Managing innovation - creating value from ideas

I’ve always wanted to be a baker, in another life. That smell of baking bread stops me in my tracks. It’s a bit like Mr. Toad in that famous book, The Wind in the Willows . Toad is happily touring the countryside in his canary yellow caravan when a motor car roars past and tips the caravan into a ditch. Ratty is furious, Mole seizes the horse, and Toad just sits in the middle of the dusty road, ga...

My dad spent his life in lights. His name wasn’t in them, but he spent his career working with them. A lighting engineer, he knew all about illumination – and he was pretty good at using light to do more than just show you the way around a dark room. He was one of the early pioneers of son et lumière , using sound and light to retell stories, and he worked across theatre lighting’s great transitio...

Creativity, Constraints, and the Art of Enabled ExplorationHow can a legendary jazz trumpet player change the way we think about modern innovation? In this video, we explore the genius of Miles Davis on what would have been his 100th birthday year. From the improvised magic behind the soundtrack to L'ascenseur pour l'échafaud to the groundbreaking recording sessions of Kind of Blue, Miles...

How did we get from quiet acoustic strings in village squares to massive walls of Marshall stacks blasting at outdoor festivals? 🎸⚡In this episode, we explore the surprising, accidental, and brilliantly creative history behind guitar amplification. The journey to getting heard wasn't just about making bigger instruments; it required breakthroughs from completely unrelated industries—includin...

How did an odd wooden "walking machine" from 1817 evolve into a global industry with over 2 billion bicycles today? In this episode, we dive deep into the fascinating history of the bicycle—from Baron von Drais’s pedal-less Laufmaschine (born out of a volcanic disaster!) to the High-Wheelers, the "penny-farthing," and John Kemp Starley's game-changing Safety Bicycle. More than just a story about t...

The Real-Life "Valyrian Steel" That Built a Global EmpireBefore Silicon Valley, there was 16th-century Toledo, Spain. In this episode of Unlocking Innovation, we explore how an unlikely culture of co-existence allowed Christian, Muslim, and Jewish craftsmen to solve the ultimate blacksmith's dilemma and invent Toledo Steel. Think "open innovation" and "ecosystems"...

The appliance sitting in your kitchen is the result of 150 years of obsession, failure, and brilliance. And most people have never heard the real story. It starts in 1850 with a leaky wooden contraption patented by Joel Houghton, winds through dozens of competing inventors, and arrives at one remarkable woman — Josephine Cochrane, a debt-ridden widow in Illinois who declared: "If nobody else inven...

You can find a transcript here Are you missing out on your organization’s greatest untapped resource? Many companies look outward for the next big idea, but the "smartest guys" might already be on your payroll. In this podcast, we dive deep into High Involvement Innovation (HII) —the strategy of engaging every single employee to drive continuous improvement. From Toyota’s 50 million suggestions to...

The Power of the "Innovation Mash-Up" Ever had a memory so vivid you’d swear it was true, only to find out you made it up? In this episode, we dive into the world of confabulation —the brain’s habit of "hallucinating" details to make sense of a complex world—and discover how this quirky human trait is actually a secret weapon for innovation. From the neon-soaked streets of Bang...

In a world that has moved beyond "VUCA" (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) to become BANI —Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, and Incomprehensible—the old ways of tackling global crises are broken. While world leaders gathered at the Munich Security Conference to discuss traditional defence, a few blocks away, the World Food Programme (WFP) was hosting its annual Innovation Forum to...

Have you ever used a safety pin, a fountain pen, or a sewing machine? You might know the famous brands behind them, but you likely don’t know the man who actually invented them. Meet Walter Hunt, the "Yankee mechanical genius" who could solve almost any problem but struggled to profit from a single one. Perhaps the person who best deserves the title of 'the greatest inventor you'...

A seasonal story to inspire some New year's innovation (re) thinking... On a cold Christmas Eve, Jimmy Weston sits in a crowded wine bar with a crushing email in his pocket: his family business’s biggest customer has just walked away. Facing the "rocks" of potential bankruptcy and the weight of three generations of legacy, Jimmy is visited by three "ghosts" who offer more t...

