Change Management Review Podcast · 2026-06-03 · 33 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
47 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Robyn Bolton, founder and chief navigator at Mile Zero, challenges the widespread assumption that innovation fails due to lack of ideas - it's actually a leadership problem. Bolton, who launched Swiffer early in her P&G career and authored Unlocking Innovation: A Leader's Guide for Turning Bold Ideas into Tangible Results, explains why phenomenal operational leaders often sabotage innovation by applying command-and-control behaviors to inherently uncertain environments. She reveals how leaders inadvertently kill ideas through subtle shutdowns: redirecting employees to other departments, demanding premature business cases, or pivoting to "safer" priorities. Instead, Bolton advocates for collaborative problem-solving where leaders admit uncertainty, ask questions rather than provide answers, and engage employees in learning. She introduces the ABC framework - architecture, behavior, and culture - arguing that innovation programs fail because organizations over-invest in process and structure while neglecting leadership behavior change and cultural shifts. Bolton also addresses resource allocation challenges: since short-term metrics incentivize operational efficiency over uncertain innovation investments, leaders need intrinsic motivation around legacy and organizational impact to champion ideas forward. The conversation explores friction points between functions, generational seams, and misaligned incentives that derail collaboration, plus the risks of over-relying on AI tools while skipping human interaction in customer research and discovery.
Operational leaders excel at predictable, cause-and-effect environments where they know the answers and can plan five steps ahead. Innovation is the opposite - inherently uncertain with unknown outcomes. Leaders instinctively apply the same command-and-control behaviors that made them successful in operations, but these behaviors stifle the curiosity and collaborative learning that innovation requires.
Managers typically respond to ideas with: redirecting the employee to someone else (starting an endless "race around the organization"), asking them to write a business case (creating an unrealistic burden alongside their day job), or acknowledging the idea but pivoting to "safer" operational priorities. These responses inadvertently signal the idea isn't worth the leader's time or energy.
Leaders should start by asking clarifying questions to understand how the idea connects to business priorities, then engage in dialogue. If the idea doesn't align, explain why while validating that the input was heard and appreciated. This approach maintains psychological safety so employees will bring ideas again, even if this particular one doesn't move forward.
The ABC framework covers architecture (strategy, processes, governance), behavior (how leaders show up), and culture (what the organization values and rewards). Most innovation programs focus only on architecture while neglecting leadership behavior and culture change. Since typical innovation programs last only three years to prove ROI, organizations must address all three simultaneously - a task that's rarely attempted effectively.
Executives are measured on short-term results (quarterly and annual performance) and see immediate ROI from operational improvements like cost-cutting and throughput gains. Innovation's returns are uncertain and take years to materialize, so rational decision-makers with short-term incentives will always choose the "sure bet" unless those incentives and metrics are redesigned to reward long-term thinking.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode surfaces a handful of genuine ideas - the resource-allocation framing of innovation, the 3-year program lifespan, and the operational-versus-innovation mindset gap - but these are surrounded by long stretches of affirmation, restatements, and generic advice ("ask questions," "build a coalition"). The ideas-per-minute ratio is low for a 33-minute episode.
innovation is ultimately about resource allocation... If I give this dollar and this person to something that's on the operational side... I know the ROI that I'll get and I know when I'll get it. If I give it to the innovation team, I don't know if I'll get any roi
most innovation programs only last for three years and they get shut down. Which means you essentially have three years to prove that innovation works
The core arguments - leaders impose operational instincts on innovation, psychological safety unlocks ideas, incentive misalignment kills long-term bets - are well-worn territory in innovation literature. The George Costanza framing and the "innovation industrial complex" self-critique add modest freshness, but no genuinely contrarian or first-principles claim appears.
