstream inhibition' and turn their attention to the margins - to confront, evaluate and embrace the 'strangeness' of behaviours, ideas and ways of life at the fringes. Using original research and analysis of the brands that have successfully backed marginal behaviours, Helen provides a framework for understanding and evaluating this non-obvious, untapped potential. Marginal behaviours may be unpromising, untested, weird, even sometimes repulsive - yet they can point the way to the future. T oday's margins are tomorrow's pot of gold - if you know where and how to look.

Helen Edwards joins us for part 1 of a 2-part episode on her book, "From Marginal to Mainstream Why Tomorrow's brand growth will come from the Fringes – and How to get there first." Her book shows why businesses, marketers and entrepreneurs need to break free from their 'mainstream inhibition' and turn their attention to the margins - to confront, evaluate and embrace the 'strangeness' of behaviours, ideas and ways of life at the fringes. Using original research and analysis of the brands that have successfully backed marginal behaviours, Helen provides a framework for understanding and evaluating this non-obvious, untapped potential. Marginal behaviours may be unpromising, untested, weird, even sometimes repulsive - yet they can point the way to the future. Today's margins are tomorrow's pot of gold - if you know where and how to look.

Our guest is the author of 15 books, over 160 practitioner articles, and over 60 Darden cases, etc. dealing with innovation and learning. Every time I catch up, he goes and writes another book. He has become a dear friend, thought partner and mentor. He honoured me by asking me to pre-read the manuscript and offer an endorsement, and this is what I wrote: "A life-changing book written by an old soul. Old souls are wise beyond their years, humble, and curious. They see the big picture, feel connected to everything, and recognize their fellow old souls. I feel like an old soul when I read Ed's books. I invite you to enjoy this book and gain wisdom beyond your years." It is a sincere pleasure to welcome the author of "Own Your Work Journey!: The Path to Meaningful Work and Happiness in the Age of Smart Technology and Radical Change." Edward D. Hess. Find Ed here: https://www.ownyourworkjourney.com And here: https://www.edhess.org

Metaphors show people how to look beyond the surface levels of life, to an enlightened truth. This book attempts to point to something deep, spiritual, and powerful. Metaphors, stories, and musings speak to the heart, not to the brain. Listen with your heart; that is where we all find inner truth. It is a great pleasure to welcome the author of "Life is a Metaphor: Metaphors, Stories and Musings for the Heart", George Pransky, joined by his wife and long-time business partner Linda Pransky, guys, you are very welcome. Find George and Linda here: https://www.pranskyandassociates.com

The aim of mind-wandering, odd as it might sound, is to improve the efficiency of your generative model. As ordained by the Free Energy Principle, a model is only efficient if it uses the minimum resources necessary to perform the work of self-organisation. That boils down to finding the simplest model that successfully predicts sensory samples of the world. The simplest model does not arise naturally from voluntary action. Voluntary action is a haphazard process. Simplicity is increased by pruning redundant synaptic connections that formed while we learned from experience. We are cutting them back to avoid 'overfitting' our models to noisy data, needlessly preserving eccentric and weak correlations. The shears are the by-now familiar mechanisms of memory consolidation and reconsolidation: by activating memories, we can strengthen, alter and even erase them. Mind-wandering is one means by which this is achieved. It involves spontaneous forebrain activity (the 'resting state' or 'default mode'), which occurs without any specific external stimulus. This kind of activity often goes on in the background through an 'imaginative exploration of our own mental space'.

We caught up with Dr Robert Hogan during his 2023 worldwide tour. Robert challenged decades of academic tradition to demonstrate personality's impact on organisational success. He pioneered the use of personality assessment to improve workplace performance. One of his key findings is that organisations should look for humility in a leader rather than charisma. A humble leader channels energy into the improvement of an organisation, whereas charismatic leaders leave a trail of chaos and ruin. Hogan says, "Organisations often overlook humble employees for leadership positions favouring charismatic ones. Charismatic people are charming and inspirational, but many turn out to be narcissistic, arrogant, and potentially exploitative. In contrast, humble leaders empower followers and promote team learning."

