Total Innovation Podcast

Gina built the world’s largest network of social innovation labs at the United Nations and currently teaches at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. The innovation lab network that she built was the United Nation's largest investment in sustainability innovation (115 countries). Her work is taught as a Harvard Business School Case Study (Fall 2022), received the Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award, the 2023 SXSW Innovation Award, Apolitical's Public Service Team of the Year (evidence-based policy-making) in 2019, was covered in the MIT Sloan Review (Summer 2020) and depicted in For Tomorrow, an award-winning documentary on grassroots innovation available on Amazon Prime.A ride or die optimist, she has 20+ years of experience in the global sustainable development sector working on civic participation, human rights, entrepreneurship, reducing inequalities, climate action, food systems, informal economies and sustainable development across the board.She writes, speaks and represents the United Nations on sustainability innovations regularly, including through a new course she designed for the Masters in Design Engineering program at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Graduate School of Design (Integrative Frameworks: Innovation in Global Problem Solving).

Martin Eriksson has spent three decades helping organisations figure out why they're stuck — and what to do about it.He's been building digital products since 1994, built SaaS before anyone called it SaaS, and has worked his way through companies of every size and stage: The Financial Times, Monster, Huddle, Covestor, Cazoo, and most recently as Product Partner at EQT, one of the world's largest private investors. Along the way, he's advised over 150 companies on the thing most of them were missing: not better tools or frameworks, but the connective tissue between their strategy and the people doing the work.Today, Martin works as a board member, strategic advisor, and leadership coach — helping founders, CEOs, and product leaders build the clarity their organisations need to move at pace. His most recent book, The Decision Stack: How Strategic Alignment Unlocks Organizational Momentum, distils everything he's learned about what it actually takes to align an organisation from vision to execution.As the founder of ProductTank, co-founder of Mind the Product — together, the world's largest product community, active in over 200 cities — and co-author of Product Leadership (O'Reilly, 2017), he has helped define the product management discipline and shaped the practices of a generation of product leaders.

Vladislav grew up in Russia. He left to pursue a doctorate in Italy. He has worked in industrial automation, certified himself across robotics and control systems, served an internship at Bosch Rexroth, and built a career working on the kind of complex engineering problems that most people would find impenetrable. And then, sometime in 2024, he heard a rumour. About a place — almost mythical in the telling of it — where companies with genuinely hard problems would post them openly, and pay strangers to solve them. He was suspicious. He went looking anyway. And then he won. Three times. On problems ranging from glass recycling robotics in Italy, to crop protein vulnerability at elevated temperatures for the Gates Foundation, to reinforcing underground electrical substations. Three wins, from a standing start, in under two years.

Fernanda Torre is a recognized expert in sustainability-driven innovation and CEO of the consultancy Next Agents, whose mission is to create value for people and the planet—both now and into the future. She is also the co-founder of One Global Action, an international initiative that fosters capacity-building and collaborative innovation to tackle major sustainability and ESG challenges.Fernanda serves as Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of the Boards Impact Forum, the Nordic chapter of the World Economic Forum’s Climate Governance Initiative, where she co-leads training programs on Board Oversight of Sustainability and Responsible AI for Value Creation.She is the co-author of the book AI Leadership for Boards: Leading Responsible AI for Value Creation, published by Springer Nature, which explores how boards can shape innovation, risk oversight, and strategic renewal in an AI-powered world.Fernanda is affiliated with the House of Innovation at the Stockholm School of Economics and teaches at the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship (SSES), where she leads programs on strategic innovation, foresight, and entrepreneurship.With an award-winning background in graphic and experience design, she has worked across industries and institutions, including Stora Enso, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Karolinska Institutet. She holds an MBA with distinction (President’s List) from SSE, an MFA in Experience Design from Konstfack, and a BA in Graphic Design from the University of Porto.

Sonia is a global executive, board member and strategic advisor with over 20 years of experience across Europe, USA, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Bringing a blend of commercial strategy, technology leadership and innovation expertise, with a focus on enterprise-level decision-making, long-term value creation and responsible growth.She's led and overseen digital transformation, product innovation and global commercial initiatives across multiple industries, supporting organizations as they navigate scale, complexity, risk and disruption. Contributes a forward-looking perspective on innovation, AI, sustainability and ecosystem partnerships, grounded in practical experience operating across mature and emerging markets.Sonia serves ona number of boards and advisory councils including Stanford Seed, Harvard Business Review and the European Innovation Council, contributing to governance, strategy, and long-term value creation across global organizations.. Recognized for sound judgment, constructive challenge and the ability to operate effectively at board level across cultures and geographies.

Marta started her journey in innovation in 1998 as the product manager of the first idea management platform, which became a market leader and served global customers such as Pfizer, Cargill, Belgacom and many more, to which she also consulted on innovation best practices.Subsequently, Marta moved into corporate technology consulting, then back again into innovation management with a Spanish startup.For the past six years, Marta served as a Strategy and Innovation manager at NatWest bank, where she implemented an intrapreneurship programme and oversaw the delivery of enterprise-grade AI innovation solutions.Outside work, Marta is interested in social innovation and robotics.She currently lives in Edinburgh with her family.

