{"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":"255: Are You Crushing Open Innovation?","slug":"255-are-you-crushing-open-innovation","published_at":"2026-04-28T04:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-storytellers-3701797/255-are-you-crushing-open-innovation","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-storytellers-3701797","url":"https://innovationstorytellers.com/podcasts","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/innovationstorytellers/Susan_April_26.mp3?dest-id=2720171","summary":"What does it really take for large organizations to keep innovating when speed, disruption, and AI are changing the rules faster than ever before? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I'm joined by two returning guests whose work has shaped how many leaders think about innovation inside large organizations: Dr. Diana Joseph, CEO of the Corporate Accelerator Forum, and Dan Toma, co-author of The Corporate Startup and Innovation Accounting. Together, they return to discuss their new book, Open Innovation Works, and why open innovation has become a business necessity rather than a nice idea for the future. We unpack why so many organizations struggle to innovate once they grow beyond their original breakthrough, and why the answer often lies outside the four walls of the business. From startup accelerators and incubators to university partnerships and corporate venture capital, Diana and Dan explain how companies can choose the right innovation vehicle rather than simply copying competitors. They also explain why alignment within the organization is often harder than working with startups. The conversation also takes a timely turn toward AI, where both guests challenge the growing trend of creating isolated \"AI departments.\" Instead, they argue that AI should be treated like any other business tool, embedded across every function rather than locked inside another silo. It is a practical, honest discussion about why so many AI projects fail, what leaders are getting wrong, and how innovation teams can stay relevant by tying their work directly to business growth and measurable outcomes. We also explore real-world examples from companies like Illumina and the lessons learned from cautionary tales like Borders and Amazon. At the center of it all is one simple…","meta_description":"What does it really take for large organizations to keep innovating when speed, disruption, and AI are changing the rules faster than ever before? In this…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2497,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/innovation-storytellers-3701797/episodes/255-are-you-crushing-open-innovation/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-storytellers-3701797/255-are-you-crushing-open-innovation.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}