Innovation Storytellers

Do corporate innovators truly innovate, or are they trapped inside systems that make real transformation impossible? On this episode of The Innovation Storytellers Show, I speak with Elliott Parker, CEO of Alloy Partners and author of The Illusion of Innovation. Drawing on decades of experience launching startups with High Alpha and advising Fortune 100 companies at Innosight, Elliott explains why...

What does it really take to fix a billion-dollar bottleneck inside a company famous for saying no to new spending? And how do you translate that same problem-solving into one of the world's largest bureaucracies? This week, I sat down with Danielle McCormick, Founder of Immersive Insights, whose talent for turning messy systems into high-performance engines has saved companies like Southwest Airli...

Steve Rader returns to share how open innovation has transformed from an experiment to a mission-critical tool inside NASA and beyond. As a newly minted retiree from NASA's Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation, Steve unpacks how crowdsourcing and challenge-based problem-solving went from fringe ideas to proven ways of tackling complex technical barriers. He explains what NASA looked l...

What does it take to shake up one of the largest and most complex organizations in the world from the inside out? On this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I invite you to buckle up for a conversation that dives straight into the heart of how the US Air Force is building a homegrown culture of audacious innovation through its Blue Horizons Fellowship. I'm joined by Colonel Daniel Rutten...

In this episode, I sit down with Shegun Otulana, founder and former CEO of Therapy Brands. His journey from arriving in Birmingham, Alabama at 18 to leading one of the largest software exits in the state's history is nothing short of remarkable. Shegun opens up about his early days, the lessons learned from failure, and the moment his wife encouraged him to finally go all in. He explains how he us...

In this special episode of Nordic Visionaries, I'm joined by Lincoln Bleveans, Senior Sustainability Executive at Stanford University. He is leading one of the most ambitious real-world experiments in climate innovation happening anywhere in the United States. If you've ever wondered what it would take to turn sustainability from a pledge into daily practice, Lincoln has answers grounded in both p...

In this special Nordic Visionaries edition of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I am joined by one of the most influential architects of our time, Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG, Bjarke Ingels Group. From reimagining the clean port of Copenhagen to designing the first permanent human habitat on the Moon, Bjarke's work challenges conventional thinking about architecture, sustainability, and innovati...

What does building a business with climate responsibility at its core look like, not as an add-on but as a starting point? In this episode of Innovation Storytellers Show, we're heading to the Nordics to meet two young leaders who are challenging the status quo around what it means to be a sustainable business. This is part of our special "Nordic Visionaries" series, where we hear directly from th...

In this episode of Innovation Storytellers, part of our Nordic Visionaries Pocket Podcast series, we explore that connection with Ari Jónsson, COO of Identifier Technologies and Director at the NATO Innovation Fund. Ari's journey began with a PhD in AI at Stanford in the early 90s, when artificial intelligence was far from mainstream. What started as a passion for robotics evolved into software ag...

What does it mean to innovate with principle in a world of complexity, volatility, and accelerating change? This week, I spoke with Anu Bradford,  Professor of Law, Director of European Legal Studies Center, Columbia Law School. As part of our Nordic Visionaries series, Anu brings a timely and thought-provoking perspective on the intersection of innovation, regulation, and sustainability. Known gl...

This week I was thrilled to speak with Peder Naerboe, Founder and Owner of Bulk Infrastructure, for my Nordic Visionaries series. I've known about data centers for years, but Peder totally reframed them for me as "power refineries," where Norway's abundant clean energy can be converted into digital form right at the source.  By placing data hubs next to renewable power generation like hydropower,...

What will it take to move beyond the traditional recycling conversation and into a future where circularity is a business imperative, not just a sustainability slogan? In this episode of Nordic Visionaries, I speak with Tove Andersen, President and CEO of TOMRA, a company founded in Norway that has been working on circular economy solutions for over 50 years. With operations in over 100 countries,...