Robyn Bolton works with leaders of medium and large businesses to help them navigate uncertainty and confidently grow revenue. At MileZero, she has worked with companies including Medtronic, Ariadne Labs, and Teachers Pay Teachers to transform deep customer insights into viable businesses. She has also worked with organizations including Alexion, Sanofi, and The Cable Center to build their innovation capabilities and cultures.Prior to founding MileZero, Robyn was a Partner at Innosight, the innovation and growth strategy consulting firm founded by Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen. She served Global 1000 companies, nonprofits, and startups in industries including healthcare, retail and apparel, and consumer packaged goods. Her teams collaborated closely with clients like Nike, Ahold USA, and Nestle to identify new markets, design and launch new business models, build innovation structures and processes.After earning her MBA at Harvard Business School, she worked as a consultant and project leader for The Boston Consulting Group in both Boston and Copenhagen Denmark. 

Recognised as a Trusted Advisor, Tom works across the Public, Private and Defence Sectors, enabling organisations to establish the foundations to innovate, while leverage the capabilities of a diverse partner ecosystem; from startups to hyperscalers, in order to experiment, scale and commercialise new solutions.Tom is a member of the British Standards Institute (BSI) committee for Innovation Management, and is actively contributing to the ISO 56000 series of Innovation Management standards.

Súsanna Laursen is one of the driving forces behind the Faroe Islands' emerging innovation ecosystem. Based in Tórshavn, she works at Hugskotið — the Islands' startup incubator, founded in 2014 by the municipality of Tórshavn — where she supports early-stage founders and helps shape an environment where bold ideas can take root in one of the world's most remote and distinctive places. In eight years working in the ecosystem, she has seen Hugskotið support over 200 companies, the launch of FarBAN (the Faroe Business Angels Network), and growing interest from international investors who are increasingly paying attention to what's being built here.Súsanna is also co-founder of TONIK itself — the event you're at right now. TONIK was born out of a conviction that a small island nation doesn't have to think small. By blending technology, art, and meaningful human connection against the backdrop of the Faroese landscape, TONIK has become a gathering that draws founders, investors, and creative thinkers from across the Nordics and beyond — and sends them home with new collaborations, new friendships, and a new understanding of what's possible at the edge of the world.Her work is rooted in a simple but powerful idea: that the same qualities that make the Faroe Islands distinctive — resourcefulness, creativity, the habit of wearing many hats, and the necessity of solving your own problems — are precisely the qualities that make great innovators.

Dr. Alexander Osterwalder is one of the world's most influential thinkers in strategy and innovation. A Swiss entrepreneur, author, and speaker, he is best known as the co-creator of the Business Model Canvas — a deceptively simple one-page tool that has been adopted by millions of practitioners across the globe, from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies including Mastercard, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft. Ranked consistently in the top 10 of the Thinkers50 list of management thinkers worldwide, Alex holds the Thinkers50 Strategy Award and the European Union's inaugural Innovation Luminary Award.He is the founder and CEO of Strategyzer, a platform that provides organisations with the tools, courses, and frameworks to systematically build new growth engines and more powerful business models. His books — including Business Model Generation, Value Proposition Design, Testing Business Ideas, and The Invincible Company — have collectively sold millions of copies in nearly 40 languages.Alex's mission is to make innovation more scientific and less random, helping leaders move beyond collecting ideas to actually measuring and delivering innovation value at scale.

This is final episode of this season and the closing chapter in the Expected Value Story. In this episode, we look at the future of innovation. Innovation without adaptation is just novelty. The future belongs to those who can continuously evolve their innovation system. Over this season, we've followed Freya and her team as they've moved from good intentions and busy innovation to clearer decisions, better evidence, and real value. But no system ever stands still. The world keeps changing, and the real question becomes how do we change with it without losing what we've built? As we prepare to say goodbye to Freya, she is asked a simple but powerful question, what's next? And her answer isn't about more ideas or bigger bets. It's about building an organization that can keep learning, adapting, and creating value, even when the future refuses to behave.

In this episode we explore chapter fourteen from metrics to mindsets. Thus far in the story we have seen that the numbers look great. XV across the portfolio was strong. Strategic fit profiles were improving, kill decisions were happening faster, reallocations were smooth. On paper, Freya's innovation system was working exactly as designed. And yet something felt off. In this episode we explore what happens when an innovation system starts to become a performance, when confidence scores are given without doing the work, when learning is claimed without reflection, and when people walk through the beautiful structure you've built like it's a museum, admiring it but not living it. We'll follow Freya and Axel as they shift the focus from metrics to mindsets, recentering everything on real challenges that matter, using AI as a cultural sense-making tool, identifying cultural lead users who already embody the behaviors you want, and rewiring rituals so the organization celebrates realized value, not just innovation activity. If you've ever felt your dashboards look great, but your innovation culture is quietly drifting, this chapter is for you. It is about turning your system back into a tool, restoring truth over theatre, and closing the gap between expected and realized value.

In this episode, we move to Act 4, where the spotlight moves from frameworks to people. Freya's team can score ideas, prioritize bets, and balance the portfolio. But now they face the harder challenge, embedding innovation into the culture itself. We'll see how they bridge the gap between potential and performance, turning XV into realised value, and we'll explore the table of justice, a transformative way to judge decisions by evidence, not emotion. This is where innovation becomes lived, not just measured. 

