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<v Speaker 1>Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of

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<v Speaker 1>performance through strong human relations, team building, and golachieving. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellovledo.

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<v Speaker 2>Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>It's episode six seventy two. Innovation has a bad reputation

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<v Speaker 2>and a lot of organizations, not because people don't want it,

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<v Speaker 2>but because they've seen what it turns into. Long meetings,

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<v Speaker 2>big plans, fancy language, consultants, slide decks that look great

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<v Speaker 2>but don't change anything, and somewhere along the way, innovation

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<v Speaker 2>becomes heavy, slow, and complicated. That's the exact opposite of

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<v Speaker 2>what innovation is supposed to be. Innovation is supposed to

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<v Speaker 2>make things better, easier, faster, and smarter. So today I

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<v Speaker 2>want to talk about how to innovate without overcomplicating. Because

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<v Speaker 2>if your innovation process is complicated, it's already broken. So

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<v Speaker 2>let's start with this. Innovation is not about creating something

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<v Speaker 2>new from scratch every time. It's about improving what already exists.

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<v Speaker 2>Most leaders miss this. They think innovation means big change,

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<v Speaker 2>big risk, big announcements. No, real innovation lives in the

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<v Speaker 2>small improvements nobody claps for it's the tweak that saves

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<v Speaker 2>five minutes per shift. It's the adjustment that removes frustration

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<v Speaker 2>from a daily task. It's the fix that stops a

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<v Speaker 2>reoccurring problem. That's innovation, and it's happening every day, whether

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<v Speaker 2>you recognize it or not. So the first move you

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<v Speaker 2>need to make is this, stop chasing big ideas and

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<v Speaker 2>start noticing small problems, because every small problem is an

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<v Speaker 2>innovation opportunity. If your team is constantly saying things like

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<v Speaker 2>this is annoying, or why do we do it this way?

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<v Speaker 2>Or this slows us down, that's your signal. That's your

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<v Speaker 2>innovation pipeline talking to you, and most leaders ignore it.

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<v Speaker 2>Great leaders lean into it. Now here's where things usually

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<v Speaker 2>go sideways. Someone identifies a problem and instead of solving

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<v Speaker 2>it simply, they build a system around it, policies, committees,

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<v Speaker 2>and layers of approval, and suddenly a five minute problem

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<v Speaker 2>becomes a five week project. That's over complication. So here's

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<v Speaker 2>your second move. Solve problems at the lowest possible level.

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<v Speaker 2>If a frontline employee can fix it, let them fix it.

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<v Speaker 2>If a supervisor can adjust it, let them adjust it.

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<v Speaker 2>Not everything needs executive involvement. Not everything needs a rollout plan.

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<v Speaker 2>Sometimes the best innovation is quiet, immediate, and just done.

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<v Speaker 2>This is where trust comes in. If you don't trust

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<v Speaker 2>your people to make improvements, you're going to choke innovation

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<v Speaker 2>before it even starts. Now, let's talk about something that

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<v Speaker 2>kills innovation fast perfection. Leaders want the perfect solution before

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<v Speaker 2>they move. They want it tested, validated, approved, and polished.

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<v Speaker 2>By the time they're ready, the moment is gone. Innovation

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<v Speaker 2>doesn't work like that. Innovation is messy. It's trial and error.

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<v Speaker 2>It's trying something, seeing what happens, and adjusting. So your

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<v Speaker 2>third move is this, lower the standard for starting, raise

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<v Speaker 2>the standard for learning. You don't need a perfect plan

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<v Speaker 2>to begin. You need a clear intention in the willingness

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<v Speaker 2>to adapt. If something works, keep it if it doesn't,

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<v Speaker 2>fix it. If it fails, learn from it. But don't

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<v Speaker 2>sit still waiting for perfect. Now let's get real for

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<v Speaker 2>a second. A lot of leaders say they want innovation,

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<v Speaker 2>but what they really want is control. They want to

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<v Speaker 2>approve everything, shape everything, and own everything, and that creates

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<v Speaker 2>a bottleneck, and bottlenecks kill momentum. So your fourth move

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<v Speaker 2>is this, get out of the way. More often. Give

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<v Speaker 2>your team permission to experiment within boundaries, set the guardrails,

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<v Speaker 2>and then step back. You'll be surprised how many good

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<v Speaker 2>ideas come forward when people like that they're allowed to think. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>let's talk about communication, because this is where innovation either

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<v Speaker 2>spreads or dies. If someone on your team improves something

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<v Speaker 2>and nobody hears about it, it stays isolated. If people

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<v Speaker 2>hear about it, it spreads. So your fifth move is simple.

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<v Speaker 2>Share wins fast, not in a formal report, not in

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<v Speaker 2>a long email, quick direct communication. Hey we tried this,

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<v Speaker 2>it worked. Here's what we learned. That's how innovation moves

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<v Speaker 2>through an organization, fast, clear, and repeatable. Now let's address

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<v Speaker 2>something else. Complexity feels impressive. Simple feels basic, and that's

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<v Speaker 2>where leaders get fulled. They think if something as simple,

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<v Speaker 2>it must not be valuable, and that's wrong. The best

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<v Speaker 2>ideas are usually simple because simple scales, simple gets used.

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<v Speaker 2>Simple sticks. So your sixth move is this. If you

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<v Speaker 2>can't explain your idea in one or two sentences, it's

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<v Speaker 2>probably too complicated. Strip it down, refine it, make it clear,

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<v Speaker 2>because if your team doesn't understand it, they won't use it.

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<v Speaker 2>And if they don't use it. It's not innovation, it's noise.

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<v Speaker 2>So let's bring this together. Innovation without over complication comes

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<v Speaker 2>down to a few core behaviors. Pay attention to small problems,

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<v Speaker 2>solve things quickly at the right level. Stop waiting for

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<v Speaker 2>perfect trust your people, communicate what works, keep things simple.

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<v Speaker 2>That's it. No corporate buzzwords, no over engineered systems, no

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<v Speaker 2>unnecessary layers. Real innovation is practical. It's built into the

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<v Speaker 2>day to day work. It's led by people who are

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<v Speaker 2>paying attention and willing to act. And here's the part

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<v Speaker 2>I want you to think about after this episode. Take

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<v Speaker 2>one process in your organization right now, something that frustrates people,

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<v Speaker 2>something that slows things down, and ask one question, what's

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<v Speaker 2>the simplest way to make this better today, not next month,

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<v Speaker 2>not next quarter today. Because innovation doesn't happen in strategy meetings.

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<v Speaker 2>It happens in moments, and if you're willing to act

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<v Speaker 2>on those moments, you'll build a culture that improves constantly

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<v Speaker 2>without ever becoming complicated. That's leadership, that's innovation, and that's

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<v Speaker 2>how you move forward without getting stuck in your own process.

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<v Speaker 2>So if you take one thing from today's episode, make it.

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<v Speaker 2>This innovation is not about doing more, it's about doing better.

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<v Speaker 2>Look for the friction, fix it fast, keep it simple.

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<v Speaker 2>That's how you stay ahead without burning yourself or your

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<v Speaker 2>team out. And if you want more free leadership resources,

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<v Speaker 2>head over to Paulfallavalito dot com and click on free Stuff.

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<v Speaker 2>I have over twenty five free leadership documents you can

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<v Speaker 2>download and start using today. This has been the seven

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<v Speaker 2>Minute Leadership Podcast and I thank you for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>For more Paul Fallavalito podcasts, visit allfellowalito dot com