Killer Innovations with Phil McKinney - A Show About Ideas Creativity And Innovation

Is controversy good when it comes to innovating? Today’s guest is passionate about creating breakthroughs and states ‘If it isn’t controversial, it’s not a good idea’. Scott McNealy knows a few things about changing the game by challenging the status quo, disrupting platforms, products and services. Focusing on continually challenging an idea, model, platform, technology and service leads to disruptive breakthroughs and advances society. This week on Killer Innovations, Scott McNealy joins us to discuss a number of topics in the quest for future advances. Lessons from the Trenches Seeking to make an impact by looking at things from a different lens has always been Scott’s game if it’s technology, golf, education, marketing, politics or social issues. His open source view permeates his approaches and has led to positive impacts. Scott has had opportunities to learn from his pioneering and early mover days with Sun Microsystems to recent ventures in marketing and education platforms. There are many takeaways in the battles he and his teams engaged with over three decades of incredible growth and technology advances that made significant contributions to the boom of the PC and Internet. So what does it take to continue to innovate and grow. Scott has some key thoughts from disrupting markets, managing and leading in fast growth times to developing breakthrough products and services. * A Good Idea has to be Controversial – crazy and controversial ideas have to be correct or you look foolish—controversial and correct, not controversial and stupid. No controversy, no chance to survive, if it isn’t controversial then everyone does it and no differentiation or pricing power. * First to Market is Great when You’re Right on Timing and Team – having been on the leading edge as well as the refiner of technologies and markets, the most important aspect is ensuring you have architected a well-rounded team that will challenge the status quo, be willing to admit failure and adjust, while also being patient for timing to present itself. Sun had many ideas and technologies that were too early for the market, so it took leadership sensitive to timing and execution to seize the right opportunities at the right time. * Most Products and Technologies aren’t Original but Evolving and Require Pivoting – it is rare you will have something brand new, but innovating current products, business models and industries can create breakthroughs when you forge forward and are willing to adjust and pivot with what the market is presenting. * Observe, Analyze, Adjust and Execute Fast – A customer in China was using Sun’s Route D (routing software) technology differently and if Sun had spent more time in observation, assessed the implications and potential opportunities they would have been the router king before CISCO. It’s important to pay attention to not just how YOU view your product’s use, but how your customers are using it. Your customers can create new markets beyond your imagination. * If you Miss an Opportunity, Leave it Behind and Move Fast Forward – we all have ideas and innovations we worked on and didn’t execute on that someone else succeeded in. Forget about it and keep innovating and working the execution. The secret to success is always leaving the past as the past and pressing ahead with what’s next. * Capital Doesn’t Solve Problems – Capital Infusion Creates Confusion –  many times more capital infusion creates more confusion and less focus on disrupting, ideating and coming up with that next innovation. More capital can get you compulsive, complacent and distracted. You can’t beat technology with more capital, you need cleverness and leadership.   Augmenting Education Now and the Future We need education advancement more than ever before.  Today’s tools and platform don’t provide the best we can do as a society for our students, teachers and parents.

