Untold Stories of Innovation

Every year, public health is threatened by unknown mosquito-borne diseases that tend to be transmitted in the warmest areas of the U.S., including states such as California, Florida, and Texas. Certain mosquito-borne diseases, like Zika, can easily be transmitted via blood transfusion, which is why Dr. Benjamin, chief medical officer of Cerus, has worked with hospital systems and blood centers around the world to reduce the risk of transmission through pathogen reduction, which ensures that hospital patients are receiving clean, disease and virus-free blood. Not all blood in the U.S. is pathogen reduced, but the FDA has recommended this method as a safety measure. The safety of the blood supply can make or break our healthcare system as we prepare for the next outbreak. Dr. Fauci published a paper recently outlining the importance of understanding and anticipating devastating disease emergencies caused by animal hosts. Today, we talk with the CEO and CMO of Cerus Corporation to understand new technologies for blood sterilization and pathogen-reduction—and the powerful ways they can help prevent or lessen the negative impacts of pandemics. For more information, visit our website: https://untoldcontent.com/ You can also find us on Instagram: @untoldcontent

We speak with Dan Ward, Principal Systems Engineer at MITRE Corporation, author, and Air Force veteran. His experience leading research and development teams within the US Air Force taught him that speed, thrift, and simplicity are the key elements in any technology developer program. Dan believes that playfulness in storytelling makes the stories more memorable and clear. A touch of whimsy with any subject matter, even engineering, helps the story land better. His professional takeaways and personal passions inspired his first three books, including LIFT, and he continues to advocate for storytelling in all areas of business, learning, and life.

Say it first, say it loud, say it often, and say it with others. This is key advice Doowan Lee shares with psychological operations professionals, and it's applicable to any innovator trying to gain traction in our digital age. “Short and distort” is a dangerous but effective strategy in digital communication. To combat this, Doowan and the intelligence team at Zignal Labs must both deliberate and try to answer the misinformation efficiently and succinctly. Timing is of the essence, and while Doowan acknowledges the importance of storytelling, framing, and motivation within innovation, there is the key factor of timing. Even among a plethora of disinformation and sprawling media coverage, Doowan Lee believes that truth and innovation will prevail among open societies.Listen in and share with us your own questions and advice on how you and your innovation teams are tackling disinformation in this fast-paced era. Interested in the articles and information discussed in this episode? Check them out: Freedom House, “Democracy Under Lockdown:” https://freedomhouse.org/report/special-report/2020/democracy-under-lockdown

Michael Kanaan, author of T-Minus AI, blends data with storytelling, old techniques with new ideas, and intended consequences with unintended consequences. He shares how a truly compelling narrative is rooted in and inspired by real facts and experiences. Therefore, especially when telling an innovative or brand story, numbers and language go hand in hand. They both inform and shape the story, to the point where they ought to come together. This way, the narrative has the ability to expose people to new information that is both interesting and applicable to their lives. Tune in to hear how AI, ethics, and human experience all inform each other and what the future of all may be, like how AI can actually improve instead of replace people’s jobs and connect rather than detract from social interaction, as well as moving politics forward instead of making it easy to disrupt agendas. Interested in his new book, T-Minus AI? Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/T-Minus-Humanitys-Countdown-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/1948836947 For more information, visit our website: https://untoldcontent.com/ You can also find us on Instagram: @untoldcontent

Innovation is almost always looked upon as a positive thing. However, what happens when a brand-new innovative idea has unforeseen implications? What happens when innovations are not necessarily created to have a positive impact in the first place? Today, Zach Davis, Senior Fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, delves into understanding the potential threats and risks of innovation. Zach specializes in analysis of weapons of mass destruction and emerging technologies. He shares how the business world communicates with the government and vice versa, as well as the complexities of innovative technologies. While necessity is the mother of invention, what is necessary might not strictly be what is beneficial and inspirational. Instead of strictly necessity, let curiosity, passion, and interest spark innovative ideas. And with the global community brought on by technological innovation, storytelling and who gets to craft the narratives are essential questions to explore when considering “strategic latencies,” aka the ways innovation can be utilized and explored. Make sure to check out https://cgsr.llnl.gov/ for more on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the complexities of innovative technologies. Interested in looking further? Take a look at an example of the opportunities and pitfalls of global dissemination of information in the article Stealth Research: Lack of Peer-Reviewed Evidence from Healthcare Unicorns, as well as the interesting predictions made by Samuel Huntington in his intriguing innovative prediction regarding conflicts and information in the Post-Cold War landscape: “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order.” For more information, visit our website: https://untoldcontent.com/ You can also find us on Instagram: @untoldcontent

