Igniting Innovation

"the one that (sadly) will resonate with bankers the most" Samatha (Sam) Emery is a formidable change agent - a genuine "force of nature" within the financial services industry in the UK and beyond. Having held prominent positions at RBS, the FCA, Lloyds Banking Group and Swift, she is a frequent speaker at many of the financial services events I attend, and from the very first time I saw Sam on stage, I've wanted to get her on this podcast. I knew that in order for her to achieve what she has done so far, she would have have faced what most people would consider insurmountable barriers and obstacles - just have a listen to the first 5 minutes of this show to see why I say that! In the true spirit of the show, Sam not only shared the Monsters and Myths (the barriers and obstacles) that she has encountered on her innovation, change and transformation journey to date, but also the Mayhem (the impact) these cause in organisations and the Magic (the solution / approach) that she has successfully applied to conq

"the one with the owner's manual" How do you cross the yawning chasm of lack of context in today's remote-first, distributed working environment? If you're in a management position, you might not even be aware of it or even worse, you might be dealing with it in a way that alienates your employees! It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Leda's weekly articles tagged as #ledawrites on LinkedIn. It doesn't matter what industry you work in, her stories resonate with everyone who has ever worked or still works in a corporate environment. As a result, her writing is also a huge source of material for this show as she shines a light on the biggest barriers and obstacles that get in the way of getting things done - precisely what this show is all about! And so it was that an article about shoes sparked a conversation about how the concept of an "owner's manual" inspired by CPO Supremo Arthur Leung might go a long way in helping to cross The Context Chasm. How many Monsters & Myths could we CONQUER TOGETHER?

"the one most needing magic" This episode of the show saw a departure from the the usual format, but I should have expected nothing less from the CEO and Founder of a company called Unconventional Ventures. Theo is saddened, angry and frustrated by the very real Monsters she has encountered as a woman in the workplace over the last three decades. Sadly the solutions put forward so far have all been Myths - there has been no Magic to dispel them. Awareness has increased. But behaviour has not changed much. The stories she shares will make you feel uncomfortable at best. At worst, they will be relatable. This is a deeply personal account that is difficult to summarise in the way that I normally do, but this is the essence of this show - to expose the biggest barriers and obstacles that get in the way of getting things done. And these do:- The Predator The Policy Myth The Wrong Incentives These are not up for debate. Their existence cannot be denied. This is her lived experience. It's up to us. All of us to

"the one where the monsters are not who you think" Well it was bound to happen sooner or later on a show that hosts changemakers - Ajit Chambers turned the concept on its head and took a contrarian view of who the Monsters are and how manufacturing Myths can help you to achieve your goals. Ajit is a seasoned Banker (but please don't hold that against him!), consultant and entrepreneur who shared life lessons from the front lines of making change happen. There is no summary or spoilers for this episode, you'll just have to kick back and watch / listen You can find Ajit on LinkedIn here and more about the opportunity he spoke about here and you can watch his appearance on Dragon's Den here. And more about the concept behind the show here How many Monsters & Myths could we CONQUER TOGETHER? Click here to find out more!   Go back to the podcast playlist   The post Ajit Chambers takes a different view of who the monsters really are appeared first on Andrew Vorster.

"the one with the cult" Thea Loch has significant experience of driving change and transformation from "both sides" of the fence - initially as a consultant and currently as the Head of Group Optimisation at Lloyds Banking Group in the UK. She's seen, and overcome, a myriad of Monsters and Myths in her time and undoubtedly will conquer many more in her quest. In this session, she shines a light on The Wrong Monster The Person with the Right Job Title The Cult of Success ...... To get the detail, you'll have to listen / watch the show on the links below as I'm not giving any further spoilers You can find Thea at:- LinkedIn:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/thea-loch-3775a51/ and watch / listen to the show below or on your favourite channels on the links. How many Monsters & Myths could we CONQUER TOGETHER? Click here to find out more!   Go back to the podcast playlist     The post “the one with the cult” – Thea Loch appeared first on Andrew Vorster.

"the one with the problems" The problem with ideas is that they're not really useful if you're solving the wrong problem in the first place! That's just one of the many insights shared by Nikolas (Nik) Venios, Founder of The Ideas Agency, in this session. As a fellow change maker / disruptor / innovator, Nik has faced a myriad of Monsters and Myths while working with clients of all sizes from global multi-nationals, to solopreneurs and everything in between.  In his experience, the most common of these are the problems with ideas and he shares:- The Two Headed Imposter Monster The Myth of Atlas and The Weight of The World The Idea Monster To get the detail, you'll have to listen / watch the show on the links below as I'm not giving any further spoilers You can find Nik at:- The Ideas Agency :- https://www.theideasagency.com/ LinkedIn:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikolasvenios/ Instagram:- https://www.instagram.com/the_venios/ How many Monsters & Myths could we CONQUER TOGETHER? Click here to find