What if the key to creating a more sustainable future lies not in reinventing capitalism entirely, but in looking at how it already works elsewhere? In this episode of Nordic Visionaries, a special series inside the Innovation Storytellers Show, we welcome Dr. Robert Strand, Executive Director of the Nordic Center at UC Berkeley and Associate Professor at the Copenhagen Business School. With one f...

This week I was delighted to sit down with Ann Molin, CEO & Secretary General of Hack for Earth, for an in-depth conversation on how citizen-led innovation can tackle global challenges. Ann, a psychologist by training, first fell in love with hackathons while working on the Swedish Government's Hack for Sweden initiative, where she realized that bringing people together to solve open-data challeng...

In this opening installment of Nordic Visionaries, I introduce a fresh series spotlighting entrepreneurs, creators, and advocates at the crossroads of innovation and sustainability throughout the Nordic countries.  My first guest, Mathias Wikström, sheds light on how cultural values shape our approach to protecting nature and why weaving sustainability into financial services is a long-term strate...

Have you ever considered the role that discipline, trust, and storytelling play in shaping truly innovative leaders? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I'm honored to welcome Miles Garrett, a veteran leader, author, and former Executive Officer of the nuclear-powered submarine USS Cheyenne. Drawing from his extensive 25-year career spanning both the United States Marine Corps and...

Can innovation truly succeed without trust, integrity, and the right team behind it? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show I welcome Tracy Nolan, Senior Vice President of MarketPoint at Humana, for an insightful discussion on what it really takes to lead big ideas and bold changes. Tracy shares how her journey began in an unexpected place—retail—where an inventive approach led to rec...

What happens when AI meets automotive repair? Can technology bridge the growing knowledge gap between seasoned mechanics and the next generation of technicians? And how will the "Right to Repair" movement reshape how vehicles are maintained in the future? In this episode of Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Eric West, Chief Growth Officer at Convertible AI, to explore the intersection...

What if the songs artists love the least become the ones fans can't live without? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Amani Roberts, DJ, professor, author, and creative powerhouse, to explore where real innovation happens in the music industry—beyond technology, beyond distribution, and deep into the creative process itself. Amani takes us behind the scenes of some...

What happens when big data meets healthcare innovation? In this episode of the Innovation Storyteller Show, Susan Lindner talks with Tina Posey, CEO of HealthcarePoint, about how data is transforming clinical trials and reshaping healthcare on a global scale. Tina shares her journey into healthcare innovation, sparked by the events of 2020, and how HealthcarePoint's platform is revolutionizing the...

The way we power the world hasn't fundamentally changed in decades—until now. In this episode of the Innovation Storyteller Show, I speak with Dr. Moshiel Biton, CEO and co-founder of Addionics, a company reshaping the battery industry with 3D current collector technology. Dr. Biton shares his unconventional path into the battery space, reflecting on how the EV revolution has transformed the perce...

Why do so many groundbreaking ideas stall before they even get started? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Podcast, Dr. Stefan Dietrich, Senior Advisor in Innovation and Digital Transformation, exposes the real obstacles that prevent innovation from thriving inside organizations. Dr. Dietrich shares his experiences leading digital transformation at Siemens, AXA, and within startups, re...

How do you keep pushing forward when faced with constant setbacks, resistance, or uncertainty? For innovators and leaders, resilience isn't just a nice-to-have—it's essential. But resilience isn't simply enduring; it's about having a plan to navigate challenges and become stronger. In this episode of Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Dr. Marie-Hélène Pelletier, an expert in leadership...

Innovation is often seen as a function of big ideas and long-term investments, but in today's fast-changing world, organizations must rethink how they approach problem-solving and experimentation. In this episode, I sit down with Shellery Ebron and Annice Kim from RTI International to discuss how one of the world's most respected research organizations is embedding innovation into its culture and...

What if risk management wasn't just about avoiding failure but enabling innovation? In this episode of Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Rose Hall, Former SVP, Head of Innovation, Americas at AXA, to explore the critical role of risk management in pushing innovation forward. While most people see risk and innovation as opposing forces, Rose makes a compelling case for why they need to...