Today's book offers a comprehensive approach to extraordinary problem-solving. Conceived by a super-creative quartet of top-tier business consultants, the book builds upon a novel premise: What if you framed problems as if they were games of profound significance? How might you design something new or reimagine the old, particularly when competition increases, technology disrupts, change accelerates, money tightens, and the rules of success are constantly evolving? The book then shares a flexible methodology for designing powerhouse innovation GAMEs (Guidelines, Arena, Materials, Experience), Aligning teams with 5 problem-solving "lenses," building consensus behind change, and leading and managing the process. This uncommon, easy-to-read, visual book is packed with actionable strategies that will help you and your community thrive when playing The GAME of Innovation. It is a pleasure to welcome the author of The GAME of Innovation: Conquer Challenges. Level Up Your Team. Play to Win: Gamify Challenges, Level Up Your Team, and Play to Win, David Cutler

Today's book draws on a decade of research and 50 case studies to present six mindsets that help business leaders and nonprofit equivalents be more confident and creative about strategic problem-solving and be successful where others are afraid to act (or act recklessly). The concept is modelled after innovative companies such as Patagonia which are not afraid to step out into risk using small moves that build capabilities, assets and understanding. The imperfectionist strategy creates opportunities unavailable to those with conventional strategic thinking based on old structural models. The world is changing faster and faster, with increasing uncertainty and the threat of external disruption in every business and nonprofit segment. Conventional approaches to strategy development assuming a world devoid of probability no longer work. It Is a huge pleasure to welcome a friend, previous guest and author of "The Imperfectionists: Strategic Mindsets for Uncertain Times", Charles Conn. More about Charles here: https://bulletproofproblemsolving.com

Today's guest discovered that over 10 years, just 1 in 12 companies managed to jump from the middle tier of corporate performance—where 60% of companies reside, making very little economic profit—to the top quintile, where 90% of global economic profit is made. This movement does not happen by magic—it depends on your company's current position, the trends it faces, and the big moves you make to give it the strongest chance of vaulting over the competition. This is not another strategy framework. Instead, today's book shows, through empirical analysis and the experiences of dozens of companies that have successfully made multiple big moves, that you have to overcome incrementalism and corporate inertia to improve performance dramatically. We welcome the Chairman of the McKinsey Global Institute and Author of "Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick", Sven Smit.

What is it about the top tech product companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Netflix and Tesla that enables their record of consistent innovation? Most people think it's because these companies are somehow able to find and attract a level of talent that makes this innovation possible. But the real advantage these companies have is not so much who they hire, but rather how they enable their people to work together to solve hard problems and create extraordinary products. Today's guest has long worked to reveal the best practices of the most consistently innovative companies in the world. A natural companion to his bestselling-book INSPIRED, today's book tackles head-on the reason why most companies fail to truly leverage the potential of their people to innovate: product leadership. It is a great pleasure to welcome the author of EMPOWERED: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products, Marty Cagan

Disciplined Entrepreneurship will change the way you think about starting a company. Many believe that entrepreneurship cannot be taught, but great entrepreneurs aren't born with something special – they simply make great products. This book will show you how to create a successful startup through developing an innovative product. It breaks down the necessary processes into an integrated, comprehensive, and proven 24-step framework that any industrious person can learn and apply. You will learn: * Why the "F" word – focus – is crucial to a startup's success * Common obstacles that entrepreneurs face – and how to overcome them * How to use innovation to stand out in the crowd – it's not just about technology Whether you're a first-time or repeat entrepreneur, Disciplined Entrepreneurship gives you the tools you need to improve your odds of making a product people want. Author Bill Aulet is the managing director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship as well as a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Lnks mentioned in the show: Entrepreneurship 101: Who is your customer? https://www.edx.org/course/entrepreneurship-101-who-is-your-customer? Book website: https://www.d-eship.com

Does this sound familiar? * Are you always one prototype away from a solution but never seem to get there? * Do you spend most of your time fixing problems you did not anticipate? * Does it seem like everything is going well until launch when it all falls apart? * Are you getting very little return on the resources you deploy? * Does the performance of your product in the market rarely meet the predicted targets? Intrigued? So was I. If you answered yes, then you are like a young version of our guest. Today, he will teach you both the science and art to innovation. It is a pleasure to welcome a friend of the show to share insights from his latest book, "Learning to Build: The 5 Bedrock Skills of Innovators and Entrepreneurs", Bob Moesta.

