Ep. 182: Tamara Ghandour - Harnessing The Power of Innovation – Everyday

Contact Tamara:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/innovationtamaraghandour
What is your innovation type:
https://www.gotolaunchstreet.com/innovation-training-programs/whats-your-innovation-type/


Full Episode Transcript:
Adam: (00:05)
Welcome to the Count Me In podcast. I'm your host, Adam Larson.
And my guest today is Tamara Ghandour, a leader in the field of
human-centric innovation and its pivotal role in helping
individuals and businesses create breakthrough outcomes. Tomorrow
is the president of launch street, the founder of everyday
innovator's tribe, the host of her own podcast and the author of
the book. Innovation is everybody's business. She is also the
creator of the innovation quotient edge, a powerful tool for
determining your unique innovation style. This was a really
insightful conversation with great tips for unleashing your
innovation potential. So here without further ado is my talk with
Tamara Ghandour. So Tamara, thank you so much for coming on the
podcast today. I'm really excited to have you on, and as we talk
about innovation today, I wanted to kind of focus in a little
bit. so you talk about how innovation is, how you win against the
winds of change. So maybe we can start off by talking a little
bit more about that.


Tamara: (01:08)
Yeah, Adam, I think first of all, thank you for having me. I
think that's a great place to start because it sets the stage for
why innovation is so important and how we can leverage it in
ourselves to add value and to contribute and to carbon niche out
for ourselves. So here's the thing and I I'm sure we can do a
whole podcast on everything that's going on, but let me just kind
of sum up the winds of change for us. And the reality of the
world that we're in. So, you know, we've got COVID which
accelerated everything. So we'll just leave that as the blanket
statement, but on top of that, right, we've got AI and technology
taking over a lot of the base jobs. A lot of the functions that
we have been known to do as humans in our roles, things that
we're used to doing, but AI and technology can now do a lot of
that.


Tamara: (01:50)
So we've got that happening. We've got web 3.0 in the metaverse
coming and kind of how that's going to change everything. I just
heard about a project where healthcare going on to the metaverse
like, it's incredible, what's happening over there. And then on
top of that, right, you've got decentralized finance, you've got
the great resignation of where is everybody and why can't I find
people to hire or keep people, right? You've got that going on as
a wind of change. And then we've got a lot of uncertainty with
global politics and just the state of the world. So I say all
that, and it sounds like a lot of doom and gloom, but let me
focus in on where I think actually it adds to a lot of,
opportunity, you know, when times are stable, it breeds
efficiency, but it also breeds complacency when times are
unstable.


Tamara: (02:35)
Like we're in now, it breeds resilience. We've seen a lot of that
from all of us in the past couple of years, but also innovation,
a chance to change and to innovate. And you know, the thing about
being an innovator that I think is so important right now is when
you look at all of that, particularly AI and technology, that's
doing the baseline of our job. What that actually means. If you
look at it in the right way, is that we have the opportunity to
do something that is uniquely human, which is that creative
problem solving that empathy, that innovation, that strategic
thinking. So we actually have the ability right now, more so than
ever with everything going on to actually bring those insights,
to bring that innovative mind to the table and be that strategic
voice that our clients, our leaders, our teams, our customers,
that they all need right now. So the uncertainties crazy on one
hand yet on the other hand, the winds of change is what allow us
to innovate and shift and change and do things in a way that's,
that's different and unique to us.


Adam: (03:37)
Hmm. So, you know, you have this concept that you talk about a,
bit as about an everyday innovator. So we're talking about
innovation with the winds of change. What is that everyday
innovator style. And why does it matter when we're trying to have
these, when we're trying to sail the winds of change, if you
will, 


Tamara: (03:54)
I like the way you said that I'm going to sail the winds. That's
a great way to say that. So every day, and being an everyday
innovator is so important, but let me kind of back up as to why
oftentimes with innovation, we buy into these myths and I see
this all the time. I've been in business for 25 years now. And
you know, we think it's Suzie down the hall with a purple streak
or the Elon Musk and the Steve jobs and the JK Rowling's and
maybe the Oprahs of the world, right? Like they're bestowed with
something that we don't have, or we think it's for certain times,
like the 3:00 PM brainstorm with the SCED markers and the blank
eel pads, right. But every other time, just keep your head down
and do your job. Or we think that it is, for certain departments,
right?


Tamara: (04:34)
Marketing R and D or certain industries, technologies Silicon
valley. But that actually is a sliver of what it means to be an
innovator. And what I really come to see in my years of
experience is that the best innovation comes from the places
where you least expect, right? The everyday innovators who are
out there rolling up their sleeves, doing their jobs, the best
innovation is small. It's big, but it is inside all of us. And,
you know, I used to believe that a little bit of those myths too,
but we did a lot of research. We dug into the neuroscience and to
change principles. And what we actually found out in our research
is that we all have the ability to innovate. So we all have the
structures in it, right? Neuroscience shows that it's a whole
brain experience that MRIs light up when people create a problem,
solve strategic thinking, you know, think differently.


Tamara: (05:21)
and our brains are flexible. We can actually get stronger. It's
called neuroplasticity, but the way that all comes together and
why it's so important is that Adam is you and me in the roles
that we do when we bring innovation to the table and what we have
right in front of us, we can get incredible impact. We can create
those breakthrough outcomes. So, you know, innovation being
siloed, just sabotages it for all of us. When we, as everyday
innovators, when we understand that about ourselves, when we
unleash that about ourselves, that's where we start to see the
value and the difference. And we see it in individuals, leaders,
and in teams and how they perform as well. It's why we built the
assessment to tell people how they innovate, because we wanted
people to say, oh, this is how I innovate. Cause I don't know
about you, Adam, but I got pretty tired of hearing people go, you
need to innovate.


Tamara: (06:08)
And I was like, how? And then I would try to do it the way you
did it, but it didn't work for me because you do it in a way
that's different than the way I do it. So understanding your
everyday innovator style allows you to tap into what's actually
already inside of you. All we're asking you to do is amplify what
you're already incredible out. Maybe you're not using it. Maybe
you've been trained out of it, but you know what? It's a lot
easier for me to tomorrow to innovate in the way I innovate then
Adam, to try to do you and vice versa. So that's why it's
important.


Adam: (06:38)
That makes sense. Now you've said, you've said that anybody can
be an innovator and a lot of times you'll get a book by like a
Josh Linkner and yo...