In this episode we step into chapter 11, learning loops and dynamic resourcing, where Freya discovers the fundamental truth at the heart of innovation performance. Namely, the value of an innovation is directly proportional to how much we learn from it, irrespective of whether it succeeds or fails. This chapter begins with tension. A major project is under scrutiny, the CFO demands evidence, and Freya realizes the team has been learning, but not showing the learning. What follows is a profound shift from reporting activity to reporting confidence, from fixed plans to dynamic resource allocation, and from rigid portfolios to living systems that adapt at the pace of evidence. We explore how Freya builds learning velocity, tracks X V deltas, reframes killed decisions, and introduces dynamic resourcing that moves money, talent, and attention to where learning is happening fastest. It's the moment where innovation stops being a bet and becomes a learning engine, and it sets the foundation for accelerating the journey from expected to realized value

In this episode, we explore chapter 10, Lines of Trust, which takes us beyond governance and into the invisible systems that make innovation work or fall apart. Freya and her team have built structure. The XV model, the fit radar, the S-curve, and a new three-tier governance system. On paper, it's perfect. But in practice, something's missing. When one small decision crosses an unseen line, Freya discovers what no framework can capture, that governance only works when people believe in the intent behind the decisions. This chapter explores how trust becomes the hidden infrastructure of innovation. We'll see how Freya learns to map the sensitivity lines that exist between people and functions like HR, finance, IT, legal, and how she builds a trust layer that connects structure to belief. It's a story about what happens when logic meets emotion, when process meets perception, and how the true power of innovation lies not in control, but in connection.

This week's exclusive release from Expected Value, the system to prove, measure, and scale value. In this episode we enter Act 3, Total Portfolio Intelligence. Most organizations don't suffer from a lack of innovation, they suffer from a lack of innovation clarity. Ideas live in spreadsheets, sandboxes, and slide decks. Some get launched before they're ready, others never see daylight. But the real problem is this. Few organizations truly understand how all that activity adds up. Act three is where we make the shift from managing individual ideas to orchestrating a coherent innovation system, from counting experiments to building strategic insight, from interesting activity to strategic advantage. In this episode, we'll explore chapter eight, strategic layering, where Freya learns how to connect innovation directly to business strategy, risks, and efficiency, turning her portfolio into a living map of value. And in chapter 9, Portfolio Governance and Decision Rights, we see how she evolves from decision bottleneck to system architect, building a governance model that balances freedom with control and turns decision making into a measurable source of performance. This is where innovation becomes visible, governable, and scalable. This is total portfolio intelligence.

“Innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum. It happens in cycles”In this chapter, we're diving into one of the most powerful and often misunderstood forces shaping innovation performance, the S-curve. Innovation doesn't happen in straight lines, it happens in cycles. Technologies evolve, markets shift, and every idea follows a natural rhythm, from emergence to acceleration, to maturity and eventually decline. Understanding this rhythm changes everything. It explains why confidence fluctuates, why value grows and then stabilizes, and why timing can be the difference between leading a market and missing it entirely. In Surfing the S-Curve, we'll explore how Freya and her team connect the life cycle of innovation to the XV model, transforming it from a static formula into a dynamic living system. This is a chapter about movement, timing and foresight, because the real art of innovation isn't just creating something new, it's knowing when to let go, when to optimize, and when to jump to the next curve.

"Innovation without alignment is just novelty. Strategic alignment without innovation is just stagnation. The magic happens at the intersection."In the chapters so far, we've moved from understanding value to learning how to measure confidence and timing. Now, in this next chapter, Operationalizing Strategic Fit, we complete the picture. Because innovation isn't just about what's valuable or urgent, it's about what's right for your organization to pursue. This is where Freya and her team take the X V system to its next level, transforming a formula into a true decision framework.

“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” Albert EinsteinInnovation has no shortage of frameworks, toolkits, or canvas templates. But too often, those tools complicate instead of clarifying. They add noise instead of structure. They create motion without meaning.Act II is about changing that by introducing a coherent system, not just more frameworks.This episode marks the beginning of Act Two, operationalizing innovation value. We follow Freya's team as they put X V into practice for the first time.

In this second episode we move from illusion to understanding. Chapters two through four unpack the real performance gap in innovation and introduce the X V system, a data-informed way to calculate the expected value of ideas. We explore how confidence, value, and time sensitivity come together to create a measurable forecast of innovation performance.

After a summer break, welcome back to season three of the pod. It's going to be a special season. I recently launched my latest book, Expected Value: The System to Prove, Measure, and Scale Value. And thanks to our sponsor Wazoku, across this season, you'll hear the full audio version of the book. It's a story, a system, and a toolkit designed to finally answer the question that every innovator faces. How do we prove, measure, and scale the value of the innovation work that we do? Each episode takes you chapter by chapter through the book, exclusively for Total Innovation Podcast subscribers, and before the full audiobook release later this year. In this opening episode, we set the stage for the system that redefines how innovation is measured. You'll hear the forward, the introduction to Act One, The Problem with Innovation Performance, and Chapter One, The Innovation Illusion, where we meet Freya and her team as they confront the uncomfortable truth about why so much innovation fails to perform. 

Ludvig Bergstrom is a tech entrepreneur and founder of Nordic Tech Week. He launched his first tech company five years ago while studying in Copenhagen before relocating to Stockholm. Frustrated by the inaccessibility of the tech ecosystem—where established conferences cost over €400 and many events were restricted to CEOs and established profiles—Ludvig recognized the need to democratize access to valuable tech insights.This experience inspired him to create Nordic Tech Week, a week-long series of events in Stockholm designed to open doors for students, aspiring entrepreneurs, and newcomers to the tech scene. The flagship event is set to be the world's first fully open tech conference, hosted at Kungsträdgården, one of Stockholm's most iconic parks. The conference features panel discussions, free startup demonstrations, and networking opportunities aimed at connecting future co-founders, employees, and employers.A strong advocate for "the new Nordics" concept—bringing together the Nordic and Baltic regions—Ludvig believes these regions share bold global ambitions and common values around sustainability and ethical tech scaling. His mission is to ensure that the insights and connections typically reserved for closed-door meetings become accessible to everyone who wants to understand where technology is heading and how to navigate the future of tech in this unified Nordic-Baltic ecosystem.