You have to channel your inner George Constanza, because there's a. Where George does the opposite of all of his instincts and he lives this great life
the innovation industrial complex, as I lovingly call it, has been focused on architecture... we've been missing the leadership behavior component and we've been missing the culture component
Robyn Bolton has credible practitioner credentials - P&G brand manager on Swiffer, partner at Innosight (Clayton Christensen's firm), and Thinkers50 recognition - placing her above pure thought-leaders. However, she is now a solo boutique consultant and author rather than an active enterprise innovation leader, which limits the depth of current at-scale operational insight on display.
she was a partner at Innocyte and a brand manager at Procter and Gamble, where she helped develop and launch Swiffer
for literally being my first year out of undergrad, I asked for m a better experience
A few concrete data points appear - 95% of launched products gone within a year, 3-year average program lifespan, five-generation workforce - but none are attributed to a source, no client case studies are named, no dollar figures from real engagements appear, and the Swiffer reference is biographical rather than analytical. Much of the advice remains illustrative and hypothetical.
95% of products launched on the market are gone within a year. Like it just terrible, terrible results
people are usually only in their role for two years, what they're investing in isn't going to come to fruition for six or seven
The host makes competent bridges between innovation and change management, adding modest framing value, but never challenges a claim, never asks for evidence behind statistics, and relies heavily on open-ended prompts and affirmations. The AI question is the sharpest moment, but even that is framed as a gentle curiosity rather than a probe.
I can see the paradox, um, and the parallel with change leadership, because in change leadership, they're under the pressure to also have an answer
how do you see the AI innovation, um, and AI adoption, uh, hype and uh, all of that playing out in the innovations space
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Innovation requires more than bold ideas. Robyn Bolton explains how leaders can build organizations that adapt and evolve through uncertainty.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Robin Bolton: You're listening to the Change Management Review podcast, where we bring you the best tactics, strategies, and actionable insights for organization change. We talk with impactful organizational change practitioners and leaders. And now your host, Teresa Moulton.
Teresa Moulton: Welcome to the Change Management Review podcast. My name is Teresa Moulton and I'm the editor in chief. And I'm here today with Robin Bolton, who is the founder and chief navigator at Mile Zero. We're going to talk about innovation and change today, and we're very lucky to have her with us. I'm excited to share a little bit more about Robin with you. Uh, as the founder and chief navigator at Mile Zero, she helps P and L owners turn uncertainty into growth. Previously, she was a partner at Innocyte and a brand manager at Procter and Gamble, where she helped develop and launch Swiffer. Robin is the author of Unlocking Innovation, A Leader's Guide for Turning Bold Ideas into Tangible Results. Her articles and perspective have been featured in Fast Company, Harvard Business Review Online, the New York Times, and NPR's Marketplace Place. In 2026, she was named to the Thinkers50 radar list as one of 30 Thinkers to Watch in the upcoming year. I'll be watching. I will definitely be watching. I watch that list all the time. So, without further ado, welcome. Uh, Robin, thank you.
Robin Bolton: I'm so excited to be here.
Teresa Moulton: Yes, we're excited to have you. Um, the Swiffer project, uh, must have been a trip. Everyone must recognize that one.
Robin Bolton: Oh, my goodness. That was a trip. It was. You know what? For literally being my first year out of undergrad, I asked for m a better experience.
Teresa Moulton: Oh, my gosh. Your first project out of undergrad. That's phenomenal.
Robin Bolton: Yes. Yes. Talk about luck. Right?
Teresa Moulton: Right. Oh, my. That's great. So in terms of diving. Right. In, um, you mentioned early in the book you say that innovation is not an idea problem, it's a leadership problem. And many change professionals face similar resistance when implementing new initiatives. From your perspective, what leadership behaviors most often prevent innovation from actually turning into real organizational change?
