The Innovators Studio with Phil McKinney

Creativity is a powerful tool, and many underestimate our creative potential. Creative potential is your ability to generate new ideas and connect seemingly unrelated concepts to create something unique or solve problems innovatively. It goes beyond simply having an open mind; it is about actively forming connections that lead to discoveries, inventions, and insights. Many people are unaware of th...

Mindful innovation is a way to approach problem-solving from a different perspective. Instead of just looking for quick ideas or relying on existing approaches, mindful innovation calls us to slow down and take the time to deeply understand the problem before attempting to solve it. It also encourages us to be open-minded and seek new perspectives and insights while considering our ideas' impact....

In today's world, innovation is a fundamental component of successful business strategies. It allows organizations to stay ahead of the competition, develop new products and services, and create value for customers. However, scaling up innovative ideas can be challenging because of the complexity of the process and its associated risks. Taking an idea or concept and expanding upon it to make a gre...

Introduction to Intuitive Thinking Intuitive thinking sometimes referred to as 'thinking on autopilot,' is based on prior experience and mental shortcuts. It involves using heuristics and pattern recognition to make decisions quickly and efficiently. Intuitive thinking is essential because it allows us to make decisions without pausing for conscious analysis or deliberation. This helps us react sw...

Tom D'Eri, Co-Founder and COO of Rising Tide Car Wash, joins us to discuss the gap neurodivergent individuals face while entering the workforce and how to bridge that gap by changing hiring methods and implementing strategic operations that are inclusive to those with different skill sets. Prospective job seekers with autism face a massive disparity in the job market. Unemployment rates of this gr...

Jim Kalbach, Head of Customer Experience at Mural, joins us to discuss innovation efforts in the world of visual collaboration. Remote work was at nearly one hundred percent during the pandemic, creating a need for effective digital whiteboards. Not only did people need a working space, but also a space for visual collaboration to take place. Since the pandemic, new modes outside of remote work ha...

There's no question that business model innovation is a hot topic in today's business world. After all, who wouldn't want to be the next Uber or Airbnb? But what does it take to create a new and successful business model? It turns out that business model innovation is not just about having a great idea but about execution and timing. It's also about being willing to take risks and experiment . And...

Sandra Howe, an award-winning technology expert, joins us to discuss the effectiveness of pairing good timing with collaboration. The need for innovators willing to work with each other rather than against is progressing. Thanks to the swiftly changing technology market. The necessity for broadband internet is ever-increasing, especially in recent years, due to people's increased need for it durin...

Benchmarking is the comparing of your organization to others to measure your performance and possibly identify areas for improvement. It has been common practice since the early 1900s. Frederick Taylor, an American mechanical engineer, is credited with coining the term "benchmarking" in his book, The Principles of Scientific Management . Benchmarking enables continuous learning and improvement by...

Innovation is often lauded as the key to  success in business . After all, staying ahead of the competition is hard if you're not constantly coming up with new ideas and ways to improve your products or services. But is every idea you come up with a good thing? Is there such a thing as being too innovative? To keep yourself honest, you may consider appointing a devil's advocate. The Devil's Advoca...

Here is the last interview from my time at the  Cable Tec-Expo Show in Philadelphia . Collin Howlett, the CTO of Vecima, joins us to discuss the acceleration of innovation in the cable industry. Collin Howlett of Vecima on the Pace and Sources of Innovation Predicting the future  grows more challenging as the pace of innovation accelerates. Customers are deploying innovations at faster speeds than...

A few weeks back, I wrote an opinion piece for The Innovators Network titled,   Innovation Hero Worship: FTX, Theranos, and the Media . The core of the article is my belief that the media has a responsibility to  not  feed into the hero worship of innovation leaders. But there is more to the recent high-profile innovation failures than just the hero worship of founders and CEOs. The announcement o...