Marco is an award-winning lighting architect whose work spans cathedrals, museums, theatres—and now, refugee camps.He was the winning solver in the International Rescue Committee’s “Phosphorescence Technology for Lighting” challenge—a challenge we heard so movingly about in our conversation with Carla Lopez from the International Rescue Committee in an earlier episode in this season of the podcast.This episode is all about light: not just the technical or aesthetic side, but light as dignity, safety, and human innovation. 

Fernanda Torre is an  educator, innovation strategist, co-founder of Next Agents, and one of the leading voices behind Global Green Action Day: a bold international initiative tackling plastic pollution through radical collaboration, circular economy principles, and AI-powered problem-solving. This year’s event took place on June 5th, aligning with UN World Environment Day, and activated innovators from Sweden, Portugal, Austria, and beyond.Furthermore, Torre is a Visiting Teacher affiliated to the House of Innovation at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), faculty in the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship (SSES) where she teaches Trendspotting and Future Forecasting, and directs the global program on entrepreneurship education SSES Learning Lab Roundtables.Torre is moreover the Operations Director and one of the founding members of Boards Impact Forum, the Nordic chapter for the Climate Governance Initiative from the World Economic Forum.Torre has done research on the intersection between AI and innovation, both in the launch of new projects as well as the corporate governance of exponential technologies. Additionally, Torre is a Swedish Expert in the international technical committee for the development of the ISO standard on Innovation Management. She is also a founding member of the Speculative Futures Chapter in Stockholm.

Victoria spearheads global innovation initiatives and excellence in innovation management and methodologies, leveraging emerging and advanced technologies across diverse industries. She achieves outstanding growth through qualitative and quantitative research, strategy, accelerator management, challenge-led technology pilots, innovation ecosystems, senior leadership engagement, facilitation, thought leadership, design thinking, concept, proposition and business case development and creative problem solving and business management. With a Masters (distinction) in innovation management and a PGDip in Business Administration, her career is a testament to her passion for achieving substantial commercial and strategic outcomes and impact through innovation.She is the UK Head of Delegation at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) TC 279 for innovation management, where she sits on the advisory group for communications and engagement (AGCE) and has actively contributed to the drafting, development and refinement of ISO 56001 (The first global auditable innovation management system standard), ISO 56002 and ISO 56007 (Idea and opportunity guidance). She is a technical expert committee member for the British Standards Institution (BSI) for design and innovation management.Her sectors include fintech, transport, IOT, FMCG, pharma, to marine, mining, infrastructure and more in both B2C and B2B markets. She has been a leading design mentor for the UK KTN Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), a £1.5 billion fund that supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. She also developed a design thinking training methodology funded by the UK Government in conjunction with Imperial College London's Dyson School of Design Engineering, which significantly improved indicators of performance for SMEs.Victoria is agile certified, a qualified industrial designer, and an expert trainer on the full suite of ISO 56000 for INNOVATEUK Edge Specialists on behalf of BSI. She has published and presented her research papers on innovation competencies and standardised innovation management systems at the International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM).After leading a management buy out 8 years ago, she was at the helm of a boutique innovation management consultancy, Tenshi Consulting Ltd., ensuring daily operations and the ongoing success of the business. She recently successfully exited and has founded her latest endeavour - Verity Merit.

Pavlo Ryzhiy is a strategic advisor, catalyst, and integrator who specializes in connecting insights from strategy, innovation, business modelling, and organizational design to create solutions that others often overlook. Originally from Ukraine now based in Hamburg, Germany. Pavlo works with organizations that have previously failed at innovation programs, helping them take a second approach that actually sticks. The central concept discussed is "capital of failure" - the idea that failure shouldn't be hidden or avoided in corporate settings, but rather treated as a valuable asset that can be measured and capitalized on a company's balance sheet.  In corporate innovation and intrapreneurship, Pavlo has developed scalable corporate startup ecosystems using unique gamified engagement models where employees invest in their colleagues' startups. He has designed and led corporate acceleration programs focused on sustainable innovation, achieving over fifty percent employee engagement in corporate innovation initiatives and generating significant returns on investment with millions in newly created profits. Through his work, he has facilitated the launch of more than thirty corporate sustainable startups. Pavlo is passionate about organizational transformation, sustainable development, self-organized teams, and harnessing both individual and organizational purpose. He focuses on developing employee agency, vertical leadership development, new business and product development, and innovation management. His methodological approach helps companies to drive comprehensive organizational change and innovation. His personal experience of leaving Ukraine due to war and rebuilding in Germany adds real-world examples of resilience and transformation that inform his methods for helping companies navigate innovation and change in an increasingly urgent global business environment.Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.Explore how Wazoku helps organizations like those supported by Pavlo Ryzhiy turn past innovation failures into measurable success through sustainable innovation programs, employee engagement models, and strategic transformation.Learn more about Wazoku’s approach to corporate innovation

“Se puoi sognarlo, puoi farlo” (“If you can dream it, you can do it.”), Enzo Ferrari Dr. Juan Martin is an Intensive Care Consultant at Newham University Hospital NHS Trust, a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, and a Medical Writer at Scienda Group. With over 17 years of experience as a successful innovator in the Wazoku solver ecosystem, Dr. Martin has developed groundbreaking solutions across multiple disciplines.Originally from Aragon, Spain, Dr. Martin began his medical career in biochemical pathology, which opened doors to research opportunities. He later earned his PhD and MBA, becoming the youngest medical director of Spain's largest private hospital company before relocating to the United Kingdom with his family to pursue new challenges.Dr. Martin's innovative spirit has led to numerous award-winning solutions in fields ranging from dentistry to pharmaceutical development. His approach blends professional medical expertise with personal experiences and natural curiosity. Whether drawing inspiration from his kitchen experiments, his children's insights, or his patients' needs, Dr. Martin embodies Enzo Ferrari's philosophy: "If you can dream it, you can do it."Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