Is controversy good when it comes to innovating? Today’s guest is passionate about creating breakthroughs and states ‘If it isn’t controversial, it’s not a good idea’. Scott McNealy knows a few things about changing the game by challenging the status quo, disrupting platforms, products and services. Focusing on continually challenging an idea, model, platform, technology and service leads to disruptive breakthroughs and advances society. This week on Killer Innovations, Scott McNealy joins us to discuss a number of topics in the quest for future advances. Lessons from the Trenches Seeking to make an impact by looking at things from a different lens has always been Scott’s game if it’s technology, golf, education, marketing, politics or social issues. His open source view permeates his approaches and has led to positive impacts. Scott has had opportunities to learn from his pioneering and early mover days with Sun Microsystems to recent ventures in marketing and education platforms. There are many takeaways in the battles he and his teams engaged with over three decades of incredible growth and technology advances that made significant contributions to the boom of the PC and Internet. So what does it take to continue to innovate and grow. Scott has some key thoughts from disrupting markets, managing and leading in fast growth times to developing breakthrough products and services. * A Good Idea has to be Controversial – crazy and controversial ideas have to be correct or you look foolish—controversial and correct, not controversial and stupid. No controversy, no chance to survive, if it isn’t controversial then everyone does it and no differentiation or pricing power. * First to Market is Great when You’re Right on Timing and Team – having been on the leading edge as well as the refiner of technologies and markets, the most important aspect is ensuring you have architected a well-rounded team that will challenge the status quo, be willing to admit failure and adjust, while also being patient for timing to present itself. Sun had many ideas and technologies that were too early for the market, so it took leadership sensitive to timing and execution to seize the right opportunities at the right time. * Most Products and Technologies aren’t Original but Evolving and Require Pivoting – it is rare you will have something brand new, but innovating current products, business models and industries can create breakthroughs when you forge forward and are willing to adjust and pivot with what the market is presenting. * Observe, Analyze, Adjust and Execute Fast – A customer in China was using Sun’s Route D (routing software) technology differently and if Sun had spent more time in observation, assessed the implications and potential opportunities they would have been the router king before CISCO. It’s important to pay attention to not just how YOU view your product’s use, but how your customers are using it. Your customers can create new markets beyond your imagination. * If you Miss an Opportunity, Leave it Behind and Move Fast Forward – we all have ideas and innovations we worked on and didn’t execute on that someone else succeeded in. Forget about it and keep innovating and working the execution. The secret to success is always leaving the past as the past and pressing ahead with what’s next. * Capital Doesn’t Solve Problems – Capital Infusion Creates Confusion –  many times more capital infusion creates more confusion and less focus on disrupting, ideating and coming up with that next innovation. More capital can get you compulsive, complacent and distracted. You can’t beat technology with more capital, you need cleverness and leadership.   Augmenting Education Now and the Future We need education advancement more than ever before.  Today’s tools and platform don’t provide the best we can do as a society for our students, teachers and parents.

Have you created a Loonshot? Have people dismissed or laughed at your Loonshot? Safi Bahcall takes us through how to manage Loonshots—a big goal, an audacious idea which has a lot of enthusiasm and support, but may be viewed as crazy. What if you nurtured these crazy ideas that are dismissed and written off. Loonshots have always been created and declared, but not always nurtured, which is critical for real success. This week on Killer Innovations, Safi Bahcall joins us to discuss how to handle Loonshots. Phase Transitions There are behaviors and patterns for Loonshots. Previous building blocks can support the creation of a Loonshot or destination.  However, the most important focus has to be on how you get to that destination, which is the continual nurturing of those crazy ideas. As the goal is established, the nurturing process spurns off other creations, insights and breakthroughs making the ultimate destination not only achievable, but also richer in value. A big challenge is that many times good teams kill great ideas. Why though? From experience and research there are certain properties of groups and characteristics that lead to failure or phenomenal success. Leaders Role with Loonshots What can you do that ensures phase transitions are balanced as a leader of innovators and those driving execution. Leaders need to understand their role, the rules and any exceptions to rules. Safi breaks this down into nurturing three elements in the toolbox, the Ice Cube, Garden Hoe and Heart. * Ice Cube – has two types of groups, the Artists and Soldiers. Those creating the Loonshots and those that are getting them to market. The leader has to understand these two distinctive groups have multiple dynamics and functions requiring appropriate channels and systems to operate in. * Garden Hoe – to manage the transfer as a leader you have to lean on as Gardner with nurturing care and not a bulldozer plowing through. It is vital that a leader carefully manages the transfer between touch and balance with each group from interactions, communications, timelines and deliverables. * Heart – and the most important is to ensure you demonstrate equal value to both your Artists and Soldiers. Love and care for both sides with the same vigor. What are the Rules for Individual Innovator’s There are three rules that are critical for innovators to always keep in their toolkit as they create Loonshots and nurture them. * Listen to the Suck with Curiosity (LSC) – when others critique your idea and dismiss it or call it bad, react with curiosity not animosity. Investigate and explore. Ask the questions—what was wrong and why with a mind to learn. Look for that gold nugget that can save and/ or accelerate your crazy idea. * Minding the False Fail – when everyone is abandoning understand if the failure is really a flaw in the idea or the experiment. The Facebook story makes it clear, don’t give in to a false fail. Examine is this really a fail or false fail – investors were leaving Friendster, but one investor, Peter Thiel, investigated deeper and realized it was not a broken social media model, but the problem scaring away investors was a software glitch. The rest is money making history. * Ignore Fail Fast and Pivot – when an idea and project

