Carla Johnson — RE:Think Innovation and the Wheel of Innovation

"Innovation isn't a gift. It's a simple, repeatable five-step process that anyone, at any level, can learn — with nothing more than a stack of Post-it notes." Carla Johnson, author of RE:Think Innovation, is on a mission to teach one million people to consistently come up with new, great and reliable ideas. In this anniversary-edition conversation, she takes Aidan McCullen through her updated Wheel of Innovation — observe, distill, relate, generate, pitch — and the cautionary tales that show why so many good ideas die in the boardroom. In this conversation, Carla reveals: Why a pet-flavoured water startup failed — and the warning signs it ignored The "CF-uh-O" who killed a Disney-inspired pitch, and what it teaches about how ideas are packaged What brand detachment disorder is — and why "that would never work here" is your most expensive excuse How Big Ass Fans transplanted the customer experience of Zingerman's Deli into an industrial fan company How the CDC's zombie apocalypse campaign got 60,000 hits in an hour and put Dr. Ali Khan on stage at Comic-Con Why Great Ormond Street Hospital brought in Ferrari's Formula 1 pit crew to cut surgical handover errors How Tim Washer turned the Cisco ASR 9000 router launch into a Valentine's Day love story Why real creativity only starts after your first 200 ideas The "how might we" language shift that stops your brain killing ideas before they're born How to give feedback that builds perpetual innovators instead of silencing them Chapters:  00:00 Innovation Is A Process 00:49 Why RE Think Matters 02:10 Thirsty Pet Cautionary Tale 05:01 Defining Innovation Clearly 07:29 New Great Reliable Ideas 09:54 Perpetual Innovators Explained 11:03 Mentorina Pitch Gone Wrong 15:10 Brand Detachment Disorder 18:29 Complexity Bias In Innovation 22:07 Brand Transplant Big Ass Fans 25:38 Constraints And If Onlys 28:23 CDC Zombie Preparedness Win 33:18 Wheel Of Innovation Update 33:53 Constraints Spark Creativity 34:27 Cisco Router Love Story 39:32 Observation Drives Innovation 45:01 Distill Dots Into Patterns 48:05 Relate Ideas To Brand 53:00 Generate 200 Ideas 55:50 Pitch The Idea Journey 59:32 Feedback That Builds 01:04:19 Where To Find Carla Find Carla Johnson at https://carlajohnson.co — take the innovation archetype assessment and sign up for her fortnightly newsletter. Subscribe to the Thursday Thought on Substack  https://thethursdaythought.substack.com About The Innovation Show: the Thinkers50-recognised podcast where square pegs find their place in a world of round holes. Hosted by Aidan McCullen, author of Undisruptable, it brings you conversations with world-class authors, scientists and practitioners on disruption, innovation, change, transformation and leadership. Website: https://theinnovationshow.io Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-innovation-show/id1148455669 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/63nFKf4bsSWo3W72gWtOsK?si=b62d9614237c4450 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/theinnovationshow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidanmccullen