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Innovation Storytellers: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Susan Lindner
Did you ever wonder how an innovation got to its finish line? How innovators saw the future, made a product, and created change – in our world and in their companies? I did. Innovation Storytellers invites changemakers to describe how they created their innovation and just as important – THE STORIES – that made us fall in love with them. Come learn how great innovations need great stories to make them move around the world and how to become a better storyteller in the process.I'm Susan Lindner, the Innovation Storyteller. But I wasn't always. I've been a wannabe revolutionary, an epidemiologist at the CDC and an AIDS educator in the brothels of Thailand helping to turn former sex workers into entrepreneurs. Trained as an anthropologist and the Founder of Emerging Media, I've spent the last twenty years working with innovators from 60+ countries. Ranging from cutting edge startups to Fortune 100 companies like GE, Corning, Citi, Olayan, and nine foreign governments, helping their lead
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- Yesterday7 min
How AI Is Killing the Best Part of Innovation: The Idea
What happens when AI gives your organization more ideas than your people actually want to own? In this solo episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I want to challenge something I am seeing more frequently across innovation teams: the assumption that because AI can generate hundreds of ideas in seconds, it should automatically become our ideation partner. I think we need to question that. Most organizations are not suffering from a shortage of ideas. Employees, customers, partners, suppliers, and markets are already full of observations about products that could be improved, processes that make no sense, new business models worth testing, and customer frustrations waiting to be addressed. The problem is often that organizations are not asking the right people the right questions. AI can produce options at enormous speed, but it cannot manufacture belief. It cannot create the feeling that comes from a group of people building an idea together, choosing to champion it, and taking pride in seeing it become real. That difference matters because innovation eventually depends on execution. If teams feel disconnected from the ideas they are being asked to deliver, more ideation simply creates a larger backlog. In this episode, I look at innovation storytelling in the age of AI, why human ownership still matters, and why storytelling for AI adoption must explain why a direction matters to the people expected to make it happen. I also discuss how leaders can think differently about human-AI collaboration, communicating AI to employees, and winning AI stakeholder buy-in without reducing innovation to another exercise in generating AI output. AI absolutely belongs in innovation. The bigger question is where it adds the most value and where human judgment, imagination, conviction, and conversation still need to lead. Are we using AI to help people build better ideas, or are we slowly removing people from the process that creates belief in those ideas?
- 1 weeks ago9 min
How to Make Your Visuals Stand Out in an AI World
What happens to visual storytelling when everyone suddenly has access to the same powerful AI tools? In this solo episode of Innovation Storytellers, I'm looking at what it takes to create visual stories that still feel distinctive, credible, and unmistakably human in an AI-generated world. AI has made it incredibly easy to create polished graphics, videos, presentations, and infographics in seconds. But when every organization can do the same thing, visual sameness quickly becomes another form of noise. Producing more content is no longer enough. The real challenge is deciding what deserves to be communicated and finding a point of view that belongs to your organization rather than an algorithm. I share practical ways innovation teams can use visual metaphor, AI-generated drafts, storyboarding tools, customer reactions, and real-world video without surrendering the judgment that makes a story matter. I also explain why the first AI-generated output should almost never be the final deliverable. The opportunity is to use AI for speed while keeping humans firmly responsible for meaning, emotion, and choice. Because when everyone can create more content, discernment becomes the real differentiator. How are you making sure your visual storytelling still feels human when AI can generate almost anything?
- 2 weeks ago38 min
(BEST OF) Three Words to Your Next Story
What if the stories you tell about innovation are actually working against you? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I do something a little different. I open a new series by inviting other storytellers I deeply admire, people who bring their own lenses, frameworks, and lived experience to the craft of story. I want you to think about storytelling as an expansive, evolving practice, not a single narrative you perfect once and reuse forever, but a skill you keep refining as your audiences, challenges, and ambitions change. To begin that journey, I sat down with Park Howell, a 40-year veteran of brand storytelling and host of the Business of Story. Park shares how he found storytelling through advertising, why stories have a repeatable structure rooted in human biology, and what he calls the science and bewitchery behind stories that truly move people. We unpack his deceptively simple "and, but, therefore" framework, why leaders lose rooms with bullet points, and how story becomes the bridge that helps people move from status quo thinking to real behavior change. We also explore why storytelling so often fails in organizations, especially when leaders make the story about themselves rather than their audience. Park explains how innovation stories should focus on outcomes, not offerings, and why emotional connection must come before logic if you want ideas to stick. From the hero's journey and Joseph Campbell's influence to the reality of selling ideas in five-minute executive meetings, this conversation is packed with practical insights for anyone trying to communicate change under pressure. We close by looking at how AI fits into modern storytelling, including Park's work on the Story Cycle Genie, and why emotional intelligence combined with artificial intelligence may shape the next era of leadership communication. If innovation is ultimately about getting people to move, decide, and act, how might your stories need to change to meet them where they are, and what could happen if you finally told the story they were waiting to hear?