Very few large companies manage to avoid stalls in revenue growth. These stalls are not attributable to the natural business cycle. Our guest's careful analysis reveals that most such stalls directly result from strategic choices made by corporate leaders. In short, stoppages in growth are almost always avoidable. This extensively researched book analyses the growth experiences of more than 600 Fortune 100 companies over the past fifty years to identify why growth stalls and to discover how to rectify a stall in progress or, even better, avoid one. Board members and executives in companies of all sizes will find this book a practical and essential resource. Our guest investigated the incidence and consequences of growth stalls in major corporations and then probed the root causes. Examining hundreds of stall points, the authors conclude that the greatest threat to a company's growth is obsolete strategic assumptions that undermine market position and innovation and talent management breakdowns. It is a pleasure to welcome back our recent guest in the Clayton Christensen tribute series, the author of "Stall Points: Most Companies Stop Growing - Yours Doesn't Have To - Derek van Bever

C.S. Lewis once said, "Good and evil increase at compound interest. That's why the little decisions we make every day are of infinite importance. the smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may go on to victories you never dreamed of" This quote came to mind as I pondered today's book. Just as the good things we do compound over time, so too do the not-so-good things, it was jinn Dryden who wrote first we make our habits then our habits make us. This is the case for the daily stresses we tolerate, our guest calls these microstresses. "Microstress: tiny moments of stress triggered by people in our personal and professional lives; stresses so routine that we barely register them but whose cumulative toll is debilitating." In its annual State of the Workplace survey, Gallup concluded that only 33 per cent of those surveyed were"thriving" in their well-being, with 44 per cent of employees reporting experiencing "a lot" of stress in a typical workday—a record high.1 But little recognised or adequately studied is the toll of this new form of stress. The toll is so subtle that we barely register it, but the cumulative effect can derail even high performers, both personally and professionally. We welcome the author of "The Microstress Effect" Karen Dillon

This is my guest appearance on The Disruptive Voice Podcast. Exploring the theories of disruptive innovation across a broad set of industries and circumstances with academics, researchers, and practitioners who have been inspired and taught by Professor Clayton M. Christensen. In his book, Undisruptable: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention for Individuals, Organizations, and Life, Aidan McCullen writes about how, centuries ago, sailors would set out to sea with maps labelled with the Latin words hic sun dracones - here be dragons - which meant that they didn't know much - if anything - about the uncharted waters and unexplored lands that awaited them. In today's volatile and uncertain world, there are parallels to be drawn between the odysseys of past and present. There are also strategies that can be employed, both by corporations and by individuals, to thrive amidst challenging circumstances, and they center on the intentional development of a mindset of permanent reinvention. Aidan himself exemplifies this mindset, having built capabilities as a professional rugby player, a digital media specialist, an innovation and change consultant, a professor at Trinity College Dublin, and host of The Innovation Show podcast, where he's in the midst of a three month series dedicated to the life, work, and theories of Clayton Christensen. In this Disruptive Voice episode, he joins Katie Zandbergen to discuss the experience of putting the series together, including not only re-reading all of Clay's books but also having in-depth conversations with his co-authors; the necessity of building capabilities before we need them; lessons we can learn from immortal jellyfish; insights gleaned from making the time to read eclectically; finding assets in ashes; and, above all, the importance of facing the dragons in our lives and of always becoming - the concept of permanent reinvention.

Today's book offers over eighty assignments, countless ideas, and memorable stories collected throughout The Stanford d.school's decade-plus history. Today's guest painstakingly curated this collection from some of the world's most inventive minds, including d.school and IDEO founder David Kelley amongst others. She is with us today to share some of those assignments to spark our creativity because a common characteristic of our audience is - without a doubt - curiosity. It is a pleasure to welcome the Executive Director of the Stanford d.school and the author of Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways, Sarah Stein Greenberg. Find Sarah here: http://www.sarahsteingreenberg.com Find d School here: https://dschool.stanford.edu/books

In Chapter 5 of Tushman and O'Reilly's "Lead and Disrupt", the authors share how Cypress Semiconductor used a similar venture funding model, complete with a one-page business plan, for initial funding to grow $40 million in businesses. With their approach called a "Federation of Entrepreneurs", Cypress is a great case study in ambidextrous leadership. In June 2019, Infineon Technologies announced it would acquire Cypress for $9.4 billion. The deal closed in April 2020, making Infineon one of the world's top 10 semiconductor manufacturers. We are joined today by that ambidextrous leader, the former CEO of Cypress TJ Rodgers and the author of Lead and Disrupt, Charles O'Reilly III.

