Hi and welcome everyone to this session on Radical Innovation. Today I have the great pleasure to have Tamara Carleton with me. She is an award winning professor, mechanical engineering doctorate from Stanford University, industry advisor and an author and expert in radical innovation and strategic foresight. Warm welcome, Tamara, to Sandvik Coromant to us today. -Wonderful to be here. -My first question is actually on on moonshots, because that we have been discussing quite a lot. So how would you describe what building moonshots is all about? Great question to start with, because not everybody is familiar with the term moonshots. So the origin of the word is based on the first bold goal to send a human into outer space and land on the moon. And when we use the term today, moonshots signify that type of bold and audacious goal, but also with the potential of big impact. How can we change society, improve humanity? And for moonshots, this could also translate to making a difference for the industry and an entirely new way of working at a company as well. And for the book we released last year called Building Moonshots, we wanted to emphasize the word building on how do you make this real? How do you turn radical ideas into reality and go beyond the manifestos to say, what are the tools? What are the actual ways to make this happen? And we end up describing over 50 ways -on building moonshots. -When you have been working quite a lot in our industry and with companies like Sandvik Corman, for instance, what would you say are the main barriers -to achieve just that? -Oh, this can be tricky to consider because there are a range of obstacles alongside so many opportunities to explore as well. I would say one of the common obstacles is mindset. Can we do this and do we have a shared view in thinking bigger and also empowering our teams, our employees, and even our management to make these types of bold steps? And so often a conversation will start with understanding how do we foster the mindsets and the culture so that people can want to think big and do big things, and then you can lay the groundwork in an infrastructure to make that happen. You mentioned the culture, and I understand that culture and having the right mindset is is key, of course. How what is the prerequisites that you see need to be in place to foster that culture and mindset? Oh, yes. So the right conditions often come to, I think, very basic needs into, say one, we have the awareness, the recognition that we want this change or we need this change. And then I would combine that recognition with having a vision. And it may not be a crystal clear vision, but it's first the direction and then kind of bring together what's that ideal state or what's the dream that we want to achieve. And sometimes it might be a small dream that you can make bigger, and other times it could be a outrageous, crazy idea that mobilizes and excites people. And that to me helps set those conditions. Because then people know why they're doing this and it inspires them to go beyond their limits, or to consider turning that impossible into what might be possible. So in Sandvik Coromant we talk about manufacturing wellness. And that is to have a set of healthy habits, uh, to, to drive the business in a good way. One of them is to have the holistic view. What's your view on the importance of having a holistic view when it comes to innovation? I love that Sandvik Coromant has introduced this idea of manufacturing wellness because to me, it expands how people think about a very traditional industry working with your hands, but to realize there's other healthy ways of working and that this idea of wellness to balance the different habits we develop that can allow us to be successful and push a manufacturing industry forward from a holistic viewpoint. One of the early tools that I introduced with my long time counterpart, William Cochrane, is this idea of a context map, and it's meant to complement brainstorming or mind mapping and to say, how do we map context? How do we see the big picture? And you asked about developing that holistic viewpoint. The context map says map out eight important or salient dimensions, and in doing so, people suddenly realize it's more than 2 or 3 because it's very easy to converge on a narrow or small sets of criteria, but instead to zoom out and consider up to eight. And the reason we have eight has to do with limits of human memory. It's very easy for our human mind to get overwhelmed when it's more than 6 or 7 items, and with eight you have a nice even number. And this tool is a reminder of taking that holistic perspective. And particularly these tools are designed for teams. And I think when you do this with a team or a group, it allows everybody to bring part of their view, you know, different ways to see the proverbial elephant and say, okay, how do we see this as a shared perspective and allow us to -really consider that big picture? -And we talked about habits. Uh, in manufacturing, wellness, you talk about having good solid habits and the right habits also for enabling innovation to happen. Uh, what are the most important habits you would say when it comes to innovation, to foster? I would say it's the habit of sticking to habits, actually. And what do I mean by that is it's very hard as humans to establish a discipline and for innovation work as well as any other endeavor. We try to take write New Year's resolutions, I'll read more books, I'll travel to more places. I'll lose weight, right? All of these promises that we make require being disciplined and creating a system of, you know, the actions that stack up. And when we have habits, that's a way to embed repeated behavior. And so when I think of that most important habit, every person, every group will have a unique or core set that they find works for them. But what's going to ultimately make that set of habits successful is that underpinning discipline to say, we're going to make this a regular practice, and that's what truly makes -it a habit. -You've also talked about zero based innovation. What is that? Ah, yes. This is a bit of kind of going beyond a earlier concept in finance. There's a concept called zero based accounting. And it's the idea that every year you reset your budgets to zero and think about if we had to start from scratch, what would we invest? Because often people get lazy, or you roll over habits and budgets from the prior year and simply continue the momentum, but it doesn't allow people to stop and say, actually, we know more now today, and we have expectations of what we'd like to do differently into the future. So when we think about zero based innovation, the similar concept is to say, okay, as a thought exercise, if we were to reset everything we want to do in terms of innovative activity near mid far term, what would it mean for us? Would we invest the same amount of funding but also resources, attention? And in doing so this to me gets to these fundamental questions. Actually, does this mean the same to us? Should we double down because we know more or we want to accelerate this capability? Or maybe we need to remove some things, but now we can start fresh. And it's the idea that if we reset, how does this completely change what we think matter is what's important. And you take a full view for the portfolio. And this is the basis of zero based -innovation. -Yeah. It sounds like a very effective way as, as well to, to make a true proper deep reflection as well. And, and also maybe put yourself on the balcony looking down on what you do and, and then maybe redirect and and -change. -Oh