A Sherpa's Guide to Innovation

Ben & Jay come to you from their closets, reflecting on the sudden and dramatic changes occurring as a result of COVID-19.  They discuss working (and podcasting) at home, what COVID-19 might permanently change, and how constraints unleash innovation. Politico: Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How. Magnet Theatre – Virtual Improv Shows Atrium Health launches virtual hospita...

Ben & Jay welcome back Dr. Zayna Khayat , Future Strategist of SE Health to discuss their new book, The Future of Aging .  Zayna is also on the faculty of Singularity University and the Rothman School of Management . The Future of Aging is an exciting collaboration between SE Health and Idea Couture , a global strategic innovation and experience design firm.  As "a counter-argument to the...

Ben, Jay & Will geek out on a great but less well-known theory of Dr. Clayton M. Christensen - Interdependence and Modularity .  How do you develop a business model that fits your unique circumstances? From the first automobiles to light bulbs to Tesla and Electronic Medical Records, your Sherpas discuss a framework for product architecture and how to look at the dynamics of your industry valu...

Can you name an institution more welcoming and inclusive than a library? Probably not.  In this episode, we learn from Seth Ervin , Chief Innovation Officer at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library , about how he applies innovation principles to design the library experience of the future. Libraries are a critical social infrastructure (a phrase elucidated by Professor Eric Klinenberg in his exception...

Ben & Jay reflect on what Dr. Clay Christensen has meant to each of them, their experience meeting Clay and his wife, Christine, and a few parting thoughts in gratitude for this amazing man. memoriesofclay.com How Will You Measure Your Life? The Clayton Christensen Institute The Forum for Growth and Innovation at Harvard Business School Support the show

Ben and Jay open a new decade with an improvisational theatre, organizational learning, and human behavior rock star, Kelly Leonard .  Kelly is the Executive Director of Insights and Applied Improvisation at Second City Works , overseeing The Second Science Project with the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business .  He’s the author of the critically acc...

Fellow innovators, esteemed podcast listeners, ladies, and gentlemen – We enter 2020 grateful for the wonderful 2019 behind us.  Join us (Jay & Ben) as we review and reflect on the brilliant guests and special moments of 2019, conduct an assessment of the hypothesized Jobs to Be Done of listening to the podcast, and preview some exciting episodes coming down the pike. Thanks for listening, and...

Ben & Jay close out 2019 with our good friends at the Christensen Institute .  In a thought-provoking conversation, Rich Alton , Director of Emerging Research at the Christensen Institute and Chandrasekar Iyer, visiting fellow of Emerging Research and consultant at Tata Consultancy Services delve into their recent paper The Race for Autonomous Ride-Hailing: Developing a Strategy for Success . ...

Ben talks to pioneer practitioner, leader and researcher on innovation and human centered design, Christi Zuber .  Christi provides dynamic leadership to two progressive and collaborative innovation organizations – Aspen Labs and the Innovation Learning Network (ILN).  Hear about her career journey, bridging the gap between innovation research and practice,  her vision for the ILN, and who’s been...

Chris Elmore rolls into the Sherpa studio--Company Evangelist for AvidXchange , a fintech unicorn based in Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as author, teacher, speaker, father of four, and husband of 25 years.  Referring to someone as “one of a kind” can be kind of cliché, but Chris lives up to the billing.  He’s a dynamic and authentic purveyor of innovation and entrepreneurship wisdom.  Hear h...

“Everyone is creative. Everyone is welcome.” Long-time friends and Charlotteans Matt Olin and Tim Miner are the co-founders of Charlotte is Creative , a not for profit organization that develops programs and initiatives designed to break the Charlotte mold and re-make it with creativity—into a city that draws people in, excites them, and inspires them to invest their financial, social, and creativ...

Benjamin Franklin said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Learn more about the Jobs to Be Done for which we hire education throughout our lives by listening to this episode, the third in our series on innovation in higher education, with co-author Michael B. Horn of the recently released book Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decision Throughout Your Life .  Michael...

What does it look like when an organization has fully committed to human-centered design? It looks like this: https://www.healthdesignlab.com/   Learn from Robert Pugliese , Director of Innovation Design, and Dr. Kristy Shine , Director of Education and Research, about the Jefferson Health Design Lab, a creative space where people from different backgrounds come together to solve challenges and de...