In Chapter 5 of the Corporate Explorer, Binns, Tushman, and O'Reilly share how a Corporate Explorer created a new business inside the consulting and accounting firm Deloitte. His new unit, Deloitte Pixel, uses the "wisdom of crowds" to solve complex management problems. His first experience of the power of crowds came when he was part of a self-organised community that came together to provide relief for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. This taught him that communities of people could self-organise and do work that traditional organisation structures might struggle to perform. He then started to apply similar principles of crowds to management consulting. It is a pleasure to welcome that very Corporate Explorer, joined by his friend Andrew Binns.

There is no formula for immunity to disruption. Invincibility is an illusion. However, one factor explains why some succeed at corporate venture building. Our experience working with midsize and large legacy firms has shown us that innovation is as much about leadership as it is about the method, strategy, organization, and culture. Leaders who ignite and sustain an exploration spirit are more likely to succeed than those who rely on past strengths or success formulas to carry them through. Corporate Explorers are at the centre of every story of corporate innovations whose intense curiosity makes them dare to go where others do not. These are leaders capable of closing the gap between knowing what needs to be done to grow new businesses and doing so. Today's book is 20 years in the making. It started when our guest attended an IBM Strategic Leadership Forum at Harvard Business School led by our previous guests in this series, Michael Tushman and Charles O'Reilly III. Our guest had just joined IBM from McKinsey and was assigned as an internal consultant supporting these budding businesses. We are about to hear that story and so much more. It is a pleasure to welcome the author of "The Corporate Explorer: How Corporations Beat Startups at the Innovation Game", Andrew Binns.

Why do successful firms find it so difficult to adapt in the face of change – to innovate? In the past ten years, the importance of this question has increased as more industries and firms confront disruptive change. The pandemic has accelerated this crisis, collapsing the structures of industries from airlines and medicine to online retail and commercial real estate. Today, business leaders are obligated to investors, their employees, and communities. At the core of this challenge is helping their organizations to survive in the face of change. The original edition summarized the lessons the authors had learned as researchers and consultants over the previous two decades. Since then, they have continued to work with leaders of organizations worldwide confronting disruptive change. With updates to every chapter, including new examples and analysis, this fully revised edition incorporates the lessons and insights the authors have gained in the past five years. Two new chapters critically examine the role of organizational culture in promoting or hindering ambidexterity and its underlying fundamental disciplines. Using examples from firms such as Microsoft, General Motors, and Amazon, O'Reilly and Tushman illustrate how leaders can align their organization's cultures to fit the needed strategy and how ideation, incubation, and scaling approaches, when used all together, can successfully develop new growth businesses.

In part 2 of our Tushman and O'Reilly series, Charles O'Reilly III explores the importance of cultural alignment in encouraging change. We focus on the cases of DaVita, Microsoft and AGC. 00:01:17 Origin Story 00:05:20 Ideate, Incubate, Scale 00:07:37 Culture 00:10:50 The Tyranny of Success: Gunfire At Sea 00:24:20 The L.E.A.S.H. Model 00:21:45 Organisational Culture Change: How Microsoft Transformed Its Culture 00:26:58 DaVita: A Community First, A Company Second 00:31:51 The Importance of Language For Culture Change 00:36:12 AGC INC. IN 2019: "Your Dreams, Our Challenge." 00:42:48 Waiting Until It Is Too Late to Change

In part 1 of our Tushman and O'Reilly series, Michael Tushman examines how leadership, culture, and organizational architectures can be both critical facilitators of innovation and, not uncommonly, formidable obstacles. They demonstrate how to clarify today's critical managerial problems, use culture and commitment to promote innovation and implement strategy, and deal with changing innovation requirements as organizations evolve.