Have you created a Loonshot? Have people dismissed or laughed at your Loonshot? Safi Bahcall takes us through how to manage Loonshots—a big goal, an audacious idea which has a lot of enthusiasm and support, but may be viewed as crazy. What if you nurtured these crazy ideas that are dismissed and written off. Loonshots have always been created and declared, but not always nurtured, which is critical for real success. This week on Killer Innovations, Safi Bahcall joins us to discuss how to handle Loonshots. Phase Transitions There are behaviors and patterns for Loonshots. Previous building blocks can support the creation of a Loonshot or destination.  However, the most important focus has to be on how you get to that destination, which is the continual nurturing of those crazy ideas. As the goal is established, the nurturing process spurns off other creations, insights and breakthroughs making the ultimate destination not only achievable, but also richer in value. A big challenge is that many times good teams kill great ideas. Why though? From experience and research there are certain properties of groups and characteristics that lead to failure or phenomenal success. Leaders Role with Loonshots What can you do that ensures phase transitions are balanced as a leader of innovators and those driving execution. Leaders need to understand their role, the rules and any exceptions to rules. Safi breaks this down into nurturing three elements in the toolbox, the Ice Cube, Garden Hoe and Heart. * Ice Cube – has two types of groups, the Artists and Soldiers. Those creating the Loonshots and those that are getting them to market. The leader has to understand these two distinctive groups have multiple dynamics and functions requiring appropriate channels and systems to operate in. * Garden Hoe – to manage the transfer as a leader you have to lean on as Gardner with nurturing care and not a bulldozer plowing through. It is vital that a leader carefully manages the transfer between touch and balance with each group from interactions, communications, timelines and deliverables. * Heart – and the most important is to ensure you demonstrate equal value to both your Artists and Soldiers. Love and care for both sides with the same vigor. What are the Rules for Individual Innovator’s There are three rules that are critical for innovators to always keep in their toolkit as they create Loonshots and nurture them. * Listen to the Suck with Curiosity (LSC) – when others critique your idea and dismiss it or call it bad, react with curiosity not animosity. Investigate and explore. Ask the questions—what was wrong and why with a mind to learn. Look for that gold nugget that can save and/ or accelerate your crazy idea. * Minding the False Fail – when everyone is abandoning understand if the failure is really a flaw in the idea or the experiment. The Facebook story makes it clear, don’t give in to a false fail. Examine is this really a fail or false fail – investors were leaving Friendster, but one investor, Peter Thiel, investigated deeper and realized it was not a broken social media model, but the problem scaring away investors was a software glitch. The rest is money making history. * Ignore Fail Fast and Pivot – when an idea and project

Does architecture have an effect on how we think, feel, and act?  Donald Rattner has researched and explored environmental psychology and come to the conclusion that it does.  This fact plays into our daily lives, affecting how we act and feel at the office and in our personal lives.  This week on Killer Innovations, Donald Rattner joins us to discuss innovation and creativity in design of architectures that impact our daily lives. Natures Effect on Creativity What is the role of nature in regard to creativity?  The human body craves to be near nature; unfortunately, we spend ninety percent of our time indoors.  Rattner says to you do not have to do a lot to bring nature to your workplace.  One study showed that simply placing a plant on your work desk can boost your creative output from fifteen to twenty percent.  Fortunately, you do not need hours of exposure; you need a certain amount of inputs to achieve the necessary restorative affect nature has on the human body and mind. Creativity at Home People get ideas more often while at home; it is the place where you do the most unconscious ideation.  So, what can people do in their homes to improve their creativity?  First, you need to designate a creative place; pick where you want to associate creativity with.  Second, pick a place where you want to spend time in.  Try to get a sense of openness in your creative space.  Studies have shown that the more open the space, the more open your mind is to creativity.  Another point Rattner makes in his book is the effect that ceiling space has on creating an open space.  Pictures, color, beauty, lighting, sound, music, and scent all affect creativity. About Our Guest Donald Rattner is the author of My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation.   He is an architect and practitioner.  He has also taught at the University of Chicago and worked at Parson’s School of Design.  Pick up Rattner’s book today! Let’s connect; I am on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter.  If we do connect, drop me a note and let me know.  The email address is feedback@philmckinney.com or you can go to Philmckinney.com and drop me a note there.  Don’t forget to join our Innovators Community to enjoy more conversations around innovation. To learn more about creativity in design of architectures, listen to this week's show: Donald Rattner on Design of a Place and its Effect on Creativity.  