Robin Bolton: M Starting right off with the hard hitting questions. I love it. Um, yes, I think there are. There are kind of two answers to your question. So the behaviors that really get in the leader's way. And I'm saying all of this with a lot of empathy for leaders because, you know, quite frankly, in their shoes, I would probably do the same things. So one of the things we have to recognize with leaders is that they've gotten to where they are, they've advanced in their careers because they are phenomenal. Operators, as I call it. Mhm. Um, so they are great at running the business and running it well, and they know the answers. They can predict cause and effect, they can see things five steps ahead. Um, they're just really awesome at what they do. And then you put them in a situation of innovation, which is the opposite of an operational environment. So in innovation, you've never done it before. You don't know cause and effect, you don't know what's going to happen next. You certainly don't have all the answers. That's a completely different environment. But most leaders take all the behaviors that make them awesome at operations and do them in innovation.
Teresa Moulton: Oh.
Robin Bolton: Which is a different world. And so that's why I said I have a ton of empathy as to why they would do that. You walk into an innovation meeting, somebody asks you questions, your instinct is to answer it right, but you actually don't have the answer because you've never done it right. And so it's you almost. I, uh, call, uh, this in the book. You have to channel your inner George Costanza, because there's a. Where George does the opposite of all of his instincts and he lives this great life. As a leader, you kind of have to do that too. You have to do the. When you're an innovation, you have to do the opposite of all of your instincts. And that's really, really hard.
Teresa Moulton: Yeah. So, um, what are some specific challenges that you see leaders having when they walk into the innovation lab? Uh, with their operational hat on?
Robin Bolton: Yes. So one is they feel compelled to answer every question. Ah huh. And again, I completely understand because as a leader, you're recognized, um, as an expert.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: And so of course as an expert, as a leader you need to have the answers. You need to have the confidence to say, we're going to go this way so that people follow you. So if you show up and you say, I don't know, we're trained, we're taught that you're going to lose confidence, people aren't going to follow you. And that is true in an operational environment. In innovation, you don't know. And so saying I don't know is actually really helpful because it kind of brings the temperature down. Uh, and then you follow it up with, how are we going to figure it out? Because innovation is really a learning exercise. And so as a leader, showing up and admitting you don't know, being open to learning and making it a priority and being focused on action of, uh, like, okay, I don't know, but how are we going to learn Just focuses the team on the right priorities, which is learning versus executing an answer. That's kind of, if we're honest with ourselves, made up.
Teresa Moulton: Yeah. And, you know, I can see the paradox, um, and the parallel with change leadership, because in change leadership, they're under the pressure to also have an answer, have the right answer. Yet in some of the listening sessions that they do, it's that vulnerability that when they open up and say, you know, I don't have all the answers, and that they can engage people in the, in the solution, and that makes the change much more, um, effective.
Robin Bolton: Yeah, yeah. And I, I've talked to leaders about this of, you know, kind of prepping them of going into sessions. Because innovation is all about change.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: You know, going into sessions saying, like, you're going to say, I don't know, because you're going to be honest with the team, you're going to ask for their input, and you're going to figure this out together. And I can see all of them, some of them have the courage to express and be like, what if the team wants to do things that I don't think we can do? What if someone has an idea and we don't do it? Well, then you just explain why you're not going to do it. Uh, just because somebody articulates an idea doesn't mean you have to do what they say. This is collaborative problem solving, and you're going to work through it together.
Teresa Moulton: Interesting.
Robin Bolton: So it's so interesting, this kind of fear of, like, well, if I open up the floor to conversation, people may say things that we're not going to do. And it's like, well, yeah, that happens all the time. But because you're in conversation and you're figuring things out together, they're more likely to buy in and do what's ultimately decided.
Teresa Moulton: You know, it's interesting because, um, it sounds to me like the leaders really need some coaching before they actually come into an innovation lab or an innovation, um, conversation with their team. Because they're coming up against some of this typical corporate culture stuff.
Robin Bolton: Yes.
Teresa Moulton: Uh, which is how much permission can I actually give my team to think out of the box. You know, I don't want to get caught in a pickle where I have to be the bad guy or, or woman saying, you know, no, you can't do this.
Robin Bolton: Yeah.
Teresa Moulton: So how do you prepare them?