John is currently the executive-in-residence at Harvard Business School’s Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH), which studies AI and Workforce Transformation strategies, and founder and CEO of Open Assembly, a company that provides content, community, and strategic advising to organizations, people, and platforms to co-create the future of work.Recently, he has been leading a global industry coalition made up 4000 global leaders in the open talent and innovation industry to start a non-profit trade association, The Center for the Transformation of Work with the goal of Transforming work for a billion people by 2025.In his past life, John was the chief innovation officer of Havas, when Havas purchased his open advertising agency, Victors & Spoils, in 2015. Winsor founded V&S after introducing the advertising world to the practice of co-creation in his role as vice president and executive director of strategy and innovation at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. Winsor had merged his company Radar Communications, the world’s leading open strategy and research company, with CP+B back in 2007. Other companies Winsor founded include Sports & Fitness publishing, sold to Conde Nast, and the Gravity Games, sold to NBC.John's most recent book was, “Open Talent: Leveraging the Global Crowd to Solve Your Biggest Challenges,” published by Harvard Business Press.He is also the author of “Beyond the Brand,” “Spark,” “Flipped,” and the best-selling “Baked In,” winner of the 2009 800-CEO-READ Business Book Award in marketing. Winsor is also an advisor to the Digital Initiative at Harvard Business School, and a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, The Guardian, Forbes and Digiday.Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

 Jayshree Seth is a Corporate Scientist at 3M and currently holds 80 patents for a variety of innovations, with several additional pending. She joined 3M in 1993 after an MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University, New York. She is a Distinguished Alumni Award recipient from her alma mater REC Trichy India, now NIIT Trichy, where she earned a B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering.Jayshree was appointed 3M’s first ever Chief Science Advocate in 2018 and is using her scientific knowledge, technical expertise and professional experience to advance science, communicate its benefits and the importance of STEM fields to drive innovation.She is also a member of Carlton Society which is the 3M Science and Innovation “Hall of Fame.” Jayshree is the fourth woman and first female engineer to be inducted. In 2020, she was awarded Society of Women Engineers (SWE) highest Achievement Award. She is also the first-ever winner of a Gold Stevie® Award in the new Female Thought Leaders of the Year – category in the 18th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business in 2021. In 2025 she was named to the prestigious Thinkers50 Radar list featuring 30 people those whose ideas will help shape the future of orga

