You may know Mars Incorporated for the sweet and tasty treats you can find on store shelves – classic Twix candy bars, Juicy Fruit gum, and so much more. However, Mars is exploring much more than just candy and snack foods. Jean-Christophe Flatin, President of Innovation, Science, Technology, and Mars Edge at Mars, talks about "innovation myth-busting," the importance of connecting with consumers, and new patterns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Venture capital funds provide the gasoline startups need to get from an initial sketch on a cocktail napkin to a global-scale giant like Uber, Amazon, or Airbnb. With so much change over the last year, we drove out to Los Altos Hills, California to sit down with Hemant Taneja, one of venture’s power players to understand what’s on his mind half way through this year. Marcus Daniels, Highline Beta’s Founding Partner & CEO, also shares his insights.

Bringing designers in early can help companies execute on big ideas more successfully and create smoother customer experiences. But how do you get that right, especially if design isn’t baked into the culture, or if other functions tend to dominate the innovation process? Phil Duncan, the Global Design Officer at Procter and Gamble, discusses his experience. Brett Lovelady and Andy Goodman of PA Consulting also share.

Weddings in the COVID-era look a little different. Many couples staged “minimonies” to celebrate their big day, sometimes with a Zoom link as a substitute for in-person celebrations. Just as celebrations have adapted, the way people shop for wedding wear also had to shift.  David’s Bridal CEO Jim Marcum discusses how he’s navigating the future of the wedding business. That includes building an omnichannel experience to help brides shop from anywhere and industry trends to look out for in 2022.

COVID-19 has changed the way people get around. Instead of public transportation, cycling has become a preferred mode of mobility, as well as a way to safely exercise outdoors. A spike in demand might seem like a clear win for bike makers. But, more sales means greater stress on supply chains and longer wait times. To find out how the bike sector is dealing with the unexpected surge of interest, we talked to Chad Manuell, Director of Engineering at Trek Bicycle. Manuell also discusses how his team approaches early innovation and R&D project.

2020 has been a year of racial reckoning — with discussions about police brutality and systematic racism stretching from the streets to the dinner table to the virtual conference room. To take a deeper dive, we gathered a panel to discuss how to make DEI initiatives at big companies more effective. Our panelists include: Irina Kozlovskaya, a Director of Industrial Design at Fitbit; Alfred Jones, Head of Mechanical Engineering at Lyft Level Five; Jessica Hansen, Executive Director of the Alliance for Smiles; and Simone Hadley Wilson, a marketing strategist, formerly of Lyft.

In so many ways, 2020 has been defined by sudden, dramatic change — from the shift to remote work, to redesigning brick and mortar locations, to changing buying habits, to the national dialogue around racial reckoning, to the aftermath of the presidential election. To find out how big companies have been responding to it all, Innovation Leader’s Editorial Team released four research reports this fall. This episode of Innovation Answered explores the most important data points from that research that can help teams finish the year strong. Scott Kirsner, CEO and Co-founder of Innovation Leader, and Alex Slawsby, a Senior Researcher at IL, join for the conversation.

Yellow boxes with CD-ROMs made Rosetta Stone an iconic brand in the 2000s. Since then, the company has transformed itself into an educational technology powerhouse. Matthew Hulett, President of Language at the company, discusses how Rosetta Stone pivoted from a physical product to a subscription service. He also discusses the company’s approach to digital innovation and how his team is working through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

While demand for shipping to office spaces is down, the team at UPS has seen an increased in customers shipping purchases to their homes. In this installment of Innovation Answered: Essentials, David Lee shares how his team has adapted to these new needs. He also discusses how his team has changed their approach to storage and gives best practices for innovators in 2020. After the conversation, Lee reads “The Biggest Barriers to Innovation”, an article he contributed to Innovation Leader’s magazine, aloud. Our Essentials segment is designed for busy innovators in big organizations. In each episode, we discuss a recent article from our site or magazine, and read a portion aloud. Want to read along? See the full article.  

After planning for hybrid classes all summer, this month the team at Barnard College pivoted suddenly to another semester of online learning. What goes into making these decisions? And how will today’s pivots affect the future of higher education?  We gathered an online panel of higher education experts to share. This episode features Barnard President Sian Beliock, Len Schlesinger of Harvard Business School, and the co-CEO of edX, Adam Medros. 

What’s changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic? What’s likely to come back? And when? Innovation Leader’s What the Future Looks Like report seeks to answer that question. Kaitlin Milliken, Multimedia Editor at the publication, shares data from the report. Stephan Chase, a futurist and founder of the consultancy Chase Intel, discusses how the pandemic has affected life downtown and the hospitality space. Peter Berger, Director of Innovation for the aircraft manufacturer EmbraerX, explains why drastic innovation cuts are short-sighted. 

COVID-19 has transformed the way teams across the globe work. Stock markets have been in turmoil, and companies across industries have announced layoffs and furloughs.  In this episode of Innovation Answered, experts share best practices for teams as they navigate uncertainty. Topics of discussion include shifting innovation teams’ priorities, switching over to remote work, and cultivating a “service oriented” mindset. Russell Rogers, former Vice President of Global Innovations at Blue Shield of California; Christian Ponce, Director of Operational Transformation at LogMeIn; and Nancy Tennant, author and former Chief Innovation Officer at Whirlpool share insights. 

"Invention is a flower. Innovation is a weed," innovator Bob Metcalfe explains his famous quote during in this special bonus episode. Metcalfe also shares his experiences as a founder at 3Com, the company culture that allowed him to invent Ethernet, and why big companies should work with startups.

The second season of our podcast starts on March 19th. Find out more about our show and catch up on bonus content at innovationleader.com/podcast. 

What are corporate innovators thinking about in the first quarter of 2019? We sat down with Professor Gary Pisano at Harvard Business School to find out. In this interview, Pisano discussed last years innovation wins and his new book, Creative Construction. We also talked to our Editor and CEO Scott Kirsner to find out what Innovation Leader members are thinking about in the new year.

How can AI help turn restaurant customers into regulars? We sat down with Sherif Mityas, TGI Friday's Chief Experience Officer to find out. Other topics of discussion include personalization, catering to millennials, and best practices for innovation. 

With increased traffic and decreased parking, many urbanites have opted out of owning a car. So what will the future of mobility look like? We talked to Jon McNeill, COO of Lyft, about what consumers can expect moving forward. In this interview, Jon also discussed his experience at Tesla and his move to the ride sharing industry.

Innovation at large, established companies is hard. So we made a podcast to help you overcome obstacles and create change at your organization. Welcome to Innovation Answered, the podcast for corporate innovators.  Innovation Answered is created by the media and events company Innovation Leader. For more information visit innovationleader.com/podcast.