Overcoming Roadblocks to Innovation, with Tom Agan

What are some of the common roadblocks on the path to innovation and how can companies get past them without driving into the ditch? That’s the overarching question we look to answer on the 15th episode of “The Innovation Engine” podcast. Tom Agan joins us to discuss how companies can set themselves up for more successful, profitable innovation endeavors.

Tom is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Rivia, a global innovation and brand consultancy with clients spread across an array of industry verticals like automotive, consumer packaged goods, and media & entertainment. Prior to founding Rivia, Tom was Senior Vice President and Managing Director at The Nielsen Company, where he was instrumental in leading an innovation best practices study with first-of-its-kind insights.

Tom has worked with a broad range of companies to help drive their innovation efforts, including Procter & Gamble, Cisco, GE, Kraft, UBS, and Toyota. He writes regularly about innovation for outlets including the New York Times, Fast Company, the Harvard Business Review, and Forbes.

Among the highlights of this week’s episode of the podcast:

• Tom discusses the innovation best practices study he spearheaded while at The Nielsen Company and some of its most important findings
• We delve into the importance of conducting post-mortems – or debriefs – to maximize the revenue created by new products
• Why younger does not always equal better when it comes to corporate innovation
• We talk about the “spaghetti approach” to launching new products and why putting a slew of products on the market and seeing what sticks can hurt a brand more than it helps
• Tom talks about an upcoming white paper that Rivia will be publishing on the topic of human clones

Interested in hearing more? Tune in to the full episode below:

You can also download and subscribe from iTunes on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod, or listen on any device with a mobile browser via the podcast’s home on Stitcher Radio.