{"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":"258: How Are You Answering the Big 4 Questions, BEFORE You Tell Your Story?","slug":"258-how-are-you-answering-the-big-4-questions-before-you-tell-your-story","published_at":"2026-05-19T04:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-storytellers-3701797/258-how-are-you-answering-the-big-4-questions-before-you-tell-your-story","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-storytellers-3701797","url":"https://innovationstorytellers.com/podcasts/","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/innovationstorytellers/News_Susan_solo_show.mp3?dest-id=2720171","summary":"In this solo episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I wanted to pause the constant conversation around AI capability and talk about something far more human. I'm talking about empathy. Everywhere I look, organizations are racing to deploy AI faster, automate more workflows, and chase productivity gains before competitors pull ahead. But behind every rollout, every implementation plan, and every AI strategy deck are real people trying to process what all of this change means for them. I share why I believe empathy has quietly become one of the most valuable strategic skills in business today. From employees being asked to trust systems they barely understand, to customers interacting with experiences that feel increasingly transactional and hollow, we may be reaching a point where the human side of innovation matters more than ever. I also reflect on why companies like Anthropic are actively hiring storytellers at premium salaries, despite building some of the most advanced AI systems in the world. Even the companies creating the technology understand that human connection still cannot be automated. Throughout this episode, I unpack the emotional reality of AI adoption inside organizations. Because when leaders ask teams to adopt new tools, they are often asking people to surrender something deeply personal, their mastery. For employees who built careers around expertise, predictable systems, and trusted workflows, AI can create anxiety, uncertainty, and even a sense of professional disorientation. That resistance to adoption is rarely laziness or stubbornness. More often, it is self-preservation. I also explore why so many AI initiatives stall despite strong ROI projections and technically successful deployments. The missing ingredient is often emotional buy-in.…","meta_description":"In this solo episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I wanted to pause the constant conversation around AI capability and talk about something far mo…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":537,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/innovation-storytellers-3701797/episodes/258-how-are-you-answering-the-big-4-questions-before-you-tell-your-story/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-storytellers-3701797/258-how-are-you-answering-the-big-4-questions-before-you-tell-your-story.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}