Does architecture have an effect on how we think, feel, and act?  Donald Rattner has researched and explored environmental psychology and come to the conclusion that it does.  This fact plays into our daily lives, affecting how we act and feel at the office and in our personal lives.  This week on Killer Innovations, Donald Rattner joins us to discuss innovation and creativity in design of architectures that impact our daily lives. Natures Effect on Creativity What is the role of nature in regard to creativity?  The human body craves to be near nature; unfortunately, we spend ninety percent of our time indoors.  Rattner says to you do not have to do a lot to bring nature to your workplace.  One study showed that simply placing a plant on your work desk can boost your creative output from fifteen to twenty percent.  Fortunately, you do not need hours of exposure; you need a certain amount of inputs to achieve the necessary restorative affect nature has on the human body and mind. Creativity at Home People get ideas more often while at home; it is the place where you do the most unconscious ideation.  So, what can people do in their homes to improve their creativity?  First, you need to designate a creative place; pick where you want to associate creativity with.  Second, pick a place where you want to spend time in.  Try to get a sense of openness in your creative space.  Studies have shown that the more open the space, the more open your mind is to creativity.  Another point Rattner makes in his book is the effect that ceiling space has on creating an open space.  Pictures, color, beauty, lighting, sound, music, and scent all affect creativity. About Our Guest Donald Rattner is the author of My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation.   He is an architect and practitioner.  He has also taught at the University of Chicago and worked at Parson’s School of Design.  Pick up Rattner’s book today! Let’s connect; I am on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter.  If we do connect, drop me a note and let me know.  The email address is feedback@philmckinney.com or you can go to Philmckinney.com and drop me a note there.  Don’t forget to join our Innovators Community to enjoy more conversations around innovation. To learn more about creativity in design of architectures, listen to this week's show: Donald Rattner on Design of a Place and its Effect on Creativity.  

This week on Killer Innovations, I am joined in the studio by Katherine Radeka.  Katherine is the founder of Rapid Learning Cycles Institute.  She has a new book coming out on October 1st called “High Velocity Innovation.” Katherine started her career at HP and then went on to carry on Dr. Ellen Wards legacy as a lean product consultant. Challenges of Innovation The challenge inside large organizations is the challenge of catching of the innovation.  Inside any organization there has to be a pull for innovation that starts at the strategic level.  Even when they have that inside an organization, there are still going to be the innovation antibodies that create barriers and slow down the innovation engine.  Another important challenge within an organization is distinguishing between process metrics and result metrics.  Process metrics for innovation focus on how much time is your team spending on innovation activities.  For result innovation, you should be looking at the amount of revenue coming and how fast you can get to market. Failing Fast Companies sometimes need hurdles thrown at their innovation teams to help them grow.  Katherine recommends having escalating hurdles at least once a quarter.  It encourages teams to find fast ways to validate whether or not their ideas are good ideas and challenge their perspective on it.  Getting feedback from management is essential to these teams because it is an incentive to learn fast.  You can keep up with Katherine at high velocity innovations. Let’s connect; I am on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter.  If we do connect, drop me a note and let me know.  The email address is feedback@philmckinney.com or you can go to Philmckinney.com and drop me a note there.  Don’t forget to join our Innovators Community to enjoy more conversations around innovation. To hear the interview with Rapid Learning Cycles Institute founder Katherine Radeka, listen to this week's show: Katherine Radeka on Challenges of Innovation in a Large Organization.    