- 3 weeks ago40 min
(BEST OF) How to Live in the Innovation Simulation
How do you bring discipline to innovation without stripping away the creativity that makes it powerful in the first place? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Stephen Parkins, Innovation Strategist and Founder of Culturedge, to unpack what it really takes to turn innovation into a strategic asset rather than a side project fueled by hope and enthusiasm. Stephen brings an outside-in perspective shaped by an unconventional career spanning financial markets, startup entrepreneurship, and senior innovation roles within complex global organizations. That distance from the usual corporate playbook allows him to challenge some deeply held assumptions about how innovation should work and why so many well-intentioned efforts struggle to deliver measurable returns. We talk openly about the tension between creativity and structure, and why innovation does not fail because teams lack ideas, but because organizations lack clarity, consistent decision-making, and shared language. Stephen offers a thoughtful perspective on innovation management systems, including the much-debated ISO standards, and explains why guardrails are often misunderstood as constraints. Drawing on real-world experience from large enterprises, he argues that structure, when well designed, creates the conditions for better experimentation, smarter risk-taking, and stronger alignment between innovators and the core business. The conversation also dives into strategy, funding, and culture, particularly the invisible friction between those running today's business and those inventing tomorrow's. Stephen shares how portfolio thinking, exposure to risk, and optionality can shift innovation from theater to real value creation. We also explore his work as co-founder of Strategy Quest, a simulation-based approach that helps leaders practice decision-making under uncertainty, surface blind spots, and learn through consequence rather than theory. It is a compelling look at how scenario thinking and simulated environments can prepare the next generation of innovation leaders to see around corners. If innovation is meant to help organizations grow stronger in uncertain times, what needs to change in how leaders think about risk, culture, and decision-making, and are we brave enough to build systems that actually support that ambition?
- 4 weeks ago36 min
(BEST OF) Weathering the Tech Front: Amy Freeze on Avatars, AI, and Audience Connection
In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Amy Freeze, a meteorologist, innovator, and public safety advocate who has spent decades helping people understand risk when it truly matters. Everywhere I go lately, conversations circle back to AI, but this one brings it out of the abstract and straight into our homes, our screens, and moments where trust can make all the difference. Amy shares her remarkable journey from broadcast journalism to becoming one of the most recognized voices in weather. We talk about her work forecasting major events like Superstorm Sandy and the Joplin tornado, and how those experiences shaped her sense of responsibility to the public. As the first female chief meteorologist in Chicago and a six time Emmy Award winner, her career has been built on credibility and calm communication. What fascinated me most was why she chose to create a digital avatar, and how she sees AI as a way to deliver urgent, accurate information at scale without losing the human connection people rely on in moments of uncertainty. We also dig into the fears and ethical questions surrounding digital twins, AI driven storytelling, and protecting name, image, and likeness. Amy offers a grounded perspective on why avoiding new technology can sometimes create more risk than adopting it thoughtfully. Together, we explore how empathy, trust, and clear storytelling help audiences move past fear toward understanding, especially when the stakes involve safety, language barriers, and real-time decision-making. This conversation reminded me that innovation does not have to feel cold or distant. It can be practical, human, and deeply rooted in care. We talk about how trusted voices evolve with technology, how stories help people accept change, and why the future of AI may depend far less on hype and far more on responsibility, context, and trust.
- Aug 18, 202631 min
How Curiosity Built Siri, Alexa, and the Future of AI
What allows someone to see a technology years before the rest of us realize we need it? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I speak with Kevin Surace, the serial entrepreneur and inventor whose pioneering work on human-like virtual assistants helped create the path toward Siri, Alexa, and the AI assistants we use today. Kevin takes me back to the late 1990s, when leaving your desktop computer meant leaving your email, contacts, calendar, and digital information behind. His team saw that frustration and asked a remarkably simple question: could everyone have access to the kind of assistant usually reserved for executives? The result was Mary, a virtual assistant that could recognize callers, answer phones, manage calendars, and converse using natural language. Building and launching it required around $100 million at a time when cloud infrastructure did not exist. But this conversation is about much more than the history of AI. Kevin explains why curiosity helps innovators find genuine customer pain, why a product should occupy surprisingly little space in a great investment pitch, and why corporations should stop expecting every innovation project to succeed. His argument is that experimentation works when organizations place smaller bets, learn from the market, and invest further when product timing and product-market fit become clearer. We also discuss The Joy Success Cycle and a question becoming increasingly relevant as AI changes knowledge work: if technology removes parts of the process we once enjoyed, can we learn to find greater satisfaction in the outcomes we create? For leaders trying to understand storytelling for AI innovation, win AI stakeholder buy-in, or how to communicate AI transformation without making technology the entire story, Kevin offers an unusually practical perspective. Where do you think curiosity ends and the business case for innovation begins? Listen to the episode and share your thoughts with me.
