How to Make Innovation Simple, with Dr. Kevin McFarthing

Dr. Kevin McFarthing joins us on this week’s episode of “The Innovation Engine” podcast to talk about how to make innovation simple. Among the topics we discuss on this episode of the podcast are the key structural elements that all innovation efforts should include, the importance of nurturing the front end of innovation and where innovative ideas should come from, and why you should look to create a balanced innovation portfolio.

Dr. McFarthing is the founder of Innovation Fixer, a top innovation blogger, and someone who carries two decades of experience around the subject of innovation. He spent 17 years with Reckitt Benckiser in an innovation leadership position, where he led product development efforts in areas such as consumer healthcare, household products, prescription medicines, diagnostics, and molecular biology. He is also an avid blogger on the topic of innovation and has been named as one of Innovation Excellence’s top 40 innovation bloggers three years in a row.

Highlights from the discussion with Dr. McFarthing include:

• The essential steps to setting up a robust innovation structure and the importance of nurturing the front end of innovation
• We talk about the importance of having a balanced innovation portfolio
• Dr. McFarthing explains the need to have stage-gate systems in place to ensure project success and outlines a few of them
• We discuss the role of a supportive culture in simplifying the process of innovation
• Dr. McFarthing throws more light on “Lean Startup” and “Open Innovation,” two key concepts that he believes can help immensely in driving successful innovation outcomes
• We talk about the Managing and Organizing Open Innovation initiative that Dr. McFarthing is involved in.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE

Interested in hearing more? Tune in to the full episode of “The Innovation Engine” podcast below.

About The Innovation Engine

Since 2014, 3Pillar has published The Innovation Engine, a podcast that sees a wide range of innovation experts come on to discuss topics that include technology, leadership, and company culture. You can download and subscribe to The Innovation Engine on Apple Podcasts. You can also tune in via the podcast’s home on Spotify to listen online, via Android or iOS, or on any device supporting a mobile browser.