Way back on February 18th, at the Microsoft Garage NYC, 100 friends new and old gathered to help us launch The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft. It’s been a mad dash since, full of interesting conversations (check out our media page to see/hear our conversations with an extraordinary list of hosts). We’ve learned so much and found some interesting new angles on the book, our work, even ourselves!
But before any of that, our party-guests submitted these seriously thoughtful questions.
At long last, here are our answers. Let these be starting points for conversation! We’d love to hear from you in the comments. Agree, Disagree, Expand - Say it Ugly! The more we share, the more we can learn together.
Episode Guide:
* Intro (0:00-1:30)
* Q1 - How should top-league universities think about maximizing impact/value from their intellectual capital going forward? (1:40-)
* Q2 - You write “Innovation is a whole-company effort” but it also seems you innovated networks and even mental models. What lessons can you pass on about that? (4:20-)
* Q3 - What have been the motivations for Microsoft to invest in innovation from sustainability? How have the motivations or business drivers changed over time? How does Microsoft anticipate the current administration’s priorities will impact innovation in the coming 4 years? (9:43-)
* Q4 - How do you see AI impacting the way we innovate? (14:58-)
* Q5 - How can leaders innovate, embrace dilemmas, and implement the tactics of the book in a future that may look nothing like the past? (22:32-)
* Q6 - What guardrails to fast change have hindered innovation the most? (26:44-)
* Q7 - What did you most enjoy about the collaboration while writing the book? (30:51-)
* Q8 - How do you get other people to believe in your innovation? How did your careers set up this book? (36:41-)
* Q9 - How does Microsoft decide to kill a project? (44:50-)
* Q10 - Could you talk more about how you see sustainability questions integrated into the innovation process? (48:41-)
* Q11 - Who has inspired your creativity & innovation the most? (56:50-)
* Q12 - Could you please share your learnings on the incentives to apply or that restrict innovation? (1:00:10-)
* Outro - (1:09:25-1:10:30)