Robin Bolton: It's. That really is kind of sitting down saying, all right, here's how we're going to run through the meeting, kind of taking a very, you Know, business, like, traditional approach to preparing for the meeting and then saying, really, like, what is the worst case scenario? Tell me what the worst possible thing that could happen in this meeting is. And we are all very creative in this way. And so, you know, they'll be like, oh my gosh, this could happen. Someone could have an idea and I can't do it, and we have to shut it down. Or, you know, they, they want a budget that I just can't do. I'm like, great, let's plan for all that. Like, let's develop responses to that. Um, and really just kind of helping them feel prepared and prepared, not just with answers, um, but with how can you engage in a conversation? And a big part of that is helping them get good at asking questions. So someone's like, we need a million dollars to do that. Instead of being like, no, we don't have it in the budget, saying, okay, how would you spend that million dollars? Okay, what are you hoping to learn as a result of that? And then, so starting with, we always go in with like, what are three questions you could ask in response to the statements you're afraid of? And that starts the dialogue and kind of gets them out of reaction mode and more into curiosity and dialogue and problem solving.
Teresa Moulton: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Um, because in your book you talk a lot about the safety and growth trade off and you know, really, um, helping leaders create conditions where people feel safe enough to ask those questions. I need a million dollars. Um, and, uh, the worst thing that could happen would be for a leader to shut it down.
Robin Bolton: Right, right. And that's often what happens, you know, sometimes in ways that leader don't realize that that's what happened. Uh, you know, I see a lot of time in companies that, um, people are full of ideas. That's why I say innovation isn't an idea problem. People are full of ideas and companies are full of people. So companies are full of ideas. But people don't share ideas because leaders often inadvertently shut them down. So somebody will go into their boss and be like, hey, I have an idea for this. And bosses typically do one of several things. One is they'll be like, that's great, but we need to focus on X. Um, that is the shutdown that actually happens fairly rarely because bosses are trained to be like, no, no, we want to hear ideas. So they want to be encouraging, but they don't know how. So what they. Another response is, that's a great idea. Go talk to so and so. And then begins the great race around the organization, uh, where you just keep getting sent to other people to talk to. And eventually the person with the idea runs out of steam and is like, I have a day job. And then the final thing that tends to happen is that's a great idea. Write up a business case.
Teresa Moulton: Oh, right.
Robin Bolton: And then it becomes this huge thing that, you know, most people don't even know what needs to be in a business case, let alone, uh, how to develop one. And so the burden is on them. And they're like, I also have a day job.
Teresa Moulton: Mhm.
Robin Bolton: I don't have time for this. And so there's all these subtle ways that managers trying to be open to ideas actually shut them down.
Teresa Moulton: So what's the best way to encourage innovation and actually lift it up and get some benefit out of it for the organization?
Robin Bolton: It's to, you know, first off, let's say, you know, same conversation, employee comes with an idea, comes to their boss, start, um, with questions. You know, one of the things, you know, innovation I believe very, very strongly is it is a means to an end.
Teresa Moulton: Mhm.
Robin Bolton: So the end is growth. Innovation is simply the way you're going to get there. And so first understand kind of how this idea fits into the priorities and the strategies of, you know, the company, the business unit, the team. You know, the idea is great, but what end does it lead to and how does that align with our priorities? And a lot of times kind of ideas don't. They're just a really great idea. And so that opens a conversation like, okay, great idea, here are the priorities that we have. Do you have any ideas that could help with these?
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: And that kind of helps focus the energy and the creativity. When people are coming up with ideas. If an idea does align with one of the priorities, then it's, then again it's asking questions and collaborating to be like, okay, who else can help with this? What do you think the result will be? Um, what do we need to learn? Why aren't we doing this right now? Why hasn't this been considered and really engaging in dialogue instead of just kind of go talk to this person, go do this thing. Because when you have that conversation, the employee is feeling heard and listened to and taken seriously. And so even if eventually the idea gets shut down, they still feel like it was appreciated.
Teresa Moulton: Right?