In the second segment of our super-sized “Bobcast”, uber-innovator and Jobs to Be Done expert Bob Moesta digs deeper into his recently released first book, Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decisions Throughout Your Life , co-authored with Michael Horn .  The book isn’t just about the college decision--it encompasses life-long learning, whether it’s executive education, bootcamps, or o...

Bob Moesta rejoins the podcast during the release of his first book, Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decisions Throughout Your Life , co-authored with Michael Horn .  In Part 1, Bob and Jay put Ben in the hot seat, conducting a live Jobs to Be Done interview about Ben’s process of picking a graduate school.  This episode not only introduces Choosing College but also provides our list...

“I have a problem liking too many things.” Learn from Dr. Nisarg Patel , a healthcare renaissance man, about his journey into the world of medicine. Unafraid to “dive into the deep end,” Dr. Patel is a scientist and researcher of computational cancer genomics, synthetic gene circuits for engineered probiotic therapeutics, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated bacterial genome engineering, as well as applying machi...

What would it look like if Netflix was helping you stay healthy? Learn about how we can make health an inherent design feature in our everyday lives from Steve Downs , Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation . In this, our 50th podcast episode, Steve paints a picture of a world intentionally designed to make it easier for individuals and communities to choose he...

Episode 49 features Mike Biselli , a healthtech entrepreneur and community-building pioneer with a bold vision for reimagining healthcare. Learn about how Mike planted a flag in the ground and determined to create a built environment that would foster serendipitous collisions to catalyze innovation and transformational change. The result: Catalyst HTI , a 180,000 square-foot industry integrator ca...

Our world is becoming increasingly complex and wonderfully diverse. How can organizations keep pace with this expanding diversity and design with cultural competency? Episode #48 Part 1 features Kinneil Coltman , Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Atrium Health ; Elizabeth Watson, Manager of Innovation; and Ben Tingey, Manager of Innovation and, for this episode, in a hybrid role as hos...

Our world is becoming increasingly complex and wonderfully diverse. How can organizations keep pace with this expanding diversity and assemble an inclusive workforce? Episode #48 - Part 2 features André Blackman and Touré McCluskey of Onboard Health , an organization dedicated to building a dynamic ecosystem of career acceleration opportunities to cultivate a powerful, inclusive workforce that is...

Ben & Jay talk to Tom Schlegel , Chief Innovation Officer of Radio Flyer , the iconic 102-year old company that’s on a mission to bring smiles to kids of all ages.  During his 16 years at Radio Flyer, he has been a key leader in the evolution of the company from a steel wagon manufacturer to a customer-driven design and development powerhouse.  Tom talks about how he has employed Dr. Clay Chri...

Get ready to shift your mindset from scarcity to abundance in this episode of A Sherpa’s Guide to Innovation featuring Robin Glasco , co-founder and Managing Partner of Bambü Global Healthcare Advisors . Robin is a healthcare strategy and innovation dynamo, co-founding Bambü after serving as EIR with the Nason Group , Chief Innovation Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts , and an exe...

For episode #45, it’s our privilege to welcome our Atrium Health colleague Dr. Zeev Neuwirth , Senior Medical Director of Population Health, to our podcast. Zeev is the author of the recently released book Reframing Healthcare: A Roadmap for Creating Disruptive Change and is the host of the Creating a New Healthcare podcast. This episode began in a different way. Typically, we speak into the micro...

Episode #44 features a man we admire from an organization we admire: Todd Dunn , Director of Innovation at Intermountain Healthcare .  This inspiring innovator, compelling storyteller and self-described family man shares his go-to list of innovation books, lifelong principles that influence his learning, why empathy should be at the heart of healthcare, and the three C’s of design disease. He’s al...

Episode 43 features perspectives from Atrium Health teammates who attended the 10th anniversary Health Datapalooza conference on March 27-28 in Washington, DC. Hosted by AcademyHealth , Health Datapalooza brings together a diverse group of healthcare leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and data analysts to discuss collaboration opportunities at the intersection of policy, data, and innovation. A...