Shift

In today’s episode, my co-host, Aaron Eden, and I are really excited to have our guest, Kyle Nel. Kyle is the Executive Director of Lowe's Innovation Labs and has a very unique approach toward innovation which was fun to explore in this episode. They leverage a narrative-driven approach that uses story (and comics) as a strategic tool to map out the future for Lowe’s that they are working to bring to life.  They then work backward to build that future, rapidly testing technology prototypes to solve everyday problems. In the episode, Kyle takes us through his journey of making this the working reality of Lowe's Innovation Labs. Other topics we cover are: How to get an innovation lab up and running How to use comic books to build leadership buy-in and excitement How Lowe’s is applying virtual and augmented Reality How to understand the motivation of the people in your organization How to leverage behavioral economics to drive organizational transformation

We’re really excited today to have our guest, Ryan Staggs. Ryan is the Assistant Vice President of Integration & Mobility Services at the Hospital Corporation of America. Ryan’s work revolves heavily around increasing innovation within the the IT department and making it more nimble and responsive.  In this episode, we dive into how he’s been able to make that happen. When thinking about innovation, people quickly default to new products so hearing about the impact that Ryan has been able to drive by transforming IT department functions is refreshing. Other topics include: Innovating how the core business works (within IT, HR, finance, et cetera) Transforming how the IT department functions to be more nimble and responsive Creating a more fulfilling work environment by discovering and creating new value Innovating at scale in a Fortune 70 healthcare organization Leveraging the SEE model for IT - Stabilize, Enhance, Expand Being fearless and willing to fail Building an interactive data visualization for E

In today’s episode, we’re really excited to have with us Vanessa Moore, the VP of Programs and Operations at the San Diego Food Bank. They are striving to end hunger in their area by serving over 370,000 individuals every month. Not too long ago, they went through one of our Lean Innovation Bootcamps tailored for Non-Profit and Social Impact organizations. As a result, they reinvented their volunteer program to better serve their stakeholders and have changed the way the organization functions when it comes to creating new value. We’re also lucky to have as my co-host, Amelia Klawon, one of the leaders of our Non-Profit and Social Impact organization programs and services. If you’re interested in learning more about that, please don’t hesitate to reach out to her via email at amelia@movestheneedle.com Other topics that we’ll discuss include: How the San Diego Food Bank goes about identifying new ways to create value How to put a repeatable, creative system in place How they reinvented their volunteer progra

As an intrapreneur, dealing with compliance can certainly be a hurdle to overcome. In today’s episode, Moves the Needle CEO Brant Cooper and I are excited to have Stephen Poor talk about how compliance departments can better enable innovation and how law firms can be more innovative. Stephen is the Chairman of Seyfarth Shaw, an international law firm comprised of over 900 lawyers. Whether you’re a lawyer or an intrapreneur, you’re in for a treat.   If you’d like to have a conversation around how you can transform your organization to make discovering new value business as usual, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at sam@movestheneedle.com. I’d be happy to help you get a call scheduled with one of our Innovation Champions. With that said, let’s jump into the show where we’ll discuss:     - Similarities and differences between innovating in the legal industry vs other types of organizations - The ideal relationship between innovation departments/intrapreneurs and compliance - How Seyfarth goes about innovating u

John leads the empowered innovation program within BAE, which is a nearly $20 billion multinational defense, security and aerospace company.   In the episode we dive into how they’ve organized their innovation strategy into 4 operational buckets and how they not only identify new products, but innovate on the core business. We also talk about how they have done a fantastic job getting rid of the distance between the end customer and new product development teams amongst other things.   Also, we’re getting great feedback on our Lean Innovation Assessment tool, so if you want to try it out and identify opportunities for growth in your organization, email me at sam@movestheneedle.com and I’d be happy to pass it along in exchange for some feedback.   Other topics in today’s episode include: Balancing internal innovation with external innovation scouting. How BAE organizes their innovation strategy into 4 operational buckets. Innovating upon the core business functions in addition to exploring and implementing ne

Millennials play a vital part in the workforce of today and tomorrow. Yet per HBR's article, What Do Millennials Really Want at Work? The Same Things the Rest of Us Do, ‘it’s likely that companies pursuing millennial-specific employee engagement strategies are wasting time, focus, and money'.   This episode features a recording from a live webcast discussion between Aaron Eden and Marilyn Gorman! Aaron Eden focuses on helping organizations act more entrepreneurial as the Co-Founder and COO of Moves the Needle. Prior to MTN, Aaron was the first Product Manager at Intuit (in HR) and played a key role in helping his team stop thinking about HR as a cost center and think about it as a way to drive competitive advantage. As a result, he re-designed the personal growth & development program, university recruiting program and leadership development program. Beyond his work in HR, Aaron played a key role in the development of Intuit's Innovation Program through launching a series of successful Lean Startup worksh