Robin Bolton: And they'll bring you an idea again.
Teresa Moulton: And what about accountability on behalf of leadership to actually move an idea forward? How do you help a leader who's uh, embedded in a system, you know, and they have the same issue now they have this idea and they, they think it's great and now they need to move it forward. If there's no formal innovation process, uh, how does that work?
Robin Bolton: Yes, that is, I think that's one of the biggest problems, one of the biggest challenges and why I say innovation is a leadership problem because especially if you don't have a process to move things forward, you're figuring things out and that's really time consuming, um, energy consuming. So much progress depends on who you know and the alliances you've built and the credibility in your reputation. Other thing, even if you do have an innovation process, um, it's not sexy to say, but innovation is ultimately about resource allocation.
Teresa Moulton: Mhm.
Robin Bolton: And everybody has a limited budget and a limited number of people. And so as a leader, let's say if I'm a P and L owner, I know, okay, I have a dollar that I can spend and a person I can allocate. If I give this dollar and this person to something that's on the operational side, cutting costs, improving throughput, whatever that is, I know the ROI that I'll get and I know when I'll get it.
Teresa Moulton: Mhm.
Robin Bolton: If I give it to the innovation team, I don't know if I'll get any roi. I don't even know if I'll break even. And even if I do, I have no earthly idea when I'll see that return.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: And so as you know, so many executives, they are incentivized, they are measured based on short term results. You know, what did I deliver this quarter, what did I deliver this year? So any rational human being is going to make a choice that, you know, contributes to their incentives and to being measured into performing well against their measurements. So rational human being, it's gonna be like, I'm going to go with the sure bet.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: And that that means resources not going to innovation.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: And so ideally what happens is, and people are still very much figuring this out is how do you change incentives, metrics, KPIs to reward long term thinking. Especially when people are usually only in their role for two years, what they're investing in isn't going to come to fruition for six or seven. Um, in the meantime, I often see the leaders who are able to push through this are people who really care about legacy and really care about the future and leaving their organization better than how they found it. And so it really is kind of an internal motivation required to push through that.
Teresa Moulton: Interesting. Yeah, it would, it would take that kind of calling to really sustain the amount of bureaucracy and conceptual selling that's needed to shepherd an idea forward. Yes, um, I can see that similarity in terms of building a sponsorship coalition and you know, selling the change across an organization as well. Because that's conceptual selling too.
Robin Bolton: Yeah, yes, it's very much, um, you know, building belief, building buy in.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: Convincing people of something that on the surface may not be in their best interest.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: But you know that it is and you believe and so you've got to kind of get them over that hump.
Teresa Moulton: Right, right. So in your book you talk about behavior, architecture and culture, the ABC framework. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Robin Bolton: Yes. One of the things I've spent my whole career in innovation, starting with Swiffer, and one of the things that's slowly been driving me insane is the fact that for 30 years innovation has been a thing. The Innovator's Dilemma was published in the late 90s. A, uh, whole industry has cropped up around corporate innovation and the results haven't change.
Teresa Moulton: Interesting.
Robin Bolton: You know, I think it's still 95% of products launched on the market are gone within a year. Like it just terrible, terrible results. It's like 30 years of having a go at this and nothing's changed. We are clearly doing something wrong. And where the ABCs came from was realizing that, you know, I'm guilty of this. We, the innovation industrial complex, as I lovingly call it, has been focused on architecture, on all of this businessy left brain stuff that is, you know, strategy, structure, processes, governance, metrics, all of these things that are fairly tangible and businessy and are absolutely necessary but not sufficient for change. And that uh, we've been missing the leadership behavior component and we've been missing the culture component. And all three of those things, architecture, behavior and culture need to be worked on and nurtured and developed at the same time. And then uh, a lot of studies have shown that most innovation programs only last for three years and they get shut down. Which means you essentially have three years to prove that innovation works in order to keep getting support. So you've got to work on three things. Architecture, behavior and culture. Building, developing, getting results from it. And you have three years to do it. And that's a really, really hard task.
