Innovation Answered

The Podcast for Corporate Innovators

Innovation at large, established companies is hard. So we made a podcast to help you overcome obstacles and create change at your organization.

Welcome to Innovation Answered, the podcast for corporate innovators. In each episode, we explore one major roadblock to change at large organizations. We gather advice from experts — academics, reporters, our strategic partners, and innovation executives like you — to help you move your industry forward.

If you want to suggest a topic for this podcast or send feedback, email podcast@innovationleader.com.

Innovation Answered, Inside the C-Suite

Sonesta Hotels’ COO on Growth During a Pandemic

2021-04-13T10:00:00+01:00By Kaitlin Milliken

How did Sonesta grow from 58 hotels in November of 2020 to 1,200 locations today? Vera Manoukian, Chief Operating Officer, explains and shares how innovators can work with operation teams.

Innovation Answered, Bonus Episodes

Trek Exec on Tackling a Bike Shortage and Early R&D

Chad Manuell, Director of Engineering at Trek Bicycle, discusses the surge in demand for bikes and how his team approaches early innovation.

Leaders from Lyft, Fitbit on How Diversity Drives Innovation

Leaders with experience at Fitbit, Lyft, and the Alliance for Smiles discuss hiring diversely and support talent in an equitable environment.

Essential Data for Finishing 2020 Strong

What does the data show about how corporate innovation is changing? Innovation Leader’s editorial team shares data from four recent reports.

Digital & Business Model Transformation at Rosetta Stone

Matthew Hulett, President of Language at the company, discusses how Rosetta Stone pivoted from a physical product to a subscription service…

Podcast: The Biggest Barriers to Innovation

David Lee shares how UPS has adapted to new demands in shipping and gives tips for innovators in 2020. He also reads his article “The Biggest Barriers to Innovation.”

Podcast: Bringing Higher Education into the Digital Age

Experts in higher education share how they’ve tackled the challenges of 2020. Guests include Barnard President Sian Beliock and the co-CEO of edX, Adam Medros.

How CVS, Carhartt & Elsevier Pivoted to Face COVID-19

How have teams pivoted to face the challenges of 2020? Rhett Alden of Elsevier discusses launching a COVID-19 Resource Center in four weeks. Innovators from Carhartt and CVS share insights.

What Comes Back and When? Exploring Life After COVID-19

What’s changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic? What’s likely to come back? And when? Innovation Leader’s ”What the Future Looks Like” report seeks to answer that question.

Pursuing Innovation During COVID-19

Experts share best practices for teams as they navigate uncertainty. Topics include shifting teams’ priorities, switching to remote work, and cultivating a “service oriented” mindset.

Podcast: Loonshots — Crazy Ideas that Just Might Work

How can companies embrace risky — but potentially revolutionary — ideas? Authors Safi Bahcall and Hugh Molotsi tackle this question at Innovation Leader’s 2019 Impact event.

Drones, Self-Driving Cars & the Silicon Valley Problem

While drones present a world of opportunities, these unmanned aerial vehicles face regulations across different levels of government. Chris Anderson — CEO of 3DR, a drone software company — shared his experience building and deploying drones at Innovation Leader’s 2019 Impact event. During the conversation, Anderson also discusses use cases ...

Inside the Mind of Bob Metcalfe

What’s the difference between innovation & invention? Bob Metcalfe shares. He also discusses founding 3Com and the company culture that allowed him to invent Ethernet…

At Experian, Data is an Innovator’s Best Friend

How are big companies working with data? Find out how Experian’s DataLabs spread innovative data solutions across the company. Listen to the full episode here…

The State of Innovation 2019

What are corporate innovators thinking about in 2019? We sat down with Professor Gary Pisano of Harvard Business School and Innovation Leader’s Scott Kirsner to find out.

TGI Fridays and AI? The Chains’ Chief Experience Officer Explains

How are companies implementing AI? We talked to Sherif Mityas, the Chief Experience Officer of TGI Fridays, to find out how AI helps the company stay relevant with customers.

