The Innovators Studio with Phil McKinney

Have you noticed that there is a constant cycle of new product releases ? Organizational quarterly results often drive these releases. Cars, smartphone devices, home automation products, applications all follow this pattern of release cycles. I believe the fear of being left behind is what draws people to upgrades. They don't want to pull out an old generation of a phone or drive an outdated car....

Wicked problems are problems that are extremely difficult or impossible to solve. The best example of a wicked problem comes from a project I did with the Department of Education. Wicked Problems This project aimed to  innovate  kindergarten through 12th-grade education in the U.S. We ran a series of workshops in our attempt to transform education. The project turned out to be an extremely frustra...

Is creative thinking based on a born ability, or can you learn it like any other skill? Is it nature or nurture? There is research that argues both cases, and I believe you can do both. I would say that we are all born highly creative. Creative Nature vs. Creative Nurture Children use problem-solving and their imagination every day. Here's some insight into this creative transition from child to a...

As innovators, we should always ask ourselves what the unintended consequences of our inventions will be. Some unintentional things can be positive, but some can be very negative. Let's look at a list of past innovations that I would uninvent if I could. The Invention of Robocalls The first invention that I would like to uninvent is robocalls. These calls include anything from selling automobile m...

We often wonder if people will accept our ideas or criticize them. This fear can halt us from utilizing our creative expression, which ultimately affects how we innovate. When our creativity is encouraged, it can have a positive impact. Creative Expression When coming up with  new ideas , early encouragement gives you the motivation to repeat them. In my seventh-grade art class, my teacher was sho...

We all struggle with being creative from time to time. We may feel like we have lost something, and nothing seems to spark that creative flow . What is killing your creativity? Your ego is the biggest killer of creativity. The struggle tends to become an issue for people in the middle and later years of their career. The Biggest Creativity Killer When you are called upon to be highly innovative an...

The Importance of Utilizing Tools I really enjoy reading as well as listening to podcasts and audible books. With all the information I come across, I have to be able to capture, organize, and recall it to properly utilize it. I'm currently working on a new book as well as some  disruptive innovation courses and workshops . The real challenge for me is finding a single tool that solves the issues...

Sam Liang is one of the key innovators behind the scenes in Silicon Valley . He is one of the founders of Google's location services and on the Google Blue Dot patent. Sam is the co-founder and CEO of Otter.ai, which specializes in live transcription services. Sam Liang' s Background Same earned his Ph. D. at Stanford in hopes of becoming a professor. While in school, he met many smart people work...

We will pick up from the previous show's topic, "What is Innovation?" and talk about innovation types. There are three types that I use. These are institutional innovation, social innovation, and technological innovation. Type of Innovation: Institutional Institutional innovation is the type that is most commonly overlooked by organizations. Institutional innovation applies to organizations, teams...

A term often abused through advertising, marketing, business meetings, innovation means to introduce something new. A more expansive definition of innovation is — the result of a multi-stage process whereby organizations, teams, and individuals take an idea and transform it to make an improved product, service, or process to compete in the marketplace. Definition of Innovation Ideas made real— tha...

Consumer Electronics Show 2021 (CES) will be held virtually due to COVID-19. Despite this change, the show will be available virtually and in seventeen different languages. On top of that, if you are registered, you get thirty days to view all of the content available. Karen Chupka, the Executive Vice President of CES will be joining us to discuss what to look forward to at CES 2021.  Physical to...

Building a library of inspiration in your innovation studio is what ensures you have a ready source of ideas. This can come in the form of a collection of innovation books . I am a visual learner, so reading books is where I often find my inspiration. I am going to walk you through some important books I have and explain why I value them. The first book is "Frank Lloyd Wright: A Visual Encyclopedi...

This episode is the last of Killer Innovations as a radio show. Not an easy decision, but as part of our drive for innovation, we believe this is the best decision. We will discuss the show's history, my book and radio show deal, and what Killer Innovations will look like moving forward.  Making the Switch Throughout the show, we have talked about how important it is to re-evaluate and try new thi...

Today's topic is an extension of a show I did a few weeks ago about my  innovation self-confidence.  Entrepreneurship is a huge part of innovation at any level. On today's show, we will discuss entrepreneurship and the learning experiences and steps that made me a successful innovator throughout my career.  Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship consists of having an idea, being assertive, having a str...

The topic this is week is one that I have touched on over the years in various ways. People reach out to me all the time asking about this.  Coaching, as well as mentoring , often get placed in the same category. In reality, they are different. We will discuss the differences between innovation coaching and mentoring and will run through some application scenarios. Coaching vs. Mentoring When it c...

People are always asking me how I made it to the point I'm at today in my career. While I can't cover the full extent of my career, I want to share some valuable learning experiences. On today's show, we will discuss how I built my  innovation  self-confidence and what I learned early on in my career that shaped the future of my career.    Self-Confidence and Soft Skills Looking back on my career,...

This show might come off as controversial to those who are innovation consultants. However, these are my personal views on the subject. Consultants can have a significant effect on an organization for better or worse. We will discuss innovation consultants and why I believe 80% of them are not worth the money.  Innovation Consultants A consultant has some expertise and is getting paid for sharing...

Innovations can happen in any industry and a variety of different ways. Today we are going to take a deeper dive into part of the FIRE framework known as  ideation . We will focus on combining individual ideation and team ideation. On today's show, we will discuss Walt Disney's "Plus it" approach and how it changed the customer entertainment experience.   "Plus It" Walt Disney used a concept known...

Throughout the show's history, we've done interviews with medical professionals and those pursuing innovations in the medical field. This week's guest created a breakthrough product used during this pandemic. Clive Smith, the CEO and founder of Thinklabs joins us on the show. We will discuss a stethoscope innovation and what he's doing to disrupt the medical field. Clive's Background Clive grew up...

For the first time, we are recording a show in the mobile studio in Austin, Texas. Once we get past  COVID , we plan to travel a lot more and visit different innovators in various areas of the country. This past week, I interviewed three CEOs of billion-dollar companies for a virtual event online. I asked them a set of questions and on today's show I am going to ask and answer those same questions...

This week, we look at an old show that has recently come up. It is a show I did in February of 2012 about innovation metrics. We'll discuss the core set of innovation metrics that every organization should use. Bad Metrics Before we get started, I want to address one thing. Bad metrics are very prevalent and extremely popular in areas such as Wall Street and publicly traded companies. These metric...

This week, we will continue the discussion on the FIRE framework and expound upon it. We will discuss a technology that will enable your FIRE framework, known as an Idea Management System (IMS).  Idea Management System The Idea Management System supports everything from the focus, ideation, and ranking, to managing your funnel for the execution phase . I deployed my first IMS in 2008 while I was C...

We will discuss something mentioned in last week's show: Execution . If you haven't listened to that episode, make sure to click here . The innovation lean canvas is a structure that we teach in all of our Disruptive Ideation Workshops. It is an innovation plan that offers an overview of your best idea all in one place. The Innovation Lean Canvas The lean canvas replaces a typically created busine...

On this week's show, we will wrap up the series of shows on the innovation framework known as FIRE. We will discuss the part of the innovation framework known as execution. Execution is composed of making your best ideas into something real.  Execution I have used the FIRE (Focus, Ideation, Ranking, Execution) framework for more than 20 years, and thousands of organizations use it. Focus is defini...

This week's show is a continuation of the series I've done on the innovation framework FIRE . We have discussed focus and ideation in previous shows. We will discuss the part of the innovation framework known as ranking, which helps you prioritize the best ideas you or your team generate. Ranking Innovation is about challenging an industry's assumptions, questioning what we think we know about our...