May 23, 2014

Uncovering High Capacity Innovators, with Jeffrey Phillips

The most obvious candidates aren’t always the best when it comes to innovation in a business setting. On this week’s episode of “The Innovation Engine” podcast, we look at how companies and organizations can discover which of their employees may be brimming with unlocked innovation potential.

Jeffrey Phillips of OVO Innovation joins us to discuss the year-long study his company conducted to build the OVO InnoTraits Assessment. We also delve in to the white paper OVO published that includes many of the study’s findings titled “Unusual Suspects: Identifying High Capacity Innovators in Your Organization.”

Jeffrey is a prolific writer on the topic of innovation. He is the author of 2 books on the subject, the most recent of which is “Relentless Innovation: What Works, What Doesn’t – And What That Means for Your Business.” He is also a prolific blogger who has written frequently about innovation at the Innovate on Purpose blog since 2005. In 2010 and 2011, Innovate on Purpose was named the 2nd best innovation blog in the world by Innovation Excellence.com.

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

  • Jeffrey discusses some of the common barriers to innovation that companies face, including the tendency to incorrectly identify individuals that are best suited to work on innovation teams or projects
  • Empathy, humility, and some of the other specific traits to look for to find individuals with unlocked innovation capacity
  • Why the most successful innovators are longer in the tooth than conventional wisdom would have you believe
  • The difference between invention and innovation, and why collaboration is a necessity for both
  • The kinds of rewards systems that drive the best results, and why it’s best for innovation efforts to be voluntary

Interested in hearing more? Listen to the full episode 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.