Carla is a global health practitioner with 15 years of experience working on the stubborn issues that keep poor people in poverty. Her passion is to apply problem-solving approaches from human-centred design, behavioral insights, and the private sector to the development and humanitarian sector. She has worked in markets disrupted by the Ebola outbreak in Liberia and the earthquake in Haiti where the need for health services was heightened, client behaviour was fluid, and best practices were uncertain. These are the conditions under which she thrives: where scrappy, bold initiatives can save the day or yield important insights when they fail.Her leadership roles have ranged from country director of a team of 154 colleagues during an Ebola outbreak to regional technical advisor for human-centered design and social marketing in Southern Africa. She has worked on products, such as HIV self-testing kits and micronutrient-enriched porridge, and services like male circumcision and community warehouses for smallholder families. She has a knack for finding and cultivating her colleagues' hidden skills and uncovering the important details that influence what makes for a satisfying client experience. She tells good stories and works towards a world where people most affected by crisis and poverty have to power to shape their own future.See how she’s driving real-world impact through open innovation on the Wazoku Crowd. 👉 International Rescue Committee ShowcaseBrought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Harry is a career-long specialist in generating and applying innovation. Passionate about innovation to solve the hardest problems in seafreight and humanitarian causes.Three times a key member of the leadership teams of early-stage technology companies that aggressively innovated, including once as a co-founder. Two grew from pre-revenue to enterprise values over $100 million. Domain expertise in the automation of the logistics of container shipping, global trade and export/import. He has had direct management roles in corporate strategy, sales, marketing, business development, product management, channel sales, field operations, consulting, software development, finance, and mergers & acquisitions.Harry's specialties include: Expert in raising external funding and positioning companies for strategic sale or investment - Directed and participated in raising over $100 million of venture and private equity investment.Learn more about Harry’s work at Seafreight Labs and how innovation is driving solutions in humanitarian challenges: https://www.seafreightlabs.com/Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Tim helps large companies overcome internal hurdles to ignite externally sourced open innovation and technology acquisition, and facilitate technology transfer deals.He spends significant time delivering a wide range of IP and open innovation consulting services to clients, from open innovation system diagnostics to detailed technology and technology need evaluations to deal-assessment and execution.In addition to hands-on experience, Tim has an educational background in the IP industry including a Masters Thesis which recommended improved licensing strategies for technology licensing out of universities.Read Tim's ebook Unlocking Impact from Open Innovation hereBrought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Paul Hobcraft is a globally recognized expert in business ecosystem innovation and design, ranked among the top 50 global thinkers in Ecosystems and Renewable Energies. With extensive international experience spanning Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Paul helps organizations navigate the complexities of ecosystem-driven innovation and unlock new growth opportunities.Drawing from his hands-on experience leading global businesses across consumer goods, specialty chemicals, and industrial products, Paul now serves as a strategic advisor helping companies harness the power of business ecosystems, collaborative innovation, and co-creation. His practical approach combines deep ecosystem expertise with real-world business savvy, enabling organizations to stay ahead in rapidly evolving markets.Based on his 14 years in Asia and leadership roles across multiple continents, Paul brings unique cross-cultural insights to help businesses design and implement successful ecosystem strategies. As a "transition to business ecosystems and innovation advocate," he guides organizations through the challenges of ecosystem adoption while fostering sustainable innovation and growth.Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Mike Todasco spends his days thinking about how AI will change how we createUsing generative tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and the ever-growing slate.He used to work at PayPal, focused on innovation Where he evangelized creativity to employees of every nation.At PayPal he also had many roles in the field of product From management to marketing to launch, which was a bit chaotic.Previously, he founded a company, Sketch Maven Where long start-up nights turned his appearance to unshaven.Prior to his career in tech, he was in finance and accounting you seeStarting his career at the company with a meatball logo, GE.He has an MBA from Berkeley and a BS from Illinois And occasionally teaches leadership to mature girls and boys.Mike has also been granted over 100 US utility patents.And if you don't like his rhymes, you're on his list of enemy combatants.Overall Mike tries to be a very helpful guy,And while he uses the tools, he did not write this with AIBrought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Called ‘The Reinvention Guru’ (In Ventures magazine) and ‘The Queen of Reinvention’ (TEDx Navasink), Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva is a business owner, educator, speaker and author -- specializing in reinvention. Nadya has helped such organizations as The Coca-Cola Company, ENRC PLC, IBM, CISCO, Erste Bank, Henkel, Knauf Insulation, Vienna Insurance Group and many others to reinvent their products, processes, and leadership practices. She served as the Coca-Cola Chaired Professor of Sustainable Development at IEDC- Bled School of Management, an executive education center based in the Slovene Alps, where she continues to teach courses in leadership, strategy, change management, design thinking, and sustainability. In addition to IEDC, Nadya has taught in other business schools, including CEDEP-INSEAD (France), Case Western Reserve (USA), and IPADE Business School (Mexico). As a speaker, Nadya has shared her insights with audiences worldwide through keynotes, panel presentations, and workshops. She has delivered three TEDx talks in Austria, Slovenia and the US. Over 100,000+ professionals saw Nadya speak publicly. As an author, Nadya has written two books (“Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive Advantage” in 2011 and “Overfished Ocean Strategy: Powering Up Innovation for a Resource-Deprived World” in 2014) and contributed to five others. In an effort to reinvent corporate approaches to sustainability strategy, Nadya and her co-author Chris Laszlo coined the concept ‘embedded sustainability’, which was virtually non-existent when they started in 2009. Today, it produces 25+ million Google search results and has become a staple for corporate sustainability efforts.Learn more about how Wazoku's Total Innovation platform supports businesses in driving sustainable, transformative change at Wazoku. Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Gijs van Wulfen (1960, based in Greece of Dutch origin) is a well-known global authority and trusted advisor on innovation, inspiring speaker, author of three innovation bestsellers, one of the top ten worldwide innovation bloggers, and a LinkedIn Influencer with 325.000+ followers.He is very driven to jump start innovation, because organisations struggle with the start of innovation in their day-to-day hectic business. He is a business economist with a master’s in management consultancy. During his career of thirty years, Gijs has worked as a fast-moving consumer goods marketer, a boardroom consultant, a large group facilitator and as a keynote speaker. Through his informal personal style, infectious enthusiasm and persuasiveness he gets people to move beyond their borders to make their organization innovative again.Gijs is also the author of the innovation bestseller “The Innovation Expedition”, which has been published in English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Turkish, Dutch, Chinese and Japanese. Gijs furthermore founded the FORTH innovation method, which provides structure to the chaotic start of innovation, while still fostering creative thinking. The FORTH method helps businesses to generate well-constructed new product, service, and business model concepts. To date the FORTH innovation method has been implement in 100+ businesses in Asia, Europe, Africa and North – and South America.Gijs van Wulfen is renowned for his structured approach to initiating innovation, notably through his FORTH innovation method. Wazoku offers resources that align with his methodologies, focusing on structured innovation processes and fostering a culture of innovation.Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.The 8 Pillars of a Successful Innovation StrategyThis whitepaper outlines key components essential for a robust innovation strategy, emphasizing the importance of structured processes and clear objectives—principles central to the FORTH method.

Ian is the Innovation Lead at Expedition Engineering. Building on his networking skills and interest in new technologies Ian is working to connect people and teams to deliver amazing outcomes for our clients. Ian's primary focus at the moment is developing ways to accelerate the scale up and adoption of innovations as we aim for net zero carbon.  Ian’s experience in the Water sector focused on project delivery on water company framework contracts in the UK. Through building and leading network modelling teams Ian has worked with all major UK water service providers.Ian is Convener for the Water Innovator Alliance a community acting as a hub and network for innovators, startups, scaleups and new to the water sector organisations to meet, share idea, challenges and opportunities. 👉 Discover past innovations and approaches in the UK Water SectorBrought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Tom Goodwin is a writer, speaker and advertising and media provocateur and consultant. He has been voted a top 10 voice in Marketing by LinkedIn, one of 30 people to follow on Twitter by Business Insider, and a 'must follow' by Fast Company. An industry commentator on the future of marketing and business, he is a columnist for TechCrunch and Forbes and frequent contributor to The Guardian, GQ, Ad Age, Wired, Ad Week, Inc, MediaPost & Digiday. He is based between London, England, and New York City in the United States.He is author of Digital Darwinism which shines a light on the future by exploring technology, society and lessons from the past so you can understand how to adapt, what to embrace and what to ignore. Tom Goodwin proves that assumptions the business world has previously made about "digital" are wrong: incremental change isn't good enough, adding technology at the edges won't work and digital isn't a thing - it's everything. If you want your organization to succeed in the post-digital age, you need to be enlightened by Digital Darwinism.Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.WazokuBuilding a Culture of Innovation Resources

