{"podcast":{"title":"Innovation Storytellers","slug":"innovation-storytellers-3701797","podcast_index_feed_id":3701797,"rss_url":"https://innovationstorytellers.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://susanlindner.com/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/a/7/5/5/a755d4cc9a3cd33116c3140a3186d450/Cover-InnovationStories_1.jpg","author":"Susan Lindner","episode_count":100,"summary":"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 leaders to tell their stories and teaching them how to become incredible advocates for their innovations. Great innovation stories make change possible. They let us step into a future we can't see yet. I…","last_synced_at":"2026-06-16T14:17:09.638531+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-storytellers-3701797"},"episode":{"title":"245: How Long Beach, CA is Closing Its Digital Divide","slug":"245-how-long-beach-ca-is-closing-its-digital-divide","published_at":"2026-02-10T05:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-storytellers-3701797/245-how-long-beach-ca-is-closing-its-digital-divide","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-storytellers-3701797","url":"https://innovationstorytellers.com/podcasts/","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/innovationstorytellers/Leah_Storytellers.mp3?dest-id=2720171","summary":"What does it really take to close a digital divide in a city as complex, diverse, and dynamic as Long Beach, California? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Lea Eriksen, Director of Technology and Innovation and CIO for the City of Long Beach, to unpack the human stories behind civic innovation. We met in an unexpected setting, a steakhouse in Los Angeles during a CXO Rise gathering, where conversations about AI flowed alongside cream spinach and big ideas. That evening sparked a deeper discussion about how technology, when grounded in people and purpose, can reshape communities in meaningful ways. Lea brings more than 25 years of experience in local government, with a career that spans budget, finance, economic development, and ultimately technology leadership. What makes her perspective stand out is that she did not arrive at innovation through a traditional tech pathway. Instead, she came through public service, relationships, and a deep belief that government can work when it listens first. In our conversation, she shares how Long Beach transformed its technology function from an internal service provider into a catalyst for digital equity, smart city experimentation, and community co-creation, earning national recognition along the way. We explore how innovation in government differs from innovation in the private sector, why people and process often matter more than tools, and how programs like Smart City Challenge, Pitch Long Beach, and LB CoLab invited city staff, residents, and vendors into the same room to solve shared problems. Lea is refreshingly honest about what worked, what failed, and what cities can learn from pilots that did not survive. She also explains how Long Beach approached the digital divide as more than access…","meta_description":"What does it really take to close a digital divide in a city as complex, diverse, and dynamic as Long Beach, California? In this episode of the Innovation…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1673,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/innovation-storytellers-3701797/episodes/245-how-long-beach-ca-is-closing-its-digital-divide/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-storytellers-3701797/245-how-long-beach-ca-is-closing-its-digital-divide.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}