310: Creating Strategic Innovation and Design with Sandra Hodzic

Summary: Welcome to another great episode of Startup Junkies!   On this episode, hosts Caleb Talley and Davis McEntire sit down with Sandra Hodzic, the director of strategic innovation and design for the Government of New Brunswick. Sandra has over ten years experience in corporate innovation and has a deep understanding of how to identify breakthrough ideas and take solutions to market. Throughout the episode, Caleb, Davis, and Sandra discuss the methodologies used to further social innovation and what that looks like throughout Canada.   Shownotes: (0:59) Introduction to Sandra (1:48) About Strategic Innovation and Design at the Government of New Brunswick (9:24) What Innovation Can Look Like (11:50) Social Innovation throughout Canada (17:48) Methodologies Used in Social Innovation (28:10) Organizations Fostering Social Innovation (30:10) Challenges Moving Forward (34:39) Advice to Younger Self (36:17) Closing Thoughts   Links: Caleb Talley Davis McEntire  Sandra Hodzic   Quotes: “Innovation isn’t the panacea to all social ills. It’s just one set of mechanisms that can be deployed amongst a variety. Actually, I would argue that it works best when it’s complemented by other methods as well because a lot of them do work very well and in unison.” - Sandra Hodzic, (4:21)   “Innovation is doing cool stuff that matters. I think that’s ultimately what we try to create is we try to work on interesting things that make a difference and that matter in the lives of the individuals we collaborate with, the public that we serve, and the people that we’re there to represent.” - Sandra Hodzic, (8:33)   “...whenever I embark on a project where that individual’s leader allowed them the space and the time in their workday to focus on being playful, and being disruptive, and being divergent, and employing new methods of overcoming risks or de-risking a model, those are the ones that have led usually to the most success.” - Sandra Hodzic, (25:12)