Heroes of Innovation

Inspiring stories from creative legends to bring actionable insights for listeners to break through at work or at home.

Episode 1: Ed Catmull
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 1: Ed Catmull

Ed Catmull is the Founder and former CEO at Pixar, and former CEO of Disney Animation Studios. He dives deep into some of the ideas that he shared in his book Creativity Inc., so you can expect a real masterclass on the creative process and how this translates to high-level teams.

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Episode 23: Teresa Amabile and Diego Rodriguez
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 23: Teresa Amabile and Diego Rodriguez

Teresa Amabile is a leading creativity researcher at Harvard Business School, focusing on how workplace environments influence innovation. Diego Rodriguez, a former IDEO partner, is an innovation strategist renowned for his expertise in design thinking and product development. Both bring valuable insights to the podcast on fostering creativity in organizations.

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Episode 22: Diana Chapman
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 22: Diana Chapman

Diana is an advisor to exceptional leaders, and has worked with over 1000 organizational leaders and many of their teams. She has created and implemented professional onboarding and ongoing programs—based on the comprehensive body of work she developed with CLG co-founder Jim Dethmer—with clients such as Asana and Esalen.

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Episode 19: Josh Ruff & Marcus Hollinger
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 19: Josh Ruff & Marcus Hollinger

Marcus Hollinger is an award-winning marketer and innovation leader. He led Grammy-winning campaigns and now coaches at Stanford d.School. His coffee company was named Georgia’s best by Food & Wine.

Josh Ruff is an innovation expert with experience at Hyatt and Stanford d.school. At Stoked, he helps teams launch new ideas and won a CEO Award for improving postpartum support.

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Special Episode: “Beyond the Prompt” with GregShove
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Special Episode: “Beyond the Prompt” with GregShove

This is a special sneak peek at a new collaborative effort I’m undertaking with entrepreneur Henrik Werdelin, called “Beyond the Prompt,” where we explore the intersection of AI and business. In this first episode, Henrik and I sit down with Greg Shove, CEO of edtech disruptor Section, to discuss the emergence of the AI class and the role of technology in redefining education in the future.

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Episode 18: Billy Oppenheimer
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 18: Billy Oppenheimer

Billy Oppenheimer is a talented writer and research assistant from Austin, TX, and one of my favorite online voices. After cold emailing his favorite writer in 2018 and offering to work for free, he was hired full-time six months later. Since then, he’s helped Ryan Holiday with research, writing, and marketing five books and growing a massive audience.

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Episode 17: David McRaney
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 17: David McRaney

After delving deep into the psychology of belief in "How Minds Change," best-selling author and acclaimed podcaster David McRaney has set his journalistic sights on understanding the nature of true genius.

We invited him to speak to Transformative Design, a graduate course at Stanford. Here's a sneak peek into the intimate classroom conversation.

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Episode 16: Amy Edmondson
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 16: Amy Edmondson

Amy C. Edmondson is a Harvard Business School professor known for her pioneering research on psychological safety. Named the #1 Management Thinker by Thinkers50 in 2021, her work has been featured in top publications and her TED Talk has over three million views. She’s the author of Right Kind of Wrong, The Fearless Organization, and Teaming.

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Episode 15: Rita McGrath
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 15: Rita McGrath

Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, advisor, and Columbia Business School professor. A top expert in strategy and innovation, she’s ranked among the world’s leading management thinkers. Her notable books include Seeing Around Corners and The End of Competitive Advantage.

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Episode 14: Matt Abrahams
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 14: Matt Abrahams

In Think Faster, Talk Smarter, Stanford lecturer Matt Abrahams shares practical tools to help anyone speak confidently on the spot. He shows that quick, effective communication is a learnable skill, offering science-based tips to manage anxiety and speak clearly and memorably in any setting.

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Episode 13: Liz Tran
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 13: Liz Tran

Liz Tran is the founder of Reset, an executive coaching company to CEOs and founders. Before founding Reset, Liz spent over a decade working in the tech industry, most recently as the only female executive at a leading venture capital firm. She is a trained meditation teacher and Reiki Master and studied yoga at the Samyak Ashram. She lives in New York City and Norfolk, Connecticut with her husband, Dev, and their dog, Grover.

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Episode 12: Mid Day Squares
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 12: Mid Day Squares

Lezlie and Jake Karls are the sibling duo behind Mid Day Squares, the white hot venture revolutionizing the chocolate industry through authenticity.

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Episode 11: Liz Wiseman
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 11: Liz Wiseman

Wiseman is the CEO of the Wiseman Group, a leadership research and development firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. Some of her recent clients include: Apple, AT&T, Disney, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Nike, Salesforce, Tesla, and Twitter. Liz has been listed on the Thinkers50 ranking and named one of the top 10 leadership thinkers in the world.

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Episode 10: Marcus Whitney
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 10: Marcus Whitney

Marcus is a Founding Partner of Jumpstart Health Investors (JHI), the most active early-stage healthcare venture capital firm in America. Of JHI’s funds, Marcus leads Jumpstart Nova, the first healthcare venture fund in America investing exclusively in Black-founded and led startups.

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Episode 9: Ron Johnson & Greg McKeown
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 9: Ron Johnson & Greg McKeown

Ron Johnson served as the senior vice president of retail operations at Apple Inc., reporting directly to Steve Jobs, where he pioneered the concept of the Apple Retail Stores and the Genius Bar. Join me and special guest interviewer Greg McKeown as we dive into several pivotal moments in his relationship with Steve Jobs.

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Episode 8: Linda Hill
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 8: Linda Hill

Linda A. Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and chair of the Leadership Initiative. She is regarded as one of the top experts on leadership and innovation. But she’s more than a scholar: she’s also a gifted practitioner.

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Episode 7: Astro Teller
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 7: Astro Teller

Dr. Astro Teller is the CEO of X, Alphabet's moonshot factory for building magical, audaciously impactful ideas that can be brought to reality through science and technology.

In this conversation, we dig into how to lead an organization geared to stimulating radical, disruptive innovation and future-orientation.

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Episode 6: Seth Godin
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 6: Seth Godin

Seth Godin is an American author and a former dot com business executive with over 20 best selling credits to his name. As a marketing and management guru, Seth has his eyes on the fault lines of today’s shifting working paradigm. Tune in to our discussion of his new book “Song of Significance.”

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Episode 5: Jason Mayden
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 5: Jason Mayden

A deep dive with a deep soul. Warning: this one hits hard.

During Jason’s 13+ year career at Nike, he led and contributed to the creation of innovative sport performances products for athletes and cultural icons such as Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Derek Jeter, and Michael Jordan.

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Episode 4: Jennifer Wallace 
Jeremy Utley Jeremy Utley

Episode 4: Jennifer Wallace 

Jennifer Wallace is an award-winning journalist and social commentator covering parenting and lifestyle trends. Her new book, Never Enough, discusses the phenomenon of “toxic achievement culture” among teens, and what parents can do to create environments that enable thriving.

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