Let’s Talk Innovation: A Chat With Marketing & Innovation Strategist, Keynote Speaker & Best-Selling Author Carla Johnson

Marketing to Complex Industries

Everybody can be an innovator! Keynote Speaker and Best-Selling Author Carla Johnson shares her insights into empowering innovative thinking across an organization instead of siloing it to creative or research and development teams.

In this episode, Carla talks about how to turn “what if…” and “let’s pretend…” into a systematic approach that helps organizations build an innovation ecosystem. From reminding us to connect the dots like we did as kids to building a framework that consistently supports innovation, Carla chats with VP, Creative Scott Trobaugh about a range of innovation topics, including:

• Overcoming the fear of trying something new
• How different types of people innovate in different ways
• How everybody is capable of generating ideas that address a specific objective that matters to the business, team or situation
• The way innovation skyrockets when every employee understands the impact they make in customers lives
• The difference between efficiency and innovation
• How 2020 was a swim coach (yes, you read that right!)

Carla’s latest book, RE:Think Innovation, debuts on June 29, 2021. The book outlines the five-step framework that helps you connect the dots and find opportunities to facilitate growth.

Quotes from the episode:

“Our own identity as innovators, or not innovators, really has such an incredible impact on our bravery in stepping forward, or raising our hand with a new idea.”

“And the other thing that you hear from these people is, I'm not smart enough to be an innovator because there's this perception. You have to be a PhD, and in these complex B2B industries, a PhD engineer, a PhD data analyst, or you have to be a design thinker, you have to be, you know, fill in the blank with something that makes you an official innovator. And they're like, I'm not smart enough to innovate. And the truth is, innovation at its root is just about connecting the dots.”

“There's all sorts of research that shows when an entire company and employee base understands the reason that the company is in business, the difference that they're making in the lives of their customers, innovation skyrockets.”

“And I think that's what's so exciting about what we're seeing now and in going forward is that everybody knows whatever happens next is going to be different. So, there's no better time than right now to really take advantage of change, of doing something different, of innovating, of rethinking the work that you're doing. Because we all know that, that page, that book, that, you know, huge volume of expectations of business and how we interact doesn't apply anymore. And we have this blank slate now.”

“I love opening a new notebook and getting my pen out and drawing those first lines and, and imagining what things are going to look like in, in what could be, the what ifs and the let's pretend. And I think we're at that tipping point right now in business with being able to do the exact same thing, but the thing that's to our benefit right now is that everybody expects it to look different. So that's our greatest opportunity, to design it in a way that is the most beneficial, the most helpful, the most valuable to everyone involved.”

About the Speakers:

CARLA JOHNSON, Keynote Speaker & Best-Selling Author: Carla is a world-renowned storyteller, an entertaining speaker, and a prolific author. Having lived, worked, and studied on five continents, she's partnered with top brands and conferences to train thousands of people how to rethink the work that they do and the impact they can have. Her visionary expertise has inspired and equipped leaders at all levels to embrace change, welcome new ideas and transform their business.

Her work with Fortune 500 brands served as the foundation for many of her books. Her tenth, RE:Think Innovation (available June 29) busts the myth that innovation is something that requires a specific degree or special training. In fact, Carla explains why, to be a successful company in today's hyper-competitive, customer-driven world, innovation must be everyone's business. Her goal is to teach one million people how to become innovators by 2025.

Consistently named one of the top influencers in B2B, digital and content marketing, Carla regularly challenges conventional thinking. Today, she travels the world teaching anyone (and everyone) how to cultivate idea-driven teams that breed unstoppable creativity and game-changing innovation.

SCOTT TROBAUGH: As VP, Creative at Godfrey, Scott leads teams in creative problem solving with the goal of tethering outlandish ideas to workable business realities.