Our guest is an American scholar, educator, and religious leader who has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since April 2015 and was the church's seventeenth Commissioner of Church Education from 2015 to 2019. He served previously as the 15th president of Brigham Young University–Idaho from 2005 to 2015 and as the Harvard Business School (HBS) dean from 1995 to 2005. He was also the George F. Baker Professor of Business Administration. He published an important series of studies on technological innovation with various co-authors. The organisational linkages, or integration, required to accomplish innovation is a thread that runs through these studies. These insights culminated in his book with Carliss Baldwin, "Design Rules: The Power of Modularity," which explores the rules for integrating components that shaped innovation in the computer industry and many others. He studied economics with Clay Christensen in the Fall of 1970 and became his dissertation advisor years later alongside Joe Bower. Kim Bryce Clark is with us to celebrate the life and theories of his friend Clayton Christensen and, indeed, share some of his theories.

Global poverty is one of the world's most vexing problems. For decades, we've assumed smart, well-intentioned people will eventually be able to change the economic trajectory of poor countries. From education to healthcare, and infrastructure to eradicating corruption, too many solutions rely on trial and error. Today's guest reveals a paradox at the heart of our approach to solving poverty. While noble, our current solutions are not producing consistent results and in some cases, have exacerbated the problem. At least twenty countries that have received billions of dollars worth of aid are poorer now. The right kind of innovation not only builds companies—but also builds countries. The Prosperity Paradox identifies the limits of common economic development models, which tend to be top-down efforts. It offers a new framework for economic growth based on entrepreneurship and market-creating innovation. It's a pleasure to welcome the co-author of The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty, Efosa Ojomo. Find Efosa here: http://efosaojomo.com/

Like an old machine emitting a new and troubling sound that even the best mechanics can't diagnose, the world economy continues its halting recovery from the 2008 recession. Look at what's happening in the United States: Even today, 60 months after the scorekeepers declared the recession over, its economy is still grinding along, producing low growth and disappointing job numbers. One phenomenon we've observed is that, despite historically low-interest rates, corporations are sitting on massive amounts of cash and failing to invest in innovations that might foster growth. That got us thinking: What is causing that behaviour? Are great opportunities in short supply, or are executives failing to recognise them? And how is this behaviour pattern linked to overall economic sluggishness? What is holding growth back? Most growth theories are developed at the macroeconomic level—at 30,000 feet. That perspective is good for spotting correlations between innovation and growth. To understand what causes growth, however, you have to crawl inside companies and the minds of the people who invest in and manage them. This article (which builds on a New York Times piece Clay wrote in late 2012) attempts to form a theory from the ground up by looking at company experience. They are the words of the authors of a beautiful paper; one is Clay Christensen and the other is his collaborator, and someone you know would have co-authored at least one book with Clay. Indeed, I feel this article was headed towards becoming a book. It is a pleasure to welcome a great friend of Clay Christensen, yet another soul deeply touched by the man, the author of "Stall points" behind me on the shelf and author of the 2014 paper, The Capitalist's Dilemma, Derek van Bever.

As legendary Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt said, "People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!" Many organisations focus on creating products for narrow demographic segments rather than satisfying needs when customers want to "hire" a product to do a job. We are joined by Bob Moesta, Master Innovator, Maker and Entrepreneur; Expert Investigator of Consumers' Motivations and Decision-Making Processes; Co-Creator of the "Jobs-To-Be-Done" Theory; President of The ReWired Group. Clayton Christensen mentored Bob Moesta, and they became fast friends. Bob was one of the principal architects of the Jobs To Be Done theory. He expands on the theory and shares his respect for his friend Clay. Find Bob here: https://therewiredgroup.com

Today's book is a book about progress. Yes, it's a book about innovation—and how to get better at it. But at its core, this book is about the struggles we all face to make progress in our lives. If you're like many entrepreneurs and managers, the word "progress" might not spring to mind when you're trying to innovate. Instead, you obsess about creating the perfect product with just the right features and benefits to appeal to customers. Or you try to fine-tune your existing products continually so they're more profitable or differentiated from your competitors. You think you know what your customers would like, but it can feel hit or miss. Place enough bets, and—with a bit of luck—something will work out. But that doesn't have to be the case, not when you truly understand what causes consumers to choose. Innovation can be far more predictable and profitable, but only if you think differently. If you want to compete—and win—against luck, this is the book for you. Welcome to another episode in our very special series to celebrate the work of Clayton Christensen. Today we are joined by the co-author of Competing Against Luck, Taddy Hall.