Lyft, Tesla & the Future of Mobility

What will the future of mobility look like? We talked to Jon McNeill, COO of Lyft, about what consumers can expect moving forward. Jon also discussed his experience at Tesla.

Sports iLab’s Angela Ruggiero on Sports and Technology

How are sports and technology converging? Angela Ruggiero, CEO of the Sports Innovation Lab, talks about how technology can help teams avoid disruption...

Former Pirelli Exec on Digital Transformation as a Team Sport

What role should digital transformation play at your company? Former Chief Innovation Officer Marcelo De Santis shares advice in this podcast bonus episode...

Innovation Answered, Season 4

Leveling Up Customer Empathy at Fitbit & More

2020-07-07T10:00:00+01:00By Kaitlin Milliken

How can teams use empathy to understand their customers? Irina Kozlovskaya, Director of Industrial Design at Fitbit, shares how her team uses empathy to design better products.

How R&D Keeps the CPG Industry on the Cutting-Edge

2020-06-23T10:00:00+01:00By Kaitlin Milliken

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) describes any product that requires routine replacement — from personal care to food. No matter the item, companies in this space have to create new offerings that shoppers will buy again and again. To find out how big bets empower the process, we talked to Ranjani ...

Podcast: Why Corporate Innovators are Like Pirates in the Navy

2020-06-16T10:00:00+01:00By Molli DeRosa

In this installment of Innovation Answered: Essentials, Tendayi Viki offers a look at his most recent book and discusses the importance of the “privateer” attitude.

How AARP Keeps the 50+ Market at the Center of Innovation

2020-06-09T10:00:00+01:00By Molli DeRosa

How does AARP use innovation to empower people as they age? Vice President of Product and Startup Engagement Rick Robinson explains…

How Changemakers Innovate Within Government Agencies

2020-05-26T10:00:00+01:00By Kaitlin Milliken

Innovators in the public and private sectors face many of the same challenges: There’s resistance to change and internal politics that can bog down progress. However, teams in the government may have tighter budgets that come directly from tax payer dollars. These teams also face demands from both supervisors and ...

Running High-Performance Innovation Labs

2020-05-19T10:00:00+01:00By Kaitlin Milliken

How have innovation labs shifted during this period of remote work? What sets labs up for success? Linda Elkins, Chief Technical Officer of W.L. Gore’s Silicon Valley Innovation Center, shares.

What Corporate Venture Funds can Learn From VCs

2020-05-12T10:00:00+01:00By Kaitlin Milliken

What are the risks when large companies dive into the venture capital game? How are venture teams responding to challenges posed by COVID-19? All that and more in this episode…

Creating Culture at Wayfair

2020-05-05T10:00:00+01:00By Molli DeRosa, Additional Reporting by Kelsey Alpaio and Kaitlin Milliken

How can digitally-native companies maintain their innovative culture as they grow? To find out, we visited Wayfair’s co-founder Steve Conine at the company’s Boston office.

Coming Soon: Innovation Answered Season 4

2020-04-07T15:00:00+01:00By Kaitlin Milliken, Molli DeRosa

Innovation Answered’s fourth season starts May 5, 2020. Find out what you can expect to learn from the show’s producer, Kaitlin Milliken, and intern, Molli DeRosa.

Innovation Answered, Season 3

Failure: The Other F-Word

2019-12-17T15:00:00+00:00By Kaitlin Milliken, Molli DeRosa

Innovators often repeat the mantra, “Fail fast, fail cheap.” But is that the right approach to projects that flop?

Inside the Mind of Alex Osterwalder

2019-12-10T11:00:00+00:00By Kaitlin Milliken, Kelsey Alpaio

“What’s the latest from the mind of Alex Osterwalder?” We sat down with Osterwalder to discuss business model innovation and the themes in his upcoming book.