In our conversation with Maria McLane, the innovation project manager at the United States Playing Card Company, we discuss interdisciplinary collaboration as a key driver for innovation. The US Playing Card Company has a long history of uniting people through conversation, laughter, and healthy competition. Maria details how the company continues to develop games that foster nostalgia and connection for a wide audience and speaks to the importance of pitches powered by empathy and story. You don’t have to take our word for it—check out their new game, It’s Blunderful. For more information, visit our website: https://untoldcontent.com/ You can also find us on Instagram: @untoldcontent

Why do stories matter to the innovation process? What values can be instilled in innovators who share stories? How do innovation leaders inspire creators to tell and share their success and failure stories? Hearing is one of the senses that we cannot choose to easily ignore or “turn off.” Therefore, it is important to consider how sound should be utilized when curating a contemporary, multifaceted brand story. The Grammy-nominated brand Gwynne Sound has created many unique and innovative sounds through sonic brand storytelling. Today, we speak with Gwynne Sound’s Dan Carruthers and Adam Pleiman about considering sound, user experience, and pathos in branding. Human beings respond emotionally to sound and will remember the feeling evoked, linking it with the innovative product and brand. Knowing this, Gwynne Sound creates a personalized sound brand to elevate your innovative products by utilizing emotion and statistics to narrow down a brand’s message and aesthetic. For more information, visit our website: https://untoldcontent.com/ You can also find us on Instagram: @untoldcontent

Why do stories matter to the innovation process? What values can be instilled in innovators who share stories? How do innovation leaders inspire creators to tell and share their success and failure stories? It isn’t the latest and greatest technological innovation that is guaranteed to inspire passion. Innovators need to be interested in their prospective audience’s interests to craft a compelling innovation story. Melissa Pickering, Director at LEGO Education, tells us how innovators can create a captivating, successful innovation by having an innovation story that speaks to the consumer’s passion points. Passion-driven storytelling also comes into play in the early stages of the innovation process as a mechanism to garner buy-in and support from internal teams. Learn more about how LEGO utilizes test failures, storytelling, and passion points to curate their products! Also, make sure to check out Melissa’s inspiring Ted Talk regarding how tech should be designed for kids. For more information, visit our website: https://untoldcontent.com/ You can also find us on Instagram: @untoldcontent

Why do stories matter to the innovation process? What values can be instilled in innovators who share stories? How do innovation leaders inspire creators to tell and share their success and failure stories? We speak with Tim Raderstorf, Chief Innovation Officer at The Ohio State University College of Nursing, as well as the Head of Academic Entrepreneurship at the Erdős Institute. To top it all off, he founded the Innovation Studio, a makerspace that democratizes innovation, providing every interprofessional team that pitches their innovation with the funding, tools, and mentorship needed to turn ideas into actions. Tim shares his innovation story along with stories of other innovative leaders who effectively apply the “yes, and” approach.This approach improves organizations’ ideation rate: a way to measure innovation in companies in which the amount of positive ideas divided by the number of active participants. According to Tim, the higher the ideation rate, the higher your return on investment for innovation. You can connect with Tim on LinkedIn and Twitter. For more information, visit our website: https://untoldcontent.com/ You can also find us on Instagram: @untoldcontent

Why do stories matter to the innovation process? What values can be instilled in innovators who share stories? How do innovation leaders inspire creators to tell and share their success and failure stories? Tisha Livingston is a pioneer in the field of indoor vertical farming. She is the CEO of Infinite Acres, a global joint venture between Priva, Ocado, and 80 Acres Farms that is transforming the global food supply to create a world of delicious, nutritious, and readily available produce for everyone. Prior to forming Infinite Acres, Tisha was the co-founder and President of 80 Acres Farms, where they grow, operate, sell and distribute the freshest vegetables and herbs delivered to supermarkets and restaurants year round in environmentally controlled, pesticide-free facilities. These two companies have an overwhelmingly positive impact on the environment and food production: they use 97% less water, create more nutrient-dense produce, and aren't dependent on weather—not to mention the social impact of bringing fresh produce to food deserts. Interestingly, she’s learned that communicating all of these benefits can make the audience question if it's too good to be true. So, how do you get audiences to buy-in to an idea that seems larger than life? Tell stories with impacts that resonate with a specific audience. For more information, visit our website: https://untoldcontent.com/ You can also find us on Instagram: @untoldcontent