Our guest was the Harvard Business Review editor until 2011, when today's book changed her life. She graduated from Cornell University and Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. In 2011 she was named by Ashoka as one of the world's most influential and inspiring women. She is also an incredible author and has co-authored with the late Clayton Christensen. She is here today to discuss the concepts of one of my favourite books, which also changed my life's direction. We welcome back for part 2, the co-author of How Will You Measure Your Life? Karen Dillon. Find Karen here: https://www.karendillon.net

Our guest was the Harvard Business Review editor until 2011, when today's book changed her life. She graduated from Cornell University and Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. In 2011 she was named by Ashoka as one of the world's most influential and inspiring women. She is also an incredible author and has co-authored with the late Clayton Christensen. She is here to discuss the concepts of one of my favourite books, which also changed my life's direction. We welcome the co-author of How Will You Measure Your Life? Karen Dillon. Find Karen here: https://www.karendillon.net

The genesis of today's book centred on a question posed years ago to "disruptive technologies" coauthor Clayton Christensen: where do disruptive business models come from? Christensen's best-selling books, The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution, conveyed important insight into the characteristics of disruptive technologies, business models, and companies. Today's book emerged from an eight-year collaborative study in which our guest sought a richer understanding of disruptive innovators —who they are and the innovative companies they create. The project's primary purpose was to uncover the origins of innovative—and often disruptive— business ideas. Most of us think creativity is an entirely cognitive skill; it all happens in the brain. A critical insight from our research is that one's ability to generate innovative ideas is not merely a function of the mind but also a function of behaviours. This is good news for us all because it means we can improve our creative impact if we change our behaviours We welcome Hal Gregersen, co-author of The Innovator's DNA Find Hal here: https://halgregersen.com

More than a decade ago, Mark Johnson, SAP's Henning Kagermann, and Clayton Christensen hashed out the principles of business model reinvention in the pages of the Harvard Business Review. Essentially, a business model can be broken down into four distinct elements: A value proposition 2. Resources 3. Processes, 4. A profit formula This means in practice that the new and different must be separated and even protected from the tried and true. As Mark says, "To play a new game on a new field requires a new game plan." —Clayton M. Christensen It is a pleasure to welcome the author of multiple titles, a great friend of the show, and the co-author of that 2008 paper Clay mentioned, a Top 50 HBR article of all time, Reinventing Your Business Model; Mark W. Johnson. That HBR article: https://hbr.org/2008/12/reinventing-your-business-model

Disrupting Class is an unsettling title for a book about the schooling process. The title conveys multiple meanings. The principal message is that disruption can usefully frame why schools have struggled to improve and how to solve these problems. Welcome to another episode in our series to celebrate the life work and theories of Clayton Christensen; today's episode Is on his 2008 book, Disrupting Class. We welcome the co-author of "Disrupting Class, How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns: Michael B Horn Video of Clay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbAGRSPw8ZI Timestamps: 00:00:00 Intro 00:03:02 Clayton Christensen Relationship 00:05:53 The Why of Disrupting Class 00:08:14 What Does The Theory Have to Say? 00:10:37 Intrinsic v Extrinsic Motivation and Jobs Theory 00:14:47 Interdependence and Modularity 00:22:15 Organisational Design and Authority 00:28:40 Train people how to think not what to think 00:29:37 Model of Disruptive Innovation 00:32:42 Non-Consumption Contexts 00:37:42 Resistance from the Status Quo 00:41:02 Cramming 00:46:06 RCA, Vacuum Tubes, Sony and Transistors 00:49:09 Incubation Outside the Core 00:53:43 Value Network and Ecosystem 00:56:28 The Role of Regulation 01:02:13 Jobs To Be Done Theory 01:06:12 Democratising the theories 01:10:10 Final Thoughts on Disrupting Education 01:10:10 Final Thoughts on Clayton Christensen

Some essential lessons in "Seeing What's Next" relate to disruptive innovations. Four critical lessons are: 1. Disruption is a process, not an event. 2. Disruption is a relative phenomenon. What is disruptive to one company may be sustaining to another company. 3. Different or radical technology does not equal disruptive. 4. Disruptive innovations are not limited to high-tech markets. Disruption can occur in any product or service market and can even help explain competition among national economies. Today's book shows how to use the theories of innovation developed in The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution—and introduces some new ones as well. The book argues that it is possible to predict which companies will win and which will lose in a given situation--and provides a practical framework for doing so. We are joined by a long-time collaborator, friend and student of both Clayton Christensen, and he is a long-time friend of this show, Scott D. Anthony The HBR article Scott mentioned: https://hbr.org/2022/01/persuade-your-company-to-change-before-its-too-late