Teresa Moulton: Yeah. To do that over 30 years and hope, you know, that's what, 10 shots at, uh, 10 products?
Robin Bolton: Yes, yes. I mean the odds are against you. But I will say all the innovators that I've worked with are just again, kind of powered by this. We can do better, we Believe, uh, better is possible. And if not me, who else?
Teresa Moulton: Yeah, that's cool. I really like that. So you also make this point about grounding change in customer problems. And um, you know, that's back to that concept of giving internal and external customers a voice in the change. Um, what do you think, um, is important about that in terms of the innovation process?
Robin Bolton: Yeah. Your first customers are always, your colleagues are always internal and your stakeholders. And so if you can't sell them on your idea, if you can't sell them on the changes that need to be made to bring something to life, you're never going to get the opportunity to sell external customers.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: And so it's really important, um, to understand your internal customers and you know, what are their problems, what are their priorities, what are their challenges? Because you need to enroll them on the journey with you. One person cannot kind of plow through and make something happen in an organization. You really have to build a coalition and with, you know, people playing different roles around, you know, uh, advocates, sponsor.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: You know, whatever the roles may be, but you can't do it alone. So you have to build that coalition. And building that coalition requires figuring out how to help each person.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: That's part of it.
Teresa Moulton: Right. And that kind of brings me to the next point around. You know, um, a key part of changing behavior at scale is finding the hidden friction points.
Robin Bolton: Yes.
Teresa Moulton: So kind of bring that full loop for me.
Robin Bolton: Yes. Finding the friction points. Um, this is something a colleague of, of mine and I have been working on this idea of kind of seamless innovation. You know, when you have clothes or anything, you know, they usually come apart at the seams like they're getting scratched and stretched.
Teresa Moulton: And you can see inopportune moment.
Robin Bolton: Always an inopportune moment. Um, and, and that's what happens in organizations is the seams between functions or even between like generations. We have a five generation workforce now. So generational seams, 10 year seams, hierarchy seams. There's seams all over an organization. And what friction happens at the seams? And so it's important to find where those seams are and the seams are, you know, between people.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: And understanding, okay, why do those seams exist? Where is the misalignment? Is it, you know, is it a personal relationship? So like person A just doesn't like person B because five years ago person B said the wrong thing. Is it, you know, their incentives are misaligned. And so somebody, product development has different incentives than marketing and they actually come into conflict.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: So first step is finding those seams and those friction points and then working with the people to figure out, okay, how do we ideally eliminate them, but if not eliminate, find at least common ground.
Teresa Moulton: Right, that makes sense. And that's, that's typically how um, change professionals work with recalcitrant stakeholders.
Robin Bolton: Oh yes, right.
Teresa Moulton: So finding those um, folks that have pain points and hoping that they're not building their own coalition against the change and you know, kind of getting involved in and um, assuaging the concerns and helping them understand, you know, what the benefits of the change are. Um, I'm curious, Robin, how do you see the AI innovation, um, and AI adoption, uh, hype and uh, all of that playing out in the innovations space?
Robin Bolton: Oh my gosh. I have, I am just a small question, Just a small question. No, I have. I'm so conflicted about it because I love it and I hate it at the same time. I see the danger of it. So like I look, I use AI every single day. I think there are AI tools that are out there for business and innovation. Things like, um, synthetic Personas for use in customer research, um, you know, things like, you know, a lot of the research that could be done and automated. I mean, it's just incredible.
Teresa Moulton: Mhm.
Robin Bolton: What AI can do so much more quickly and thoroughly or expansively than what a human can do. And we also have to double check all of it. We cannot take it at face value because, you know, we know what the error rates in AI results are. And it also makes it way too easy to skip the human part, to skip walking down the hall and talking to someone, to skip having a conversation, to skip going out and talking to people and doing research. Because humans will always surprise you. And AI is it uh, captures what's known and then uses probability to figure out what to feed back to you. But if you need to understand something at a deeper level than what people type into an article, or if you are looking for something new, you can only get that from a human being and understand their thinking. And so I worry about us over indexing way too much on AI tools. They are great, they are tools, they are fantastic starting points, but they're not a replacement for human interaction.
