"Driving Innovation Through Better Questions" - An Interview with Stephen Shapiro | The Transformative Leader Podcast 098

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In this episode of the Transformative Leader Podcast, I’m happy to bring you a conversation with professional keynote speaker, author, and advisor, Stephen Shapiro, about different ways we can proactively approach innovation by asking better questions to find “invisible” solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems. Stephen cultivates innovation by showing leaders and their teams how to approach, tackle and solve their business challenges. his most recent book is Invisible Solutions.

Halfway through his 15-year tenure at Accenture, while co-leading the company’s business process reengineering practice, Stephen realized he no longer wanted to be responsible for people losing their jobs. So he did exactly the opposite by building Accenture’s thriving 20,000-person process and innovation practice focused on growth and job creation. Today, Stephen continues to focus on transforming the way businesses like 3M, P&G, Marriott, Nike, and Microsoft improve innovation practices through customized keynote speeches, advisory engagements and other services.

This episode is a little on the shorter side, but Stephen had some good insights to share in our conversation, so be sure not to miss it!

Some topics discussed in this episode include:

• How Stephen discovered his passion and talent for innovative problem solving.
• How our past experiences limit the way we approach the potential for innovation.
• What are some of “lenses“ we can use to reframe our questions, and thus solutions, for problems we face.
• The difference between innovation and problem solving, and why it matters.
• The two main phases of change in any system.
• And more…

Stephen Shapiro started his innovation work over 20 years ago while leading a 20,000-person innovation practice at the consulting firm, Accenture. Since then he has written six books on innovation, including Best Practices Are Stupid, which was named the best innovation and creativity book of 2011 by 800-CEO-READ (now Porchlight) and was an international #1 business best seller. His Personality Poker? card game has been used in 35 countries to create high-performing innovation teams. Stephen has presented at conferences in over 50 countries and in 2015 he was inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame. Stephen also served on the Board of Directors of National Speakers Association (NSA) and is the recipient of the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation. He also has a degree from Cornell University in Industrial Engineering, which has helped him optimize the entire innovation process using the engineering techniques he learned there. Stephen’s clients include Marriott, 3M, Delta Airlines, P&G, Nike, Capital One, Honda, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and NASA. His work has been featured in Newsweek, Entrepreneur Magazine, SUCCESS Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNBC, USA Network, TLC, and ABC News.

To learn more about Stephen and his work, you can visit his website, where you can also view his books. You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The Transformative Leader Podcast publishes every Monday and Thursday. If you enjoy the show and would like to help new listeners discover it, please leave us a rating and review on iTunes or your favorite podcast platform, and share the podcast with others. To suggest a guest for an upcoming episode, please email [email protected].

You can now listen to the new 5-part audio series, “Transforming Your Workplace Experience!" This audio series serves as both a great standalone introduction to culture transformation, as well as a companion to our previously available free culture transformation guide. In the series, I walk you through some applications and examples of the concepts presented in the guide, so that you can more effectively put them into practice and get motivated by the progress you will start making. I know that after learning and applying the concepts and distinctions that I present in the guide and audio series, you will be more qualified than ever to create extraordinary cultures that consistently deliver breakthrough results!

The Transformative Leader Audiobook is available now! I'm so excited to announce that "The Transformative Leader" on audiobook is currently on sale now exclusively on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes! The wait is over for those of you who (like me) prefer to listen to books during their commute or while exercising or simply doing things around the house! If you aren't yet a member of Audible, you can use this link (https://adbl.co/2MZWmaF) and sign up for a free 30-day trial and receive "The Transformative Leader" audiobook for free (plus one credit per month thereafter)!

About the Author: Amir Ghannad is an international keynote speaker, author of The Transformative Leader, leadership consultant, culture transformation champion, and founder of The Ghannad Group. He has made it his life's work to guide leaders and equip them with the tools, skills, and the mindset necessary to create extraordinary workplace cultures that deliver breakthrough results. Download his free e-book, titled 5 Practical Steps to Make Your Culture Transformation Stick by clicking here.

Want to learn more about The Ghannad Group? Click here

Want to get in touch with Amir? Email [email protected]

As always, have a great week! May you Boldly Declare, Courageously Pursue, and Abundantly Achieve the Extraordinary!

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