Why Corporate Zombies don’t innovate – and how to make innovation inevitable

Today I am speaking with Elvin Turner. Elvin is an award-winning innovation expert and associate professor of innovation, entrepreneurship and marketing for MBA and executive education programmes.

He has coached hundreds of corporate innovation initiatives around the world, coaching leaders in some of the world’s most innovative organisations in the finance, technology, music, drinks and publishing industries to overcome the many barriers that they face when trying to turn new ideas into action. 

His new book is called “Be Less Zombie: How great organisations create dynamic innovation, fearless leadership and passionate people.”

Unusual title you may think, but unfortunately the zombie-like state of being has been the old normal in many organisations, especially large corporates.

In this conversation Elvin and I are exploring the path from zombie-dom to angel-hood. When I checked the antonyms to zombie, angel stood out for me with its connotation of being soulful, warm-hearted, smart and wise.

 In this episode you will learn:

·      That innovation is first and foremost a “choice”

·      How the mechanics of innovation resemble the process of adaptation in nature

·      Why bad incentives turn good actors into “innovation zombies”

·      The difference between leading innovation from the top and growing it bottom-up

·      Why small experiments are essential to convince naysayers

·      How to make innovation inevitable and the game-changing Innovation KPI at 3M

·      Why Elvin thinks progress for humanity should be the yardstick for innovation

 I really rate his innovation for realists approach, and hope you enjoy this episode!

Here you can watch Elvin's Innovation Essentials Videos and download 12 accompanying slide decks: https://www.elvinturner.com/ie-access 

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