Innovation and the Digital Enterprise

Today we’re sharing an insightful presentation from one of our Innovative Executives League Summit speakers, Jack King. At the November summit, Jack spoke to the audience about creating an effective innovation culture and leveraging disruptive technologies through VR and AR.

Participating in school activities and community building has been challenging for remote and hybrid students, let alone the near impossibility of "running into a friend." Rich Alapack, founder of we all live here, witnessed this experience early in the pandemic and envisioned a program in which this was all possible: SchoolTopia.

Rand McNally’s Chief Technology Officer, Steve Caudill, joins Patrick and Shelli this week to talk about building and maintaining the culture of a startup inside a well-established brand with a 165-year history. They cover a range of topics including recruiting talent in a highly competitive market, creating tight feedback loops between customers and engineers, and structuring product development for the shortest path to revenue.

What does change management look like in a world of constant, rapid change? Allen Smith, CIO at Baker Tilly, believes keeping up with the pace of change today requires rethinking change management as a discipline, including the rigid processes and communication protocols from traditional waterfall development.

Allen joins Patrick and Shelli to talk about the increasing overlap between our personal and professional lives. People bring the expectations they have for consumer software into their view of workplace software and tools. Whether they like it or not, businesses have to contend with any negative aspects of that trend. Why not lean into the change and capitalize on the advantages?

At TransUnion, creating innovative products, building talent, and delivering excellent customer experiences start with an environment where trust is possible. Swati Shah, U.S. Markets CIO, talks with Patrick and Shelli this week about what cultivating that trust looks like for the organization.

She also describes the various programs in place to support continuous learning for cross-functional teams and the importance of helping engineers understand the ‘why’ in addition to the ‘what’ for the solutions they are building.

Democratizing innovation leads to happy customers and happy employees that feel a sense of purpose and belonging at work. Creating teams that balance accountability and purpose is Eric Rempel’s vision of success.

Eric is the Chief Innovation Officer at Redwood Logistics. He joined Patrick and Shelli on this week’s episode of Innovation and the Digital Enterprise for a discussion on creating an organization that is mission-driven, where employees can see the impact they are making. Tune in for his insights and to learn more about Redwood Logistics.

Nicolas Chaillan is the first-ever Chief Software Officer for the United States’ government at his post with the US Air Force. As an agency tasked with both innovation and national security, the Air Force has its work cut out for it.

In this week’s edition of Innovation and the Digital Enterprise, Nicolas shares his thoughts on why employers should give paid time for continuous learning to remain competitive. He explains why we need to think beyond college degrees and offer alternative pathways toward advancement. Take a listen.

When it comes to attracting talent, Thomas South believes it’s not necessarily about being specialized or competing based on benefits packages alone. Rather, he believes that maintaining a mission-driven culture is key to recruiting employees that will thrive in your organization.

Ann Madea has spent her career managing and motivating her teams in global leadership positions for one of the largest banking and financial services organizations in the world. She joined us on Innovation and the Digital Enterprise to discuss how she builds trust to ensure all members of her team feel comfortable speaking up and how to successfully stay the course when managing large-scale projects.

As a high-profile woman in business, Patrick and Shelli also talked with Ann about the people that inspired her to chase her ambitions. She has also dedicated herself to the advancement of women and girls in the fields of STEM. Listen to the episode for insights and tips from an accomplished IT leader.

The seeds of innovation cannot germinate in a culture in which people feel they need to ask permission. According to today's guest, Gene Kim, the ability to fail — and share that failure — is one of the most important tenets of any company that has a chance to improve.

Gene has been studying high-performing technology companies since 1999 and has authored several books on the topic. In this week’s episode of Innovation and the Digital Enterprise, Gene discusses the five central prerequisites of company innovation as well as the role that ritual can play in de-stigmatizing failure.

Check out this episode for practical tips on how your company can achieve substantial results simply by changing up habits.