In this episode, we’re really excited to have Cholpon Rosengren, Director of Family Support at United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, on the show together with my co-host and leader of our Non-Profit and Social Impact programs and services Heather Hiscox.   In this episode, we'll discuss: - How to effectively apply lean innovation within a non-profit and social impact context. - What mindset shifts occurred during our Lean Innovation bootcamp with NPOs. - How the United Way was able to drive impact and create new value using lean innovation. - How Cholpon overcame various challenges to get the ball rolling with this new way to work. - How this new way of working transforms the way non-profits and social impact organizations function.

Usually we're focused on helping you create innovation from within, yet M&A’s play an integral role in a well rounded innovation strategy.   In today’s podcast episode we’re excited to switch things up and focus on lessons learned doing mergers & acquisitions.   Some of the key topics we cover in this episode are:   The role M&A has in a company’s innovation practice. Acquiring technology vs. human capital. Ways to prevent culture clash and a deal from going bad. How the 3 E’s (Empathy, Experiments and Evidence) apply to M&A. How to run experiments on M&A’s.   Listen here or don’t hesitate to pass it along to someone else in your organization who you think may enjoy it.

When trying to transform organizations to become more innovative, it’s easy to forget about the interpersonal side and get caught up in the process. In today’s episode we dive into just that: how can you better understand your colleagues’ preferred styles of communication and leadership, so you can work together in a way that they’ll be most receptive. Our guest Tony Cooper, CEO of Market Force, has become an expert at helping people and organizations these traits so companies can remove these “invisible blockers” and drive the impact their after. Our other guest, Kyle McCray, Innovation Manager at American Pacific Mortgage company, shares stories of how he’s leveraged this awareness to drive impact through innovating on the core business instead of focusing on flashy new products. We also have an offer in there for that’s currently exclusive to our podcast listeners so be sure to check it out.

Today’s episode may be our best one yet (and no, I don’t say that every time). In this episode, we go through some of the most powerful snippets from all of our podcasts in 2016. In it we have clips from the Operations Lead at Spotify, an Innovation Leader at Intuit and much more. The topics we cover are: - What is the end goal of innovation. - How have Pearson and Spotify scaled their innovation initiatives. - How does Pearson evaluate and allocate funding to new products. - How does Intuit measure success. - What do leaders want to see most. - Why we’re driving innovation and how breakthrough innovation really occurs. This one is not to be missed. Also, we’re getting ready to do a Q&A episode so if you have any questions you’d like to hear our founders Brant Cooper or Aaron Eden answer, please pass it along via email to sam@movestheneedle.com!

Today’s episode is hands down one of my favorites as it’s filled with practical tips, tactics and stories to building a more entrepreneurial organization. It’s our first time doing a host chat, where I’m joined by the Moves the Needle Co-founders, Brant Cooper and Aaron Eden. In it, we cover: - Why you need to start by identifying problems and opportunities within core business lines. - How to get buy-in by tying innovation into your leaders’ and company’s strategic priorities using the leadership zoom tool. - Why we need to redefine the word innovation. - Which mindset shifts leaders need to undertake to create an entrepreneurial culture. - What sort of results leaders want to see. - How to navigate the ego’s of your bosses. - What are some things you can do right now to build more momentum at your organization.

In today’s episode, Aaron Eden and I are really excited to have Intuit Innovation Leader, Bennett Blank join us as Aaron and Bennett talk us through their journey of 100 Startups in 100 Days at Intuit. We also dive into how 100 Startups in 100 Days has evolved since then as Moves the Needle has begun to run it within other organizations looking to act the same way they’re pushing their innovation teams to, bold, fast, and with impact.

In today's episode we're honored to have our guest and Moves the Needle executive advisor Simeon Sessley. Prior to becoming the Director of Strategic Programs at World 50, Simeon played a paramount role in the development of GE Fastworks internal coaching community. Along with my co-host Brant Cooper, we cover a lot of ground and dive into the following topics and then some: Focusing on innovation throughout all business functions, instead of just new products. Building a thriving coaches community within GE. How to effectively balance H1, H2, and H3 work. What H0 is, and how can you drive innovation there. Focusing on changing the way people work through values, systems and structures. The importance of starting with why. And much more...

