Brilliant. A Podcast About Innovation, Design, and Experience

Justin is joined by Thaddeus Wong, Co-CEO of @Properties (atproperties.com). Justin and Thad talk about employee and customer experience as a competitive advantage, using conversation as a framework for crafting a digital experience, integrating downstream services into the sales transaction, the growth of iBuyer organizations, and the emerging use of blockchain, video and machine learning in the transaction experience. They also talk about the stark market realities surrounding the failed WeWork IPO and the future of the real estate industry. Finally, we announce the publication of Justin’s new book, “Innovate. Activate. Accelerate. A 30-day boot camp for your business brain.” Now available on Amazon. LINKS: Magnani.com, atproperties.com

Justin is joined by Anju Ahuja, Vice President Market Development and Product Management at CableLabs—the media tech innovation lab for the global cable industry. Justin and Anju discuss the joys, challenges, and opportunities of running a dedicated innovation practice within a larger enterprise (hint, it’s not always rainbows, unicorns and butterflies, but it’s always pretty fun). They also cover the differences between product development and innovation, and how storytelling is as important as the science and the math of innovation. LINKS: Magnani.com, cablelabs.com

Justin is joined by Andreas Mueller, of Bloofusion, to chat about the ins and outs of SEO, how it works and its history. They discuss the black-hat early days of getting found on the internet and how the tools, tricks and techniques for gaming the search engine system have evolved over the past 20 years. And Andreas offers his views on the use of competitive intelligence and artificial intelligence in moving your content to the top of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). LINKS: Magnani.com, bloofusion.com, semrush.com, answerthepublic.com

Justin is joined by Danielle Galmore of Questa Consulting. Danielle and Justin discuss ways in which applying design thinking methodologies to change the experience of working spaces can have a dramatic impact on achieving desired outcomes. They explore the cyclical importance of storytelling and prototyping as part of the greater business planning toolbox. And they come to the conclusion that attempting to predict the future is one of the easiest ways to be wrong. LINKS: Magnani.com, questaconsulting.com

Justin is joined by a long-time associate, Matt Phillips of Phillips & Co., to explore the ins, outs and overall impressions of what makes a great ideation session. They explore the difference between ideation and traditional brainstorming, and how through structured exploration the techniques of ideation can be used to generate hundreds or even thousands of actionable ideas—from exploring new materials for athletic shoes to how to envision the city-like infrastructure needs of a modern mega theme park. And, along the way, Matt and Justin slip into a few well-worn celebrity impressions. LINKS: Magnani.com, phillips-co.com

Chris Arkenberg, Research Manager at Deloitte’s Center for Technology, Media, and Telecommunications, Skypes in to chat with Justin about the meteoric rise in eSports, the popularity of battle-royale-style gaming and its disruptive impact on the video game publishing industry. Justin and Chris weigh the impacts of generational and behavioral influences, as well as fundamental human nature on the types of games that command our attention. And, they give a special shoutout to Second Life...yes, it’s still out there. LINKS: Magnani.com, deloitte.com

Nick Kokonas is co-owner of The Alinea Group, which includes the Michelin 3-star restaurant, Alinea, as well as Next, The Aviary, Roister and The Aviary NYC. They have also written and produced two award-winning books. Nick is the founder and CEO of Tock.com, a dynamically priced ticketing software for restaurants. Justin and Nick discuss using emotional requirements as the foundation for designing an experience, the narrative structure of a great dining experience, crying babies, service chihuahuas, music theory, vintage synthesizers and defining problems in a way that makes solving them consuming and inevitable. LINKS: alinearestaurant.com, tock.com, theaviary.com, nextrestaurant.com

Justin sits down for a conversation with Maxwell Luthy of Trendwatching about using trend data to drive the innovation process, the demonization of consumer excess, the emergence of a-commerce, Super Human Resources and AI, Facebook’s consolidation of messaging platforms, and the dangers of making cross-cultural generalizations. Links: trendwatching.com

Justin sits down for a conversation with Will Smith, founder of FooVR, about the past, present and future of VR, the intersection of narrative and innovation, and whether internet technology has moved the human race any closer to the intellectual utopia we were all promised in the 1990’s. Links: Foovr.com

Justin is joined by John Tuders, former SVP, Product and Payments Innovation for Bank of America, currently PhD candidate and adjunct Professor of Innovation at University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Justin and John talk about what it’s like to forge a career in innovation and what innovation actually means in a large enterprise setting. They examine why some institutions are better suited for innovation than others and why. And they chat about what it means to teach innovation and why it's an important area of study for anyone studying business.