Greg Satell is the Co-Founder of  ChangeOS, a transformation and change advisory. He is an international keynote speaker and bestselling author of Cascades: How to Create a Movement that Drives Transformational Changeand Mapping Innovation. His work has appeared in top publications like Harvard Business Review and Forbes.As a Lecturer at Wharton, entrepreneur, and global executive, Greg helps organizations overcome resistance to change. He is recognized as a top innovation blogger and a leading digital transformation influencer. You can find Greg’s blog at www.DigitalTonto.com, check out his LinkedIn profile For more insights into fostering innovation and transformation within organizations, check out this report on the importance of systems thinking in corporate innovation. Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Runar is CEO at YunoJuno, one of the most impactful companies to come out of the UK in recent years. Runar was previously the CEO of Depop (sold to Etsy for $1.6bn), scaling the company through multiple funding rounds from early stage startup to market dominance in the UK and successful expansion into US with millions of users. Prior to Depop, Runar was part of the founding team that built mobile social network ZYB and successfully sold it to Vodafone Group where he went on to hold several leadership positions including the group’s Global Head of Product. Runar enjoys building and expanding community-driven companies that drive positive change. At YunoJuno he is championing flexibility and empowerment as the future of work.If you're inspired by the insights on innovation and scaling shared in this podcast, discover how Wazoku helps organizations turn ideas into action. Learn more about the importance of systems thinking in corporate innovation by visiting this resource, and see how Wazoku supports businesses in building vibrant innovation ecosystems.Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Balaji is a Product, P&L and Innovation leader with extensive experience ideating, incubating, developing customer-centric products and operating innovative product businesses. Deep industry expertise in Life Sciences, Healthcare, Innovation, Future of Work and Contingent Workforce. Currently teach product innovation and intrapreneurship at Harvard and Stanford.  His work has been recognized in a series of Harvard Business School case studies focused on helping executives build non-traditional businesses within large companies. He frequently teach seasoned professionals to sophomores at Harvard, Stanford, Wharton among others on how to think about this process while maintaining personal identity and a sense of agency in the process.  Additionally, Balaji supports his wife, Meghna, as she starts her own company (Butterfly Voyage), tries to load the dishwasher properly (good luck wine glasses), and builds insanely awesome Legos with his daughter!Balaji's expertise aligns with Wazoku's work in the healthcare and life sciences sector, where innovative thinking and customer-centric approaches are essential. Wazoku has supported organizations in this space by helping them leverage innovation to address complex challenges, enhance patient care, and streamline operations. To learn more about how Wazoku has helped drive innovation and growth in the health and life sciences sector, visit this page on Wazoku's website. Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Steve Rader serves as the Program Manager of NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) and the NASA Tournament Lab (NTL), which are working to infuse challenge and crowdsourcing innovation approaches at NASA and across the federal government. CoECI focuses on the study and use of curated, crowdsourcing communities that utilize prize and challenge-based methods to deliver innovative solutions for NASA and the U.S. government. In 2015, Steve was named as one of 20 Challenge Mentors for U.S. Government Services Administration’s (GSA) Prizes and Challenges government-wide community of practice. Steve has worked with various projects and organizations to develop and execute over 100 different challenges. He speaks regularly about NASA’s work in crowd-based challenges and the future of work both publicly and internally to the NASA workforce to promote the use of open innovation tools.Steve has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Rice University and has worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for 33 years. Prior to joining CoECI/NTL, Steve worked in mission control, flight software development for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, command and control systems development for the X-38, and led the Command, Control, Communications, & Information (C3I) architecture definition for the Constellation Program.To see how organizations like NASA have successfully used Wazoku's platform to solve complex problems, check out their customer stories on forecasting solar events and improving the performance of Kevlar. If you’d like to speak with someone about starting a challenge of your own or learn more about how Wazoku can help you, request a demo here. Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Nathalie Nahai’s background in human behaviour, web design and the arts offer a unique vantage point from which to examine the complex challenges we face with the rise of Generative AI today.Described as “a rare polymath with deep expertise in tech, marketing and psychology”, Nathalie draws upon a rich background in human behaviour, web design and the arts, to offer a unique vantage point from which to examine the complex challenges we face today. Having studied psychology and worked as a web designer early in her career, her frustration at the lack of a comprehensive framework through which to understand online behaviour, led her to write what has since become an international best-seller, Webs Of Influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion (Pearson).Adopted as the go-to manual by business leaders and universities alike, Webs Of Influence has been translated into 7 languages, and alongside her new book, Business Unusual: Values, Uncertainty and the Psychology of Brand Resilience, serves as the cornerstone for Nathalie’s work with clients including Google, Accenture, Unilever and Harvard Business Review, among others. A popular speaker, consultant and facilitator to Fortune 500 companies, Nathalie has lectured at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions (from Cambridge and UCL universities, to Lund and Hult business schools), and her experience as a skilled communicator has seen her present at SXSW, host the Guardian Changing Media Summit and hold main stage interviews at the Web Summit.Learn More: Ethical AI Innovation: Insights from Natalie Nahai - WazokuBrought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Welcome to our podcast, where we dive deep into the world of innovation with the help of expert Stephen Shapiro. Stephen is a renowned innovation advisor who has dedicated his career to helping leaders and teams tackle complex business challenges and improve their innovation models and cultures.After publishing his groundbreaking first book, "24/7 Innovation" in 2001, Stephen left Accenture to become a full-time innovation speaker and advisor. Since then, he has published six books, including his latest, "Pivotal", released in 2024, and "Invisible Solutions" in 2020. Stephen has spoken in 50 countries and works with major companies like 3M, P&G, Marriott, Nike, and Microsoft to enhance their innovation practices through keynotes and advisory services.In our first episode, we chat with Aiden McCullen about total innovation—what it is, why it matters, and how to achieve it. Check it out here.For more resources and insights on innovation, be sure to explore related tools like the Wazoku platform, which supports the innovation processes Stephen champions.Visit Stephen's website for more information, or connect with him on LinkedIn.Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