Ghassouli, People, Finance & Strategy Director at Avito, talks us through how he proactively used the M&A he went through with Avito as an opportunity to create a better culture after taking the passive approach began to lead to some problems. In the episode dive into: How he created workshops to collaboratively create a new set of values between the two organizations. How they doubled down on those values and identified measurable behaviors to ensure the values were embodied. Behaviors that are still measured today even 2 years after the merger. How they’ve gone about structuring an innovation lab within the organization. How he uses the lean startup methodology to run experiments beyond product development.

In today’s episode we’re excited to have Sonja Kresojevic, the VP of Product Lifecycle at Pearson. In the episode we cover: - How teams leverage the product lifecycle framework to focus on the right things at the right time. - How Pearson funds different early stage projects based on stage specific criteria and metrics. - How Pearson has scaled lean innovation throughout the business and created a culture that enables innovation.

In this episode, we’re honored to have Bennett Blank, Innovation Leader at Intuit, talk about how Intuit has spread innovation thinking throughout the entire organization. Bennett is a Lean Startup in the Enterprise veteran so you’re in for a treat. Here’s some of the key things we talk about: What customer benefit metrics are, how you can identify them, and how they can set teams up for success instead of focusing directly on business impact. How Bennett has gone from working in the trenches as a product manager and designer to leading transformation throughout the entire organization. How Intuit applies Lean Startup to HR and other functions throughout the business. The strategic levers of transformational change Intuit is using to change the way employees work.

In this episode, we interview Kelly McAdoo, the City Manager of the City of Hayward. We cover lots of ground, including deep dives into topics like: How Kelly has been driving impact through creating an entrepreneurial culture within a bureaucratic organization. How City of Hayward has been able to drastically shorten the scoping process for new projects using Lean Innovation. How City of Hayward is redefining the way public sector entities should function in the 21st century.

In this episode, Aaron Eden (MTN Co-Founder and COO) and I interview Neal Cross, the Chief Innovation Officer of DBS. DBS is a bang headquartered in Singapore that generated $11 billion in revenue and $4.5 billion in profit last year. They know the finance landscape is changing rapidly, and as a result are on a inspiring journey towards not only creating an innovation group within the bank, but turning the entire bank itself into an innovation group.   In this episode we discuss: How this year they’re on route to have put about 5000 people through the lean startup and design thinking training. How valuable it’s been to have a CEO who doesn’t just talk about innovation, but backs it up with a deep understanding, money and KPI’s that revolve around human centered design and experimentation. How Neal focuses on increasing the ambition of employees along with providing protection, education, and freedom. How he was able to get the bank to run 1000 lean startup experiments in 2015 by matching up a broad internal

In this episode we’re excited to have Jason Harris, Director of Corporate Marketing & Communications for UI LABS. UI LABS is a first-of-its-kind innovation accelerator, addressing problems too big for any one organization to solve on its own. The challenges we are addressing in manufacturing and smart cities are at the intersection of digital convergence: computing, big data, and the Internet of Things (IOT).    In this episode, we dive into lots of powerful topics, tips and tactics like: How UI labs has brought together corporations and public sector entities build a powerful applied research and commercialization engine. The benefits of collaborative corporate innovation. How the Digital Manufacturing And Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) works with partners in industry, academia, the nonprofit sector and government, DMDII to sponsor research projects in digital manufacturing and design, disseminate the lessons learned, and help educate the workforce of tomorrow.  How their City Digital program funct

In our first episode, we're thrilled to interview Simon Marcus, the VP of Operations at Spotify. As part of the leadership team at Spotify, Simon has played a pivotal role in the development of Spotify Rhythm, Spotify's internal innovation program. Prior to Spotify, he was Chief Operating Officer of The Library Corporation, where he lead an extraordinary whole-company lean/agile practice. He also co-founded TLC Labs, an enterprise innovation lab at the forefront of exploring change management, organizational design, process improvement, product design, and user experience. In this episode, join us as we cover: - How Spotify manages “bets," strategic decision making and execution with Spotify Rhythm - How Simon is focusing on creating an environment where employees are comfortable to “tinker in a corner” - Why Simon is skeptical of over-investing into internal branding when it comes to fostering internal adoption of “innovation initiatives” - How Spotify manages areas of exploration across a simple portfolio K