"the one where things go wrong" Transformation is tough - there, I've said it! People are naturally resistant to change and when a transformation project is announced, many people will immediately hide behind their barriers and throw obstacles in the path of change. I saw a tweet thread a while back that called on people to list 5 topics they could speak about with zero preparation - it was fun discovering a few wacky things things I never knew about my Twitter friends but one tweet stood out for me. It wasn't the 5 topics that interested me as much as the follow on statement of "and the mistakes I've made and the lessons I've learned from them" - BOOM!! The tweet came from Louise (Lou) Smith and I knew I had to invite her on the show to share her insights and lessons learned. Lou is the current Chair of Innovate Finance. She is also Fintech Envoy to HM Treasury and amongst her previous roles she was Chief Digital Officer for Lloyds Bank - I was sure that she had encountered MANY Monsters and Myths in her c

"the one that's not not what you think" Have you encountered the Imposter Syndrome Monster yet? Have you ever felt that your skills and experience are simply "not enough" for you to open your mouth and provide an opinion in front of your peers? Or perhaps you've passed up the opportunity to apply for a promotion or ask for a raise at work because you think that you don't have what it takes (even though you probably do)? Have you sat in a room thinking "what am I doing here, I feel like a fraud"? As a professional public speaker, I've frequently faced this monster. I've felt like a fraud walking out on stage in front of experts in their field who have all come to listen to me deliver a keynote. It's not a confidence thing - people who know me know I don't lack confidence and people that have seen me on stage never believe that I have to frequently overcome this obstacle. So I was intrigued and excited to be introduced to Tara Halliday, an Imposter Syndrome Specialist and Author who helps people conquer the M

"the one that's not about technology" Pedro Pinto is a Technology Leader whose teams have been responsible for many groundbreaking innovations across multiple industries over the years. As is always the case with the Tribe of Troublemakers (aka fellow innovators), this means he has come face to face with many Monsters and Myths (barriers and obstacles) in his path. How many Monsters & Myths could we CONQUER TOGETHER? Click here to find out more! In this episode, Pedro shares the top three which cause the most Mayhem:- the "ChickenEgg" Monster - which asks for the ROI of an idea the "AI-mageddon" myth - which is up to us to prevent from becoming reality the "City of Babel" myth - related to future SmartCity development You can see the full video of the interview here or listen to the audio on your favourite platform by clicking on the links below. You can find Pedro and follow his work on:- LinkedIn:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedroppinto/ Schéder Hyperion :- https://schrederhyperion.com/  

"the one about ourselves" Sales is the biggest monster I have faced and have yet to overcome. We ALL have to "sell" at some point in our life - to get a job or promotion, to find a romantic partner, to get investment or support of an idea, to be accepted in a team - and many, many more occasions. Some people really excel at sales - I'm NOT one of those people and nothing on earth strikes as much fear in me as the prospect of having to sell .......... anything! I therefore really appreciated the advice shared by Tony Hughes on how to overcome the biggest and most common sales monsters and myths that he frequently encounters. Tony is a renowned public speaker, author and co-founder of Sales IQ Global. He coaches and mentors individuals and teams around the world, leading them on a path towards sales excellence. He is also the most read person on the topic of B2B selling on LinkedIn and has over half a million subscribers! How many Monsters & Myths could we CONQUER TOGETHER? Click here to find out more! I

"the one about The Art of the Possible" Prof. Jason Mars PhD is one of the world leaders in the realm of "conversational artificial intelligence" (THE world leader by my personal assessment!). He is on a mission to have a meaningful impact on the lives of every human and if you take a look at what he and his team at Clinc.com have achieved so far, he is certainly on track to do exactly that! If you have even the slightest interest in artificial intelligence, you will be well aware that there are MANY Monsters and Myths associated with it - how many times have you heard "the robots are going to replace us" and other such scary stories? Jason is determined to demonstrate the enormous potential that artificial intelligence has to transform our lives and our work - starting with revolutionising the way that we interact with technology by using the most natural communication interface available to us as humans - VOICE. In this episode, Jason shares the most common barriers to artificial intelligence adoption tha

"the one about Digital Transformation" Stan Horwitz is an internationally certified and accredited Master OD, Change and HR specialist (UK CIPD Fellow equivalent) who has encountered many Monsters and Myths over the course of his career as he strives to drive change and transformation across organisations. Stan and I go waaaaaay back however as we met in our teens while serving 2 years active duty in the South African Defence Force together. Back then, we faced many real barriers and obstacles that we had to learn to overcome and although the physical and emotional scars have long since healed, we learned many lessons which we still aplly to our lives to this day. How many Monsters & Myths could we CONQUER TOGETHER? Click here to find out more! In this interview he shines the light on :- the "Myth of Digital Transformation" - that is widely perpetuated these days the "Monster of Digital Transformation" - when the Myth becomes a Monster the "Known Monster" - which forces us to question if what we think