This is the third interview from my time at the  Cable Tec-Expo Show in Philadelphia . Asaf Matatyaou, the VP of Solutions and Product Management for the Cable Access Business at Harmonic, joins us to discuss AI, data, and innovation culture. Consumer expectations have considerably shifted due to the impact of COVID-19 . As a result, the reliability of network connectivity has become paramount. Po...

Humans have always been thinkers. From the time early humans began to communicate, they used their brains to figure out how to survive and thrive. Over the years, humans have continued to  use their brains to solve problems  and create new things. To do this, humans have had to learn to think differently. Interestingly, humans are not the only animals that think. Ravens, for example, are known for...

Jordi Fernandez, Founder and CEO of BeneTalk, joins the show to discuss the mobile app that provides a community for people who stutter.  Jordi is a person who stutters and growing up, his parents and teachers didn't understand how to approach it . At a young age, he engaged in various forms of speech therapy. When he moved from Spain to the UK, his therapy took an alternative approach . It focuse...

Whenever I'm speaking outside of California, I can usually expect an audience question about Silicon Valley. Such as — "What's the secret to Silicon Valley's success ?" After all, this region is home to some of the world's most successful and innovative companies. People want to know what about Silicon Valley makes it so successful, and they're eager to learn any tips or tricks they can use to bri...

This is the second interview from my time at the Cable Tec-Expo Show in Philadelphia. Jan Ariesen, the CTO of Technetix, joins us to discuss how his organization's prioritization of innovation, paired with the right team, helps them solve tomorrow's problems. Jan Ariesen of Technetix on Prioritizing Innovation Engineers typically focus on solving today's problems but don't take time to think about...

What is future literacy? Future literacy is the ability to look at the world and understand how it will change in the future. This can be a valuable skill that historically has not been on most people's radar screen. Most people don't think about the future much. We focus on the present, and when we think about the future, it is usually what we want it to be. However, if we want to  be ready for t...

Matt Greeley, the Founder and CEO of Brightidea, joins The Killer Innovations Show to discuss the launch of their new idea incubation tool, BrightIdea Memo. Matt has been involved in idea management systems (IMS) since their early days. In 2005, BrightIdea launched the first-ever online  innovation platform . During my time at HP, I worked with Matt on the earlier versions of Brightidea while they...

We kick off a new series of interviews from my time at the Cable Tec-Expo Show in Philadelphia. Hanno Narjus, the SVP of Video and Broadband Solutions at Teleste, joins us to discuss innovation efforts from the European to the U.S market. Cable Tec-Expo Show Due to COVID-19, many of us missed out on various events. It was great to experience the high energy levels at the expo as everyone was final...

In an age where the latest and greatest technology is just a click away, it's easy to become an imitator. We see something new and want it without considering whether we really need it. We buy into the hype without stopping to think about the implications of our purchase. Before we know it, our homes are cluttered with gadgets and devices that we never use and don't need. But there's another side...

The statement "what is now proved and commonplace was once just imagined" is powerful. It speaks to the idea that anything is possible if we put our minds to it. And it's true - many things we now take for granted were once just ideas or dreams. For example, consider the internet. It's hard to imagine our world without it, but it was once just a concept that people talked about in science fiction...

Most people would consider random events a nuisance that gets in the way of their productivity and disrupts their carefully planned lives. However, looking closely, you'll see that random events can be a source of inspiration and innovation . For example, consider the story of how Facebook was created. According to legend, Facebook was born out of a random event - when Mark Zuckerberg was working...

Innovation can be classified into two main types: disruptive innovation and radical innovation. Disruptive innovation is an idea that improves upon an existing market by exceeding the needs of a customer base, eventually displacing the old market. Radical innovation destroys the current market and value network, creating an entirely new one. Another way to think about it is that radical innovation...

Science  is a powerful tool. It can change the world, improve our understanding of our universe, and help us find new and innovative ways to solve problems. But science is only as good as the data it uses, and bad science can lead us astray. Over the last few years, I've written several articles and recorded a similar number of podcasts on ethics related to innovation. Just as this is titled Bad S...