The Innovator's Dilemma summarised a theory that explains how, under certain circumstances, the mechanism of profit-maximising resource allocation causes well-run companies to get killed. The Innovator's Solution, in contrast, summarises a set of theories that can guide managers who need to grow new businesses with predictable success—to become the disruptors rather than the disruptees—and ultimately kill the well-run, established competitors. To succeed predictably, disruptors must be good theorists. As they shape their growth business to be disruptive, they must align every critical process and decision to fit the disruptive circumstance. We are joined to share some concepts from The Innovator's Solution by Clayton Christensen's co-author Michael E. Raynor Articles mentioned Skate to Where the Money Will Be by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor, and Matthew Verlinden https://hbr.org/2001/11/skate-to-where-the-money-will-be Of waves and ripples: Disruption theory's newest critic tries to make a splash by Michael E. Raynor https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/innovation/disruptive-innovation-theory-lepore-response.html

The paper I wanted to share today aims to provide a common language about the research process that helps management scholars spend less time defending the style of research they have chosen and build more effectively on each other's work. I felt this series on Clayton Christensen's work and theories would be incomplete without this episode. It is a great pleasure to welcome the co-author of that paper and a person who has built on this work considerably, Paul Carlile. Papers mentioned in the episode are listed here: https://www.bu.edu/questrom/profile/paul-carlile/

Our guest's award-winning research introduces a new perspective on value creation and competition when industry boundaries break down in the wake of ecosystem disruption. His two books, The Wide Lens and Winning the Right Game, have been heralded as landmark contributions to strategy literature. Clayton Christensen described his work as "Path-breaking", and Jim Collins has called him "One of our most important strategic thinkers for the 21st century." It is a pleasure to welcome Ron Adner. Find Ron here: https://ronadner.com

In 2003, media companies and newspapers were in free fall, when American newspapers earned only a tiny percentage of revenue from digital. The Deseret News and Deseret Digital Media were the envy of others, with more than 50 percent of the organization's combined net income coming from digital sources. All this a little more than three years after a former Harvard Business School professor took over the company. How did he do it? He developed his strategy thanks to his work with Clayton Christensen and employed the research to recalibrate how Deseret is organised and does business. Today, he has recalibrated his life and reallocated his resources to causes other than the business world. More about that shortly. First and foremost, he is with us to pay tribute to his friend, share how his theories helped him perform a spectacular turnaround in the media industry and share insights from his book, "Dual Transformation, How to Reposition Today's Business While Creating the Future." It is a rare treat and absolute honour to spend time with the author of "Dual Transformation" with Scott D Anthony and Mark Johnson and "From Resource Allocation to Strategy" with our previous guest Joe Bower. Clark Gilbert, welcome to the show.

We covered the Innovator's Dilemma with Matthew Christensen in the first part of this series, but we did not cover Chapter 7 of the Innovator's Dilemma,that chapter Is entitled "Discovering New and Emerging Markets" It opens as follows: "Markets that do not exist cannot be analyzed: Suppliers and customers must discover them together. Not only are the market applications for disruptive technologies unknown at the time of their development, they are unknowable. The strategies and plans that managers formulate for confronting disruptive technological change, therefore, should be plans for learning and discovery rather than plans for execution. This is a crucial point to understand because managers who believe they know a market's future will plan and invest very differently from those who recognize the uncertainties of a developing market." You may know those to be the words of Clayton Christensen, but what you may not know is that this concept of discovery-driven growth stems from the work of a very special friend of the Innovation Show, it is an immense pleasure to welcome Rita McGrath. Topics Covered on this episode: 00:00:00 - Intro and Sponsor 00:02:28 Rita McGrath Welcome 00:04:15 Clayton Christensen Relationship 00:07:35 Discovery-Driven Planning 00:12:05 Client Example of Too Attached to Outcome 00:13:23 Redefining Failure: Failing Fast is Not Always Failing 00:14:04 Example of Varo Bank 00:18:51 KittyHawk Example 00:20:54 The Role of Luck 00:24:51 Honda SuperCub and NonConsumers 00:27:50 Jobs To Be Done and The McLean Hamburger 00:29:51 Origins of Discovery-Driven Planning 00:31:41 Most Mutations in Nature Fail, as do most ideas 00:32:47 Origins of Innovation Thinking From Schumpeter to Today 00:34:08 Discovery-Driven Planning Overview in a Nutshell 00:37:55 Disasters: EuroDisney 00:42:09 Disasters: PolaVision 00:43:15 Organisational Capabilities, Arenas and Kao 00:46:23 Selling an Idea to a CFO/Incumbent Gatekeeper 00:51:06 UPM Example: United Paper Mills Example 00:55:00 R.A.C.E. Find Rita here: https://www.ritamcgrath.com/ Find Valize here: https://www.valize.com/