This week on Killer Innovations, I am joined in the studio by Katherine Radeka.  Katherine is the founder of Rapid Learning Cycles Institute.  She has a new book coming out on October 1st called “High Velocity Innovation.” Katherine started her career at HP and then went on to carry on Dr. Ellen Wards legacy as a lean product consultant. Challenges of Innovation The challenge inside large organizations is the challenge of catching of the innovation.  Inside any organization there has to be a pull for innovation that starts at the strategic level.  Even when they have that inside an organization, there are still going to be the innovation antibodies that create barriers and slow down the innovation engine.  Another important challenge within an organization is distinguishing between process metrics and result metrics.  Process metrics for innovation focus on how much time is your team spending on innovation activities.  For result innovation, you should be looking at the amount of revenue coming and how fast you can get to market. Failing Fast Companies sometimes need hurdles thrown at their innovation teams to help them grow.  Katherine recommends having escalating hurdles at least once a quarter.  It encourages teams to find fast ways to validate whether or not their ideas are good ideas and challenge their perspective on it.  Getting feedback from management is essential to these teams because it is an incentive to learn fast.  You can keep up with Katherine at high velocity innovations. Let’s connect; I am on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter.  If we do connect, drop me a note and let me know.  The email address is feedback@philmckinney.com or you can go to Philmckinney.com and drop me a note there.  Don’t forget to join our Innovators Community to enjoy more conversations around innovation. To hear the interview with Rapid Learning Cycles Institute founder Katherine Radeka, listen to this week's show: Katherine Radeka on Challenges of Innovation in a Large Organization.    

On this week’s episode of Killer Innovations, Phillip Merrick joins us in the studio. Phillip and his wife Caren started a company called webMethods and pioneered the use of web services integrating, machines, software applications and databases with XML-based software integration technologies.  Phillip was the co-founder of a web-multimedia resume company VisualCV and is currently CEO of cloud security company Fugue, igniting their own innovations. As a serial entrepreneur he is accustomed to creating and disrupting market spaces and has had a number of his companies acquired.  Phillip has been recognized for driving results including KPMG & Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Washingtonian Magazine “Titan of Technology”, and CRN “Top 25 Executive” as well as Deloitte’s fastest-growing software company in North America over the period 1998 to 2002. In 2000, webMethods went public on the NASDAQ in the most successful software IPO to date. The 1st Mover Experience Phillip was a software developer with a dream and when his wife, a marketing specialist, teamed with him it wasn’t immediate success. However, an initial journey of rejection and failure. Using credit cards to survive, going down to nothing financially they experienced the fear of many entrepreneurs. They had numerous rejections pitching to over 135 investors before they won over an initial venture investor in DC and eventually venture capitalists in Silicon Valley.  Success started to take hold and led to more breakthroughs.  But why so hard! Well when you are creating a new space with a new technology you deal with 1st Mover pains. Many companies we know today from Apple to Google weren’t 1st Movers in a space, but Phillips vision of connecting machines to the web disrupted the market and challenged the norms into a new space. webMethod’s was challenged with people not getting what they had or were doing. His team convinced the market how to use the technology and how much easier it was. They proved it to global companies and markets from Phillip’s basement with the team of four getting a product in the hands of potential customers in record time. Lessons from 1st Mover in a New Space to Existing Space Phillip has moved from pioneering a space to pioneering in an existing space from VisualCV to self-healing infrastructure in cloud security with Fugue. He makes it clear that creating a space is definitely far and few in between and an exception–innovation happens in many ways in existing spaces.  You can have innovation in how you productize, market and structure your business model.  Innovation has to be in the idea, product development and driving execution.  Philip’s advice for success is that you need to realize that innovation is not just about the idea.  It is how you bring it to market, how you package it up for service, and how you build the team from recruiting to culture.  From his journey he will tell you that “No idea comes away with contact with a customer in the same shape”. What do you wish you knew early in your career? Within reason you can do anything you put your mind to.