Teresa Moulton: Right. And the human interaction is what I hear you emphasizing today and also pointing to in your book in terms of innovation. You know, it's not shutting that down and really making sure that um, people have that voice and that opportunity to share and working with leadership to open that up. And so I, as I think of it all, um, I Think of the companies that are calling themselves AI first and you know, in the culture, you know, saying push AI, push AI and not really paying attention, attention as much to the human impact. Like instead of human resources, we're becoming human expenses. And that dynamic and its impact on innovation. I'm just curious what you think of the impact of that dynamic on innovation, given that AI is now kind of being seen as the innovator.
Robin Bolton: Yes. Um, it breaks my heart because I think we have swung to an extreme where AI is now synonymous with innovation. So companies have cut, eliminated, reduced their innovation focus and it's all gone into AI. And we're seeing that manifest in our lives with, you know, I was having a conversation earlier today. It feels like there's nothing new in the market.
Teresa Moulton: Right.
Robin Bolton: You know, Hollywood's coming out with remakes and sequels. You go to the grocery store and, you know, you see updated packaging, but no new products. You see updated kind of formulations of food, but no new flavors. And it's because all of the creativity, the creation energy, the innovation resources have gone to AI because it's a shiny object, it is promising.
Teresa Moulton: Uh-huh.
Robin Bolton: But I think what it's promised and what it can deliver are still drastically different. Um, and so people are, you know, kind of trying to do the best with what they can. And it's a lot of just kind of like very micro improvements. So what I'm hoping is, you know, the pendulum swings back because again, AI is a tool. And I kind of joke like, it's like when Microsoft Office came out, like, did we all be like, we're going to be a Microsoft Office first organization. What are you doing with Excel in your company?
Teresa Moulton: Right, right.
Robin Bolton: No, it's a tool. AI is a tool. But we've completely gone bananas over it.
Teresa Moulton: I agree, I agree. Thank you. I was very curious about what your thoughts were on that.
Robin Bolton: Yeah, love it and hate it.
Teresa Moulton: So we're about out, uh, of time. I wanted to ask you if you had a parting thought or lesson learned that you wanted to share with our listeners.
Robin Bolton: I would say very much inspired by the last conversation. Go out and talk to somebody.
Teresa Moulton: Mhm.
Robin Bolton: Literally just get up from your desk and if you're in an office, go talk to someone. Or if you have a home office, get up and go to a coffee shop and place an order with a barista. Actually talk to the barista and place your order instead of putting it in on the app. But go talk to someone, ask them a question and then listen to their answer and you'll be m surprised where it goes.
Teresa Moulton: That's good advice. For a lot of reasons. For a lot of reasons. That's really good advice. Robin, this has been a real pleasure. Um, when is your book Unlocking Innovation a leader's guide for turning bold ideas into tangible results? When is it coming out or has it come out?
Robin Bolton: It has come out. So you can get it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, all of those great bookstores. And you can read more about it, uh, at UnlockingInnovation. Co.
Teresa Moulton: Okay, fantastic. And if people want to get a hold of you, what's the best way for them to do that?
Robin Bolton: You can hit me up on LinkedIn or you can go to my site, mile zero z e r o I
Teresa Moulton: O All right, fantastic. Well, listen, this has been a real joy, and I am so grateful for your time, uh, and your wisdom on our show. And I look forward to, um, staying in touch and seeing what's up as you go along.
Robin Bolton: Absolutely loved it. This is great. Thank you.
Teresa Moulton: Thank you.
Robin Bolton: We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Change Management Review podcast. To get alerts for new episodes, be sure to follow us M on LinkedIn, subscribe to our weekly newsletter, or subscribe to follow on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you find great podcasts.
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