The Innovators Studio with Phil McKinney

We all have experienced that regular work annoyance. That thing that is like finger nails on a chalk board. When you ask why, you typically hear back that "its always been done this way". True innovators don't settle and keep asking "why" — and then go out and innovate a solution. In this example, go […]

The ability of any organization to have innovation success is defined by its willingness and ability to do things differently. To change. Lets not fool ourselves – change is hard and makes everyone unconformable. In this weeks show, we discuss the role of change, fear and failure on innovation success. We cover such topics as: Why is […]

Detecting emerging trends and turning them into innovation opportunities can have a dramatic impact on an organization. Where do you find and track these emerging trends? By tracking sites such as TrendWatching, you can gain insights into what is changing so that you aren't surprised and are able to create new products and services ahead of your […]

With the growing interest of organizations to have a closer, real-time connection with their customers, there is the emergence of business-to-consumer messaging channels coming from startups and even well established companies. To address the growth of customer interactions with these new messaging platforms, organizations are turning to chatbots, natural language processing, artificial intelligen...

What do you do if you have that next great idea but don't have the technical skill to turn it into that next breakthrough innovation? Would you even know how to interview and qualify a person to take on your idea? Many will turn to their network of friends and family or to one of […]

One of the more common questions asked by innovators is about patents and trademarks. For some reason, many innovators focus on patents believing that they need one to secure funding and/or support for their idea. That somehow a patent validates novelty. Given the average cost to secure a patent ($20,000 to $30,000 USD), how should […]

It seems that every organization is looking for the secrets to make their teams more innovative. Is it hiring? Or is it office space design? In this weeks Killer Innovations Show, Thomas D. Kuczmarski, president and founder of Kuczmarski Innovation and co-founder (with journalist  Dan Miller) of the Chicago Innovation Awards, shares his thoughts on what […]

In this weeks show, we talk with Tracy Hazzard of Hazz Design whee she has co-invented 35 patents with an 86% commercialization rate and designed 250+ consumer products bought everyday generating over $750 million for her clients. How does she go from idea to on the shelf? On the show, we discuss: The common challenges innovators […]

This week, I share my experience with innovation coaching and innovation mentoring in response to questions from a recent blog post. Over the years I've mentored and coached hundreds of executives, teams and entire companies. Each one is unique and different and I walk away learning something from each and every one. Over the years, […]

This weeks guest was Robert Scoble. Robert was the futurist at Rackspace who recently announced he was joining UploadVR. In this new role, Robert will be covering the latest advances in virtual reality and augmented reality. During the interview, Robert and I discussed: SXSW and what was the buzz at the show. His perception of […]

In this weeks Killer Innovations radio show, we pick up on a series we started in early February to take you from a blank page to brainstorming to a killer idea.  Now you need to create and deliver your innovation pitch. As background, those shows covered: How to create and use predictions to create an […]

This weeks guest on the Killer Innovations radio show was Tom Fishburne. Tom is a cartoonist that pokes fun at marketing, creativity, design and innovation and I've shared his cartoons on my blog many times. His work is meant to challenge conventional thinking and to cause teams and leaders to see themselves in the cartoons. While I'm […]

For this weeks show, Phil invited Kym McNicholas (Emmy award winning journalist) to join him to discuss and debate the latest innovations coming from startups. They cover startups that presented at Sir Richard Branson's Extreme Tech Challenge finals on Necker Island, the personal reactions from seeing the reveals of new VR technologies at TED and […]

Most organizations use the traditional approach to host brainstorming session with their teams. If they took the time to evaluate the impact, they would recognize that there are some inherent weaknesses in the way brainstorming have been done in the past. Is there a next generation brainstorming approach? In this weeks show, we share with you how […]

Two weeks ago where we discussed creating an innovation timeline and last week we then discussed on to take the items from a timeline and do prepare scouting reports for each item. This week we are going to take the next step and discuss how to take all of this and generate ideas  by understanding the rules […]

This weeks show continues our discussion from last week. Now that you understand what an innovation timeline is, what should you do next? You need to take each of the innovation items on your timeline and scout the innovation landscape or what I call the innovation battlefield – depending on the level of competition in […]

Part of my job has been and continues to be about predicting the future. A few weeks back, I shared with you my prediction about what was going to be the hot innovations of 2016. Most have been already validated by the buzz coming for the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  Lets be honest, […]

Sharing has become the new business model that is being applied to a wide range of industries. The most popular sharing economy companies include Airbnb, Uber and Lyft. Can the sharing economy take over your industry? If so, what would that look like? In this weeks show, we take a look at the innovation happening in the […]

Internet of things (IoT) has become a hot space for innovation over the last few years. Smart thermostats, smart light bulbs – heck even internet connected smart sprinkler systems. Where is this going and what opportunities does this open up for innovators working with the internet of things (IoT)? This week, we have the CEO of […]

In this weeks show, Phil McKinney and Kym McNicholas talk about the winners of the technology and innovation competitions held at CES along with an eclectic set of companies and innovations they believe could be winners in 2016. They discuss: Extreme Tech Challenge – one of the largest innovation competitions with more than 3,000 entrants each year, […]

In this weeks show we discuss the  15 secrets successful innovators know about time management. As inventors, innovators and creatives, we struggle with prioritization given that we tend to be working on multiple ideas at the same time. I know I struggle. This weeks guest, Kevin Kruse, is a New York Times best selling author has […]

This weeks show is the annual "prediction" of what will be at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and what that means for the innovation trends and technology trends for 2016. Some of the innovations and technologies discusses include: Next generation TV's and displays Virtual Reality (VR) and what to expect for content Wearable's such […]

This weeks show gives insight into a serial entrepreneur and the cycles he went through from starting, pivoting and selling his past companies and his current start-up that has gone through its pivot to find its place in the market. What's the secret of pivoting your company so that its a better chance of success? Guest: Jeff […]