On this week’s episode of Killer Innovations, Phillip Merrick joins us in the studio. Phillip and his wife Caren started a company called webMethods and pioneered the use of web services integrating, machines, software applications and databases with XML-based software integration technologies.  Phillip was the co-founder of a web-multimedia resume company VisualCV and is currently CEO of cloud security company Fugue, igniting their own innovations. As a serial entrepreneur he is accustomed to creating and disrupting market spaces and has had a number of his companies acquired.  Phillip has been recognized for driving results including KPMG & Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Washingtonian Magazine “Titan of Technology”, and CRN “Top 25 Executive” as well as Deloitte’s fastest-growing software company in North America over the period 1998 to 2002. In 2000, webMethods went public on the NASDAQ in the most successful software IPO to date. The 1st Mover Experience Phillip was a software developer with a dream and when his wife, a marketing specialist, teamed with him it wasn’t immediate success. However, an initial journey of rejection and failure. Using credit cards to survive, going down to nothing financially they experienced the fear of many entrepreneurs. They had numerous rejections pitching to over 135 investors before they won over an initial venture investor in DC and eventually venture capitalists in Silicon Valley.  Success started to take hold and led to more breakthroughs.  But why so hard! Well when you are creating a new space with a new technology you deal with 1st Mover pains. Many companies we know today from Apple to Google weren’t 1st Movers in a space, but Phillips vision of connecting machines to the web disrupted the market and challenged the norms into a new space. webMethod’s was challenged with people not getting what they had or were doing. His team convinced the market how to use the technology and how much easier it was. They proved it to global companies and markets from Phillip’s basement with the team of four getting a product in the hands of potential customers in record time. Lessons from 1st Mover in a New Space to Existing Space Phillip has moved from pioneering a space to pioneering in an existing space from VisualCV to self-healing infrastructure in cloud security with Fugue. He makes it clear that creating a space is definitely far and few in between and an exception–innovation happens in many ways in existing spaces.  You can have innovation in how you productize, market and structure your business model.  Innovation has to be in the idea, product development and driving execution.  Philip’s advice for success is that you need to realize that innovation is not just about the idea.  It is how you bring it to market, how you package it up for service, and how you build the team from recruiting to culture.  From his journey he will tell you that “No idea comes away with contact with a customer in the same shape”. What do you wish you knew early in your career? Within reason you can do anything you put your mind to.

On this week’s show of Killer Innovations, Michael George, Author, Entrepreneur and CEO of AI Technologies joins us as our guest. He is the founder of Lean Six Sigma, the most widely used process improvement method used globally. Since 2012, Mike has worked on applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the next big process breakthrough beyond Lean Six Sigma.  Over the years, Mike has worked with Fortune 100 companies and Government’s globally and was Founder and CEO of The George Group, which he sold to Accenture as well as Founder and CEO of International Power Machines which he took Public and then sold to Rolls Royce. He has authored 8 books including “Fast Innovation”, “Lean Six Sigma”, “Conquering Complexity in Your Business” and his latest “Lean Six Sigma in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”.   The Power of Process Innovation  Innovating processes and discovering ways to leverage process to bring exponential returns on innovation initiatives and product development has been a mission of Michael and the results of his work has created and preserved value.  The combination of Lean and Six Sigma brought a breakthrough for non-repetitive processes and global leaders enjoyed the elimination of waste and enhanced quality.  However, leaders had another dilemma “How to Get to Market Faster with Quality Products”.   Fast Innovation gave them: Speed in the Product Development Process Market Velocity with Better Forecasting and Predicting  Preservation and Enhanced Quality Innovation Blitzes – Fast Gating while discovering Drivers of Delays The next iteration of Process Innovation applies AI to drive Innovation’s through a lifecycle as well as discover ideas that can create breakthroughs. Fourth Industrial Revolution: Solving Unsolvable Problems  Michael has been engaged in Deep Learning Neural Networks for many years.  With the onset of ‘Big Data’ we can now apply AI and machine learning to recognize patterns to help solve what has been unsolvable in the past.  With Lean Six Sigma in Age of AI they have discovered a number of valuable insights that will power organizations to the next level and help them harness the power of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Don’t get overwhelmed with your data.  Over-engineering your data quality and data cleansing efforts can grind you to a halt and not necessary – there are a number of processes to get high value sets of data for analysis in short order – a challenge for CEO’s today Unseen discoveries are attainable even in the most proficient organizations—a recent effort revealed 60% of inefficiency came from only 20% of revenue AI and machine learning didn’t eliminate jobs, but created more opportunities and growth while developing more productive employees So what can leaders do to take advantage of the next wave? Michael believes every CEO should have their own AI and data expert that can comb every aspect of a business or organization to find common patterns in their activities (for instance product development and innovation initiatives) that elude human interaction.  Future Advances  So, what game changing innovation does Michael expect to see?