Innovation Essentials: Revera Senior Living

2019-12-03T11:00:00+00:00By Molli DeRosa, Kaitlin Milliken

“How can teams use co-creation to innovate?” Innovation Leader’s Kaitlin Milliken discusses how the team at Revera Senior Living navigates this challenge.

Inside the Supply Chain

2019-11-19T11:00:00+00:00By Kaitlin Milliken

How can supply chain innovation deliver serious value? Guests from Retail Business Services, J&J, and MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics discuss.

Getting Innovation Started

2019-11-12T11:00:00+00:00By Kaitlin Milliken

How can teams set innovation initiatives up for success? To get best practices, we sat down with guests from Marriott, Comcast NBCUniversal, and Innosight.

Fast Times in Quick Service

2019-11-05T11:00:00+00:00By Kaitlin Milliken

What can we expect from the future of fast food? We sat down with Jessica Anselmi, Panera’s Director of Innovation and Category Growth, to find out…

Innovation Essentials: The Nature Conservancy

2019-10-29T10:30:00+00:00By Molli DeRosa

”What can corporate innovators learn from the world of non-profits?” To find out, we break down one of our articles and read it aloud for you. Listen here…

All Your Innovation Questions, Answered

2019-10-22T14:00:00+01:00By Kaitlin Milliken

We answer questions on corporate innovation submtted by listeners. Get advice on H3 innovation, going from good to great, and spreading innovation company-wide.

High-Tech on the High Seas

2019-10-15T10:00:00+01:00By Kaitlin Milliken

Once you’ve identified some promising technologies, how do you test and deploy them in the real world? To find out, we went to Miami to visit Royal Caribbean.

Scouting Emerging Technology

2019-10-08T10:00:00+01:00By Kaitlin Milliken, Molli DeRosa

How do you scout for new technology that’s the right fit for your business? Marc Lavallee, Head of R&D at The New York Times, shares best practices…

Does It Scale?

2019-10-01T10:30:00+01:00By Kaitlin Milliken

How do you successfully scale new ideas? To find out, we traveled to Shell TechWorks in Cambidge, Mass. Experts from ESPN and KPMG also shared their advice.

Finding Your Innovation Allies

2019-09-24T10:30:00+01:00By Kaitlin Milliken

How can you find innovation allies? We pull insights from our recent Benchmarking Innovation Impact 2020 Report, and head over to the Bose headquarters to find out…

Innovation Answered, Season Three

2019-09-16T10:00:00+01:00

We’re back and better than ever. Listen to the trailer to see what’s in store, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts for new episodes starting next week on Tuesday.

Innovation Answered, Season 2

Inside Silicon Valley’s Innovation Culture

We ask, “What makes FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google ) more innovative than other companies?” We ask Faisal Masud of Wing Aviation to find out.

Remaking R&D at the Kellogg Company

How is Kellogg reimagining their business through R&D? We sat down with SVP of Global Research and Development Nigel Hughes to find out.

Innovators vs. the Rulebook. Who Wins?

How do you get innovation wins in a highly regulated industry? Mohan Nair of Cambia Health, Steve Faktor of the McFuture Podcast, and Ludwig Melik of Planbox share…

Bringing Star Wars to Life at Lucasfilm’s ILMxLAB

What will the entertainment of the future look like? We sat down with Vicki Dobbs Beck of Lucasfilm’s Lucasfilm’s immersive entertainment ILMxLAB to find out.

Playing In the Startup Sandbox

Should big companies even try to plug in to the startup ecosystem? We talk with Arvind Purushotham, the Head of Venture Investing at Citi Ventures, and others to find out.

Can the Retail Industry Stay Relevant?

Can the retail industry stay relevant with today’s consumers? We went to New York City for NRF’s Big Show to find out. Guests work at Footlocker and Retail Minded.

Inside the Mind of Clay Christensen

How do Clay Christensen’s ideas apply in 2019? Innovation Leader’s Scott Kirsner discusses his coverage of Christensen. Clips from interviews with Christensen are played throughout.