Chris Colbert has helped build and run several domestic and international companies focused on innovation and business optimization. He was previously EVP for Strategy Scholastic's core publishing business, which he left in 2014 to explore the world of higher education and technology-enabled learning systems for adults. He was the Managing Director at Harvard Innovation Labs and is now focusing on adaptive culture and the human potential. He is the host of the Insert:Human podcast, and is working on his second book about innovation and people, exploring how technology needs to be designed with both in mind to succeed. Chris joins me today to discuss the losses in collaboration and ideation due to changes in remote work. He shares insights into why corporate innovation fails and the vital role of leaders and entrepreneurs in understanding and listening to others. Chris highlights why financial gain is not the real measure of success and innovation and explores the desired nature of your existence. He shares why the child's approach of not trusting workers stifles creativity and collaboration and presents three questions to ask yourself if you want to achieve successful innovation. Chris also discusses why you need to have the courage to ask the hard questions, be supportive of failure, be prepared to change your stance, and steer technology integration appropriately.
This week on Innovation Talks:"If you want to increase the chances of innovation and success, find the courage within yourself to be open to the truth about the customer or the human that you are innovating for."
- Chris Colbert
- How Chris got involved in innovation management and starting a business in the 80s to bring technology into marketing
- Why most corporate innovation fails and getting humans to adopt 'the thing'
- Rising above biases to better understand the 'other' and recognizing that to adopt something, the individual must give up something
- The measure of innovation and success and why it is not making money
- The desired nature of existence and how to find your point and life intention
- Why the assembly-line model no longer works and why leaders need to give workers the latitude to think, create, and collaborate
- The importance of being human and treating employees and customers as humans
- The three questions to answer to be successful at innovation
- Chris Colbert's website
- Book: This Is It
- Chris Colbert on LinkedIn
- Chris Colbert on Instagram
- Chris Colbert on Twitter
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