On this week’s show of Killer Innovations, Michael George, Author, Entrepreneur and CEO of AI Technologies joins us as our guest. He is the founder of Lean Six Sigma, the most widely used process improvement method used globally. Since 2012, Mike has worked on applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the next big process breakthrough beyond Lean Six Sigma.  Over the years, Mike has worked with Fortune 100 companies and Government’s globally and was Founder and CEO of The George Group, which he sold to Accenture as well as Founder and CEO of International Power Machines which he took Public and then sold to Rolls Royce. He has authored 8 books including “Fast Innovation”, “Lean Six Sigma”, “Conquering Complexity in Your Business” and his latest “Lean Six Sigma in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”.   The Power of Process Innovation  Innovating processes and discovering ways to leverage process to bring exponential returns on innovation initiatives and product development has been a mission of Michael and the results of his work has created and preserved value.  The combination of Lean and Six Sigma brought a breakthrough for non-repetitive processes and global leaders enjoyed the elimination of waste and enhanced quality.  However, leaders had another dilemma “How to Get to Market Faster with Quality Products”.   Fast Innovation gave them: Speed in the Product Development Process Market Velocity with Better Forecasting and Predicting  Preservation and Enhanced Quality Innovation Blitzes – Fast Gating while discovering Drivers of Delays The next iteration of Process Innovation applies AI to drive Innovation’s through a lifecycle as well as discover ideas that can create breakthroughs. Fourth Industrial Revolution: Solving Unsolvable Problems  Michael has been engaged in Deep Learning Neural Networks for many years.  With the onset of ‘Big Data’ we can now apply AI and machine learning to recognize patterns to help solve what has been unsolvable in the past.  With Lean Six Sigma in Age of AI they have discovered a number of valuable insights that will power organizations to the next level and help them harness the power of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Don’t get overwhelmed with your data.  Over-engineering your data quality and data cleansing efforts can grind you to a halt and not necessary – there are a number of processes to get high value sets of data for analysis in short order – a challenge for CEO’s today Unseen discoveries are attainable even in the most proficient organizations—a recent effort revealed 60% of inefficiency came from only 20% of revenue AI and machine learning didn’t eliminate jobs, but created more opportunities and growth while developing more productive employees So what can leaders do to take advantage of the next wave? Michael believes every CEO should have their own AI and data expert that can comb every aspect of a business or organization to find common patterns in their activities (for instance product development and innovation initiatives) that elude human interaction.  Future Advances  So, what game changing innovation does Michael expect to see?

What are the unique skill sets needed for innovation leadership?  We all have a list of what good leadership skills are but what are the unique ones you need to be a true innovation leader?  Today on Killer Innovations, I will discuss what I have found to be the skills needed for successful innovation leadership. Innovation Leadership Skills These leadership skills apply to all organizations, whether you are small organizations or a large organization. * Integrity * You need to trust the people you are working with. * You need to know they are looking out for what is in the best interest for the team and organization. * Vision and Strategy. * Team members are looking to the leaders to communicate what the vision and strategy are. * You need to look longer range beyond where the team is and roll that back in so they can see what your vision is. * You need to be able to tell the story, make the pitch, share their dream with others. * Communication is critical to successful innovation leadership, * If you are going to be a leader you need to be able to interact and build relationships and truly have interests in other people’s lives. * Know what is going on in your team member’s lives so you can help them eliminate distractions and really get their head in the game. * You have got to persuade people to leave what they are doing now and join your team. * You have to be able to convince them that what are doing is something worth their time. * Adaptability and Flexibility. * As a leader you cannot be rigid; you have to be adaptable and flexible with your team and organization. * Can you operate as a leader of a team? * You need diversity on your team to be successful. * Coach and Develop. * Find young and upcoming people and coach and develop them. * Decision-Making. * You have to be comfortable making the final decision. * Realize that sometimes the decision you make are going to fail. * Planning and Organizing. * If you are not good at planning and organizing, then hire people to do it for your team. These are the basic skills you need to be a successful innovation leader.  So, what skills do you need to do differently to truly be an innovation leader? * Innovation leadership involves taking risks. * You have to be comfortable that some of the decisions you make are going to fail. * Some of your decisions are going to be flipped. * You need to keep looking for new opportunities and threats. * Look for threats to your organization, industry, or geography. * Innovation is about change. * Stability is the death of innovation. * Foster a culture where change is expected. * Do not rest on the traditional management techniques. * Every situation is different. * You need to invent the way you manage and do leadership. * Be an optimist. * Innovation is about being an optimist. * You need to convince and convey an optimistic view of the future. * Innovator’s cut through the crap. * Innovation leaders need to cut through the crap and get to the core. * You need to step in and stop the corporate game-playing.

