In a world where the term 'innovation' risks becoming a buzzword, understanding its true essence is crucial. Joia Spooner-Fleming, a seasoned innovation executive with a decades-long track record of developing people and products at Procter & Gamble, joins the show to discuss what innovation looks like in practice.

Throughout the process of transforming ideas into value, it's critical to distinguish invention from innovation. Joia emphasizes that true innovation requires a solution that is not only novel but also significantly improves upon existing alternatives.

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:57 - What is Innovation?

2:48 - Market's Feedback Loop

4:53 - Decision Making Process

6:18 - What isn't innovation?

8:11 - Human Curiosity and Solution

9:41 - Organizational Innovation

10:32 - Holistic Innovation Strategy

14:43 - Sustainability Innovation

17:31 - Innovation in Life

25:00 - Advice to Innovators
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Joia Spooner-Fleming is an innovation executive and independent consultant, after a 22 year successful career with P&G. Most recently she was R&D VP for Gillette. Joia has a proven track record of transformational innovation leadership and results. She is adept at partnering with leaders across the business to build unified strategies that capitalize on emerging trends and grow brands. Joia excels at building innovation organizations. She holds a chemical engineering degree from MIT. Outside her professional life, Joia is a voracious reader, devoted mother of two children, and loves walking with her dog.

More about our guest:

• Joia Spooner-Fleming

OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

This week, delve into the world of innovation with us on “What is Innovation?” together with Janice Fraser, an innovation expert and author. Explore the challenges of intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship, including imposter syndrome, and uncover the pivotal roles of courage and confidence in venture funding.

More about our guest:

Janice Fraser built a storied career in Silicon Valley as a startup founder, product manager, and confidante for entrepreneurs and enterprise executives alike. From creating the second-ever personal interface to the web in the early days of Netscape, to leading the world’s first user experience firm, Janice has often found herself “sitting at the bleeding edge and making it boring” by figuring out how to make the latest evolutions repeatable, useful, and commonplace.

Janice currently supports “VLOs” (very large organizations) including P&G in becoming more innovative and agile. She also guides several venture-funded startup companies, federal government entities, and non-profit organizations, helping them do more with less, make bold moves and achieve extraordinary results. She sits on the board of the Ohio University Entrepreneur Center and served on The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshop committee focused on the innovation ecosystem for NASA.

Over the years, Janice has been a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School, Berkeley HAAS School of Business, Kellogg School of Management, and Stanford, among others. Drawing on her almost three decades of coaching hundreds of leaders and teams to achieve success, Janice is a sought-after speaker offering audiences around the world the opportunity to learn from her experiences and sharpen their leadership skills, build stronger teams, make meaningful progress quickly, and drive business transformation. Her exuberant big-stage keynotes and practical, empathetic brown-bag talks have become cult favorites.

She is the coauthor of Farther, Faster, and Far Less Drama: How to Reduce Stress and Make Extraordinary Progress Wherever You Lead (April 2023), which outlines a groundbreaking framework for modern leadership that empowers greater alignment and quicker decision-making.

Know more about him here:

• Janice Fraser
• Book: Farther, Faster, and Far Less Drama: How to Reduce Stress and Make Extraordinary Progress Wherever You Lead

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:54 - What is Innovation?

3:39 - Intentionality and routinization

5:08 - Progress and taking space

7:33 - Detrimental aggressive optimism

11:59 - Teaching, impassioned optimism, and the business bestseller lists

14:26 - Statistical data, capital control, and disruptive innovation

19:02 - Disruptive (authentic) innovation

22:49 - Early Innovation adopters and the bell curve

26:26 - Mutual problem between intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship journey

29:53 - Courage, Confidence, Imposter Syndrome, and venture funding

32:09 - Enacting courage

26:14 - Book: farther, faster, and far less drama by Janice Fraser

39:06 - Advice to Innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management

🎙️ This week on "What is Innovation?" podcast, we're joined by Ajay Malik, CEO of Secomind.ai and AI thought leader

Ajay defines innovation as figuring out how and what to do better. Hear how he connects this definition to his deep knowledge of applying AI to businesses, seeing it as an enabler to that process.

Let us know what you think! 🎧✨

More about our guest:

Ajay Malik is a recognized thought leader in the field of AI and technology, with over 90 patents to his name and two influential books published. His extensive experience and deep technical knowledge make him a captivating speaker, capable of providing valuable insights on AI integration for businesses of all sizes. His appearance on a podcast could attract a large audience of tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and business leaders interested in leveraging AI for business growth.

Ajay's expertise in AI investment and strategic planning can provide valuable insights for listeners interested in financial planning, risk management, and wealth creation. His discussion on identifying the right opportunities and leveraging AI to stay ahead of industry trends could attract a significant audience of investors and business owners looking for guidance on incorporating AI into their business strategies. As the driving force behind Secomind, a company dedicated to seamlessly incorporating AI into products, workflows, and customer support processes, Ajay has demonstrated his ability to bridge the gap between hardware, embedded software, and cloud applications. His insights on the intersection of AI, technology, and business excellence could attract a large audience of listeners interested in retirement planning, wealth creation, and investment management.

Know more about him here:

• Ajay Malik
• Company: Secomind.ai

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Episode Guide:

0:00 - Intro

0:48 - What is Innovation?

3:41 - AI: an enabler of innovation

6:22 - AI beyond automation

8:27 - Applying AI in Secomind.ai

10:31 - AI: The seventh sense

13:33 - Removing bias in AI and innovation

15:47 - Role of AI in process of innovation

16:45 - Advice: Driving innovation adoption in organizations

22:24: - Book: Sapiens

24:41 - Advice to innovators
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.