In part 2 of our series to honour the work, life and theories of Clayton Christensen, Joseph Bower unpacks that famous HBR article, "Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave" This article spawned the book, "The Innovator's Dilemma" Joe Bower s the father of "Resource Allocation theory" included in his 1970 groundbreaking book, Managing the Resource Allocation Process. He has been a leader in general management at Harvard Business School for over five decades where he is the Donald K. David Professor Emeritus. He was Clayton Christensen's doctoral thesis adviser and worked with Clay to develop and stress-test his theories. Just some of the topics covered in this episode: 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:46 Managing Resource Allocation 00:02:57 Dissertation Supervisor for Clayton Christensen 00:04:11 Traits of Great Leaders 00:06:19 Resource Allocation 00:08:44 Group Decision Making 00:26:56 The Human Element of Change 00:46:46 Advice for Changemakers and Leaders 00:51:25 Getting People to Change Their Mind 00:56:29 Final Thoughts on Clayton Christensen

The logical, competent decisions of management that are critical to the success of their companies are also the reasons why they lose their positions of leadership." How can executives simultaneously do what is right for the near-term health of their established businesses while focusing adequate resources on the disruptive technologies that ultimately could lead to their downfall? The Innovator's Dilemma!!! Clayton Christensen fathered the "theory of disruptive innovation", but he also fathered wonderful people who have built on his pioneering work. We are honoured to be joined by one such pioneer. The apple does not fall far from the tree; he is offspring in mind and body and spirit we welcome Co-Founder, CEO, and Managing Partner of Rose Park Advisors, Matt Christensen, welcome to the show.

Today's book takes a fresh perspective on what it takes for people to flourish in the workplace. Our guest suggests that when we focus on neurodiversity, we respect people's deeper drives and motivations, and then companies will naturally achieve better results as a side effect. One thing we must keep in mind is that neurosignatures shouldn't be thought of as static. Our neurosignatures change throughout the day. When I get out of bed in the morning, my testosterone neurosignature is very high. But by evening, it's almost nonexistent. I don't want to conquer my goals at eight at night; I want to watch Netflix and chill. We welcome back a great friend of the show, Friederike Fabritius, a multiple-time guest with her WSJ best seller: The Brain-Friendly Workplace. Find Friederike here: https://friederikefabritius.com

The story of language is the story of humanity; the new understanding of language that our guests outline in this book radically revises our conception of ourselves. In today's book, our guests outline a revolutionary perspective that overhauls almost everything we thought we knew about language. We will hear how the game of charades reveals deep insights into how language works. We'll hear how our brain can improvise linguistic 'moves' at an astonishingly rapid rate. We'll hear how languages are in continual flux, how people without a common tongue can rapidly create a language from scratch, and why it's likely that language has been independently reinvented countless times. We will realise how the creation of language is not only essential but also changes the nature of evolution. It's a pleasure to welcome the authors of "The Language Game- How Improvisation Created Language and Changed the World", Nick Chater and Morten H. Christiansen. Find Nick here: https://www.wbs.ac.uk/about/person/nick-chater/ https://twitter.com/nickjchater Find Morten here: https://csl-lab.psych.cornell.edu https://twitter.com/mh_christiansen

Senior leaders often want to know how they can build an environment to allow innovation to thrive. In order to do that, they first need to realise that business activities live on an uncertainty continuum - that we call the Explore-Exploit Continuum - and that creating new growth engines and managing existing business(es) are on opposite ends of this continuum. A better understanding of the Explore-Exploit Continuum will help executives and innovation teams put in place the right investment and management processes, the required skill set and culture to explore new business ideas as successfully as they exploit current businesses.