What are the unique skill sets needed for innovation leadership?  We all have a list of what good leadership skills are but what are the unique ones you need to be a true innovation leader?  Today on Killer Innovations, I will discuss what I have found to be the skills needed for successful innovation leadership. Innovation Leadership Skills These leadership skills apply to all organizations, whether you are small organizations or a large organization. * Integrity * You need to trust the people you are working with. * You need to know they are looking out for what is in the best interest for the team and organization. * Vision and Strategy. * Team members are looking to the leaders to communicate what the vision and strategy are. * You need to look longer range beyond where the team is and roll that back in so they can see what your vision is. * You need to be able to tell the story, make the pitch, share their dream with others. * Communication is critical to successful innovation leadership, * If you are going to be a leader you need to be able to interact and build relationships and truly have interests in other people’s lives. * Know what is going on in your team member’s lives so you can help them eliminate distractions and really get their head in the game. * You have got to persuade people to leave what they are doing now and join your team. * You have to be able to convince them that what are doing is something worth their time. * Adaptability and Flexibility. * As a leader you cannot be rigid; you have to be adaptable and flexible with your team and organization. * Can you operate as a leader of a team? * You need diversity on your team to be successful. * Coach and Develop. * Find young and upcoming people and coach and develop them. * Decision-Making. * You have to be comfortable making the final decision. * Realize that sometimes the decision you make are going to fail. * Planning and Organizing. * If you are not good at planning and organizing, then hire people to do it for your team. These are the basic skills you need to be a successful innovation leader.  So, what skills do you need to do differently to truly be an innovation leader? * Innovation leadership involves taking risks. * You have to be comfortable that some of the decisions you make are going to fail. * Some of your decisions are going to be flipped. * You need to keep looking for new opportunities and threats. * Look for threats to your organization, industry, or geography. * Innovation is about change. * Stability is the death of innovation. * Foster a culture where change is expected. * Do not rest on the traditional management techniques. * Every situation is different. * You need to invent the way you manage and do leadership. * Be an optimist. * Innovation is about being an optimist. * You need to convince and convey an optimistic view of the future. * Innovator’s cut through the crap. * Innovation leaders need to cut through the crap and get to the core. * You need to step in and stop the corporate game-playing.

We love to say anything can be innovated, anyone can innovate and innovation can happen anywhere.  Silicon Valley and other recognized innovation hubs do not have a lock on innovation or a secret sauce that cannot be modeled or improved on.  It takes a willingness to put time, your resources, explore and expand your creativity (we all have it) beyond where you are today to see the non-obvious.  When you do, you will be like our Kentucky guests, innovating in a non-traditional innovation hub, non-traditional way and a non-high tech innovation. As part of our Innovation Across America tours, we ventured across the country in our new mobile studio to Paducah, Kentucky.  This tour was looking for those innovating “Beyond the Obvious”.  In our show this week we had the opportunity to interview the founders of Fin Gourmet Foods.  Started in 2010, Fin Gourmet is a Kentucky Proud Producer™ of wild-caught Asian Carp products.  So why Asian Carp. It has the highest source of healthy clean protein and Omega-3 fatty acids, on par with wild caught salmon.  Nowhere else in the world but the USA are Asian Carp wild-caught, and those from Western KY are of the best quality. More importantly this innovation story is unique.  Fin’s mission and vision are that the Asian Carp provide economic opportunities for the communities, fostering job creation and revitalizing the inland fishing industry.  Defining and Tackling a Problem Statement The team at Fin Gourmet defined the problems and challenges and engaged in disruptive ideation.  As an integral part of their innovation process they considered some basic assumptions of innovation to create value including: Turn other people’s trash into a product: Fin took the Asian Carp, which is an invasive species that is taking over the Mississippi and Ohio river systems, and innovated a way to turn it into a great food source. Give opportunities to people overlooked: In addition to locating in a rural part of the country, Fin works with local halfway houses to offer jobs to former prison inmates and others down on their luck.  Training, teaching and building a culture that values and leverages the abilities of all. Breathe life back into an industry overlooked by others: Fin pays a premium price for what many considered “trash” to help local independent fishing families to transition to this new species of fish and the economy it can support. What is the Non-Obvious Innovation at Fin? Fin has two patented innovative processing techniques to: Debone Asian Carp fillets and Make all-natural surimi (Japanese fish paste) from the Carp without using water or chemicals. With their innovative model, process and approach Fin Gourmet is making a big impact locally and across the globe with their products and story.  The Fin founders,