Why does innovation often feel like awkward "dad-dancing" at a party? Because repeating success requires more than just luck—it demands disciplined innovation routines . This podcast uses the metaphor of dance to explain how organizations create value from ideas through practiced, shared behavior patterns , from searching for opportunities to developing prototypes. But the "music&qu...

We're in something of an 'invention crisis'. On one side, you have the latest futuristic gadgets—like a stringless AI guitar or a robot cat that cools your coffee. On the other, you have millions who still lack basic human needs like healthcare, clean water, and shelter. This podcast challenges the direction of modern ingenuity and showcases why hopeful innovation dedicated to social g...

(You can find a transcript here) Isaac Merritt Singer, the "father of the sewing machine" , was a larger-than-life character whose life was as dramatic as the stages he loved to tread. Born in 1811, Singer's early passion was acting, but he was also a shrewd entrepreneur and inventor. After running away to join an acting troupe at age twelve , he later used his machinist skills to in...

Ever wonder what happens when a devastating setback becomes the spark for a revolution? The remarkable story of Josiah Wedgwood is a masterclass in turning personal tragedy into world-changing innovation. This isn't just about pottery; it's about a man who, forced to reframe his entire world, ended up shaping an industry and a nation. This podcast tells his fascinating innovation storyBefo...

The humble vacuum cleaner is a household hero, but its story is far from simple. It's a fascinating saga of grit, genius, and a little bit of luck. Most people have never heard of J. Murray Spangler , the asthmatic janitor who cobbled together the first electric suction sweeper from a broom, a pillowcase, and an old fan motor. His ingenious invention, born from a need to escape a dusty, backbr...

Welcome to the ‘Managing innovation’ podcast, where we uncover the stories behind some of history's most fascinating innovations! In this episode we look at how a runaway alchemist's impossible dream of turning base metals into goldinadvertently led to the creation of "white gold" – porcelain – and sparked a global industry. Join us as we explore the journey from initial breakthr...

Skype is no more. The familiar blue and white logo has quietly disappeared, retired by Microsoft back in May. But this was always much more than a powerful piece of software; it was an innovation which changed the world. In this podcast we explore the surprising origins of Skype, from music compression in a German PhD student's lab to file-sharing turmoil with Kazaa. Join us as we unravel how...

This May marks a huge anniversary for a brand that utterly transformed the way we dress, a company that became a chameleon, adapting instantly to the hottest trends. We’re talking about Zara, celebrating 50 years of disrupting the fashion world! How did a small operation, started in A Coruña, Spain, by an entrepreneurial couple, Amancio Ortega Gaona and his wife Rosalia, become a global powerhouse...

Neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to rewire itself, is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs. This video explores how this capability allows individuals to reframe problems and envision new possibilities, drawing parallels between historical innovators and modern-day ventures. Learn about Malcolm Maclean's container shipping revolution and James Brindley's pioneering canal systems durin...

A classic story of entrepreneurial grit, a passion for something and the willingness to persevere when things don’t go quite according to plan. Central to it all was a remarkable woman – Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin. Born in 1777 she went hard against the grain of what women were expected to do, creating and championing what became one of the most famous champagne houses in the world. 'Veuve Cliquot...

This episode explores PR/FAQ in a fascinating interview withMarcelo Calbucci, an experienced entrepreneur who has extensive hands-on experience of using the 'Press release/FAQ' framework.  Developed over a decade ago and widely used within Amazon this simple approach forces anyone with a change proposal to make their ideas come alive through the medium of a simple story.   He’s now a self-...

The story of dunnhumby, a small entreprenurial business which changed the face of retailing by bringing the concept of consumer data science into the mainstream with the launch of the Tesco Clubcard. You can find a transcript here and more resources like this at my website here

We grow through what we know. Put simply that’s at the heart of the innovation equation. Innovation is creating value from ideas, a journey which starts with an input of knowledge But when it comes to using external knowledge to help us grow we run into some challenges - as this podcast explores. We need 'absorptive capacity'. You can find a transcript here