yes. But it's tough too because then people have to be willing to say, especially for management and those that are used to having, say, certain programs in place or certain budgets to say, actually, is this the right mix? Or if we do it again, how should it look? And then to make that commitment to because hopefully the knowledge shapes what you want to consider as the next actions. Yeah. I mean, in today's world, we we face and we need to manage a lot of uncertainties. A lot of a lot of uncertainties to manage kind of here and now. But of course, also looking into the future. Uh, what's your recommendation to a company like ours and to our industry? As such, when we try to anticipate future trends and disruptions and also opportunities and challenges as well, how do we act to, uh, take informed decisions and navigate this uncertainty in the best way? Oh, yes, the easy question. -Uh. -Different thoughts come to mind. But one thing that I often return to is our Four Horizons model of innovation. And this is a model that describes four horizons where first horizon corresponds to near-term, second horizon is mid-term horizon three or third horizon is long term, and then horizon four, uh, anchors the future with the vision. And by looking at the combination of all horizons at the same time. To me, this gives that broad view to say from a company aspect, where do we have our attention? Is it 80%, um, split across horizons one and two? That's important. But then who is paying attention? Do we have somebody responsible for horizon three or do we need to increase perhaps the ratio who's paying attention to each four? And does our senior team and our others empowered so that ideas can come from anywhere? We have a recognition and, uh, joint vision for a company, but also anybody might be able to introduce something wild and new and we can fit it into this overall view. And so for me, having this model allows everybody to recognize they play an important role. They contribute. But it also gives the big picture to say we need to ensure that we have a future plan and that somebody is also thinking about the experiments we're doing for age three, and we connect it across and have kind of these border crossings into H2 and one for the other horizons. And together that allows us to really think about everything all at once. Uh, you also mentioned, uh, the power and the importance as well of, uh, of, uh, innovation happening everyone to contributing to innovation. And we quite often talk about that innovation is, uh, is nothing that only happens in one part of the company only. But really, truly, how can we contribute all of us into that? Uh, are there any low hanging fruit that you would point out specifically that I, as an individual in a company like Sandvik Coromant or anywhere else can, can do or can act kind of right away -on. -Yes. And I think the first important step is to realize the company wants you to be innovative, but that doesn't always have to mean doing the big crazy action. It could be to recognize that you pay attention to potential new ideas or new improvements that they could be small steps that make a difference, and how a procedure is run, or hearing feedback from a customer or reading in the news. A interesting practice that maybe a competitor or a different industry is trying to say, actually, we might do this. And so one of the examples I like to highlight is the power of what if. Because that's very accessible. Anybody can ask, well what if, why not could we. And you can help then as management lay the foundation to create a supportive culture where people feel they have the permission and are empowered to raise these questions, but I think the individual can start simply saying, I could pay attention, I can learn more. And I think the president of Sandvik Coromant, Helen Blomqvist, really exemplifies this belief. She sets aside, you know, up to 90 minutes each week for personal learning. I know others see her as a role model for continuous learning. And this, to me is something any individual, any person can do and that learning can convert into being innovative and trying new things. And that to me is one of those low -hanging fruits. -Thank you so much. Now we talk also a lot about, uh, ecosystems and the importance of not only collaborations, but true ecosystems for creating innovations. What's your view on -that? -Yes. And a question around ecosystems is also where you sit in an ecosystem determines your view of what is it and how it functions. I've been spending more time now in Europe and have worked with European companies for a decade plus. Here in Europe, there's a stronger recognition of a concept called Triple Helix, where you have industry, academia and government working together in tight collaboration or ideally collaborating to create and foster new innovation in the US. And I come from Silicon Valley. There isn't that same recognition. Also, government doesn't play usually as larger role certain industries, yes, but not generally for innovation work. And so, you know, as I think about ecosystems. Here in Europe, how people start to realize different stakeholders can get involved, or also at the start of a project bringing in others from government groups or academia and such. But then I would counter how people can go beyond Triple Helix. How do you bring in more of the community? How do you think about the end users, where the employees can play a more active role? All of this helps to shape, and today we have our youth thinking and networks of networks to where it's this messy, wonderful overlap of lots of different ecosystems that create this rich, you know, fertile ground for what you might call requisite variety. You know, what is that optimal layer of diversity that allows these new sparks to happen, and that then kind of creates new and exciting types of ecosystems to happen. Yeah, it's exciting and very evident as well, that they can certainly be extremely important and also resulting in a lot of great things. Before we end, I must ask you this question. And that is when when we speak about innovation, do you have this favorite innovation of yours that, uh, that is your your number one favorite one? OU favorite innovation? Well, I love that we have the invention of the printing press to contribute to books, because I find even in our digital age, there are certain old fashioned and, um, kind of classic ways of sharing knowledge, like books that still hold true. And then one of my personal favorites is actually a invention and cutting edge product called Moto. That was a pioneering startup called Scout Electro Media, and they had this early idea that you could take a handheld device before we use phones, cell phones today to navigate work life and play that to say, how could we empower somebody to wander the city and have them look in this mobile device and get recommendations on where to go in the moment and kind of be a spontaneous best friend? And this early moto to me was a bit of a moonshot, and that ended up spawning off teams that influenced the Apple iPhone and, um, led to other technologies. And this to me is where there's a chain reaction, often of innovations that influence the next generation and other devices and solutions we use around the world. And that, to me is the exciting part. So ask me in a week and I might have a new -favorite. -I will. Thank you so much for joining us today for supporting us to stretch our minds, and also to put some new perspectives on innovation. And then thank you to all our viewers. I hope that you found this interview as exciting as we did. Thank you.