Join Simon Hill, CEO of Wazoku, in an insightful conversation with Bea Schofield, an expert in Challenge Driven Innovation and co-author of the Corporate Explorer Fieldbook. Currently leading Corporate Exploration and Innovation at Lloyds Banking Group, Bea brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in driving innovation within large organizations.In this episode, Bea shares her professional journey, starting with her academic achievements, including a strategic innovation degree from Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and an MSc in African Studies from the same institution. Her career path, marked by various influential roles, has shaped her innovative approach in the corporate world.The discussion delves into the concept of Challenge Driven Innovation (CDI), where Bea explains its significance and practical application in today’s business landscape. Learn about Bea’s role as an advisor on CDI and how she implements these principles at Lloyds Banking Group. For those interested in further reading, check out the Wazoku resource on CDI: Organizing for Innovation.Discover the current innovation projects at Lloyds Banking Group, led by Bea, and the strategies she employs to overcome challenges and foster a culture of exploration and innovation. Bea’s insights from the Corporate Explorer Fieldbook provide valuable lessons for corporate innovators, emphasizing practical approaches and key takeaways from the book. For more details, explore the Corporate Explorer Fieldbook: Corporate Explorer Fieldbook.Looking ahead, Bea shares her thoughts on the future of corporate innovation, emerging trends, and technologies that will shape the industry. Aspiring innovators and corporate leaders will find her advice on cultivating a culture of innovation particularly inspiring.Tune in for a thought-provoking episode filled with actionable insights, practical examples, and strategic advice from one of the leading voices in corporate innovation. Don't miss the opportunity to connect with Bea Schofield on LinkedIn: Bea Schofield LinkedIn.Subscribe, leave a review, and follow us on social media to stay updated with the latest episodes and innovation insights.Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.

This podcast, over two parts, digs into how Kyle designed, built, and now leads ExxonMobil's corporate-wide open innovation program. He built a high-impact capability from a standing start in less than eighteen months, helping teams across the company solve some of the most challenging problems and explore new opportunity generation strategies by leveraging external resources. In the second episode, we dig into lessons learned, scaling, and so much more. For more insights on organizing for innovation and the benefits of crowdsourcing, check out this resource.Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.Connect with Simon and Kyle on LinkedIn:Simon Hill, CEO & founder, WazokuKyle Basler- Reeder, Open Innovation Leader, Exxon Mobil

This podcast over two parts digs into how Kyle designed, built, and now leads ExxonMobil's corporate wide open innovation program, building a high impact capability from a standing start in less than eighteen months, helping teams across the company to solve some of the most challenging problems and explore new opportunity generation strategies, leveraging external resources. This innovative approach is highlighted in Wazoku's article, showcasing the strategic implementation and success of the program. In the first episode, we dig into the background and foundations for success. In part two, we dig into lessons learned, scaling, and so much more.Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops. Connect with Simon and Kyle on LinkedIn:Simon Hill, CEO & founder, WazokuKyle Basler- Reeder, Open Innovation Leader, Exxon Mobil

We're delighted that our inaugural guest is Aidan McCullen.  Aidan is the host and founder of the  Innovation Show, the most subscribed to innovation podcast, which boasts Bill Gates as a listener and advocate and features on Irelands national broadcaster RTÉ . He reinvented himself after a 10-year career after rugby with over 100 caps for Leinster, Toulouse and London Irish and is a full Ireland Rugby International.Aidan speaks and runs workshops globally on disruption and change for organisations such as Mastercard, Epic Games, Endemol Shine Group, Agilent Technologies, CBC Canada and Toyota and in industries from Pharma to Fintech.Aidan is the author of the book, “Undisruptable: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention for Individuals, Organisations and Life” which features a Foreword by Visa founder and CEO Emeritus, Dee Hock.Connect with Aidan on LinkedInConnect with Simon on LinkedInBrought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.Discover how Wazoku's strategic update for 2024 is revolutionizing innovation with their new interconnected suite of tools, enabled by AI and crowd intelligence.Read the full blog to learn more! 

Welcome to "Total Innovation," the podcast where I explore all the different aspects of innovation, transformation and change. From the disruptive minds of startup founders to the strategic meeting rooms of global giants, I bring you the stories of change-makers. The podcast will engage with different voices, and peer into the multi-faceted world of innovation across and within large organisations.I speak to those on the ground floor, the strategists, the analysts, and the unsung heroes who make innovation tick. From technology breakthroughs to cultural shifts within companies, I'm on a quest to understand how innovation breathes new life into business.Join me as we explore the narratives of those shaping the market, those writing about it, and those doing the hard work. This is "Total Innovation," where every voice counts and every story matters. Brought to you by The Infinite Loop – Where Ideas Evolve, Knowledge Flows, and Innovation Never Stops.Powered by Wazoku, helping to Change the World, One Idea at a Time.