- Aug 11, 202657 min
270: How the Apple Store Used Storytelling to Change Retail Forever
What does it take to create a store that people visit even when they are not planning to buy anything? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I speak with Ron Johnson, the creator of the Apple Store, former CEO of J.C. Penney, and author of Shop Different: How Retail Revealed Apple's Genius. Ron shares the experiences that shaped his approach to leadership, beginning with an unlikely high school soccer transformation and continuing through his work at Target, Apple, and some of the most influential retail innovations of the past several decades. Ron explains how Target made great design accessible through its groundbreaking partnership with architect Michael Graves, and why committing to 140 products created a movement that a cautious three-product test never could have achieved. He also takes us inside the creation of the Apple Store, where the objective was not simply to sell computers, but to remove people's fear of technology through welcoming spaces, hands-on experiences, and human support. We hear the story behind the Genius Bar, including why Steve Jobs initially preferred the name Geek Bar, and how Ron persuaded him that genius offered employees and customers something aspirational. Ron also reveals why the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue was built underground, how its glass cube changed the Manhattan skyline, and why opening it 24 hours a day generated $80 million in overnight sales during its first year. Our conversation goes beyond retail. It is about finding a story that gives people something to believe in, communicating a vision clearly enough that teams can act on it, and having the courage to commit fully when an idea has the potential to change an industry. Can physical spaces still create the human connections that digital convenience often removes, and what could your organization learn from the story behind the Apple Store? Share your thoughts.
- Aug 4, 202635 min
269: How Great Innovation Leaders Get Everyone Speaking the Same Language
What happens when everyone in an organization claims to support innovation, but each person has a different idea of what innovation means? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I speak with Iffat AlRowaithy, Corporate Innovation and Innovation Center Unit Head at a globally recognized bank in Saudi Arabia. Iffat has spent more than a decade building innovation functions, developing employee capabilities, and connecting new ideas with corporate strategy and measurable business value. We begin with a problem many innovation leaders will recognize about how people define innovation. One department may view innovation as a new product, another may focus on customer experience, while others see a system update as progress. Iffat explains why leaders must establish a shared language before asking people to innovate, including clear expectations around purpose, ownership, timelines, and outcomes. Iffat also shares what she learned while building innovation centers across the public and private sectors. A creative space may look impressive, but it cannot succeed if the organization has not developed the culture, sponsorship, and capabilities required to use it. Her current center was designed around the five senses, creating an experience that helps employees think differently, contribute ideas, and participate in building solutions. We discuss why open calls for ideas can produce large volumes of suggestions without solving the problems business units actually face. Iffat describes how her team reversed the process by asking departments to submit one real challenge and inviting employees across the organization to propose solutions. This approach allowed an IT employee to solve an HR communication problem and helped turn employee insight into an implemented broadcast capability. Our conversation also examines the relationship between AI and human creativity. Iffat shares how employees used AI to move from ideation to a working prototype in around two hours, while emphasizing that human judgment, context, and empathy must remain part of the process. Perhaps the most powerful lesson is that people respond to experiences, participation, and being heard far more readily than they respond to promises. Innovation becomes part of the culture when employees can see their contribution, understand its connection to strategy, and feel included in creating what comes next. Can a shared language, a clearly defined challenge, and greater empathy help your organization turn innovation from an ambition into everyday behavior? Listen to the conversation and share your thoughts.
About Innovation Storytellers
Did you ever wonder how an innovation got to its finish line? How innovators saw the future, made a product, and created change – in our world and in their companies? I did. Innovation Storytellers invites changemakers to describe how they created their innovation and just as important – THE STORIES – that made us fall in love with them. Come learn how great innovations need great stories to make them move around the world and how to become a better storyteller in the process.I'm Susan Lindner, the Innovation Storyteller. But I wasn't always. I've been a wannabe revolutionary, an epidemiologist at the CDC and an AIDS educator in the brothels of Thailand helping to turn former sex workers into entrepreneurs. Trained as an anthropologist and the Founder of Emerging Media, I've spent the last twenty years working with innovators from 60+ countries. Ranging from cutting edge startups to Fortune 100 companies like GE, Corning, Citi, Olayan, and nine foreign governments, helping their lead
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