Skip to content

7 People You Should Recruit to Your Innovation Team S12 Ep13

Phil McKinney
Phil McKinney
— 1 min read
The Innovators Studio podcast cover art: 7 People You Should Recruit to Your Innovation Team S12 Ep13

When building an innovation team, taking special care that all of the official and unofficial roles are filled is key - not to mention teamwork. So what are those critical roles for the innovation team?

In this weeks Killer Innovations Show, we address a listener question: What are the roles I should look for when building a high impact innovation team?

The 7 people I believe are the core of any team are:

  1. The Visionary: The person who is the heart and sould of the idea.
  2. The Leader: The  person who recruit and motivate the best possible team. Visionary ≠ Leader
  3. The Mother - The person who is sensitive to everyone and makes sure everyone is  taken care of.
  4. The Energizer:The person who will get it done. Sometimes at a cost. They pump energy into the team
  5. The Customer Advocate: The person who advocates for the customer. They are the voice of the customer on the project.
  6. "Radar O’Reilly" (from the movie and TV show Mash): The person who can find/secure anything you need either by understanding the process in an organization or who has a Rolodex he can exercise to secure whatever the team needs to be successful.
  7. The Designer: Design is no longer a behind the scene activity It is front and center with everything that touches the customer.

Bonus 8: Neurodiversity: Get people who think differently on your team. They can see what others don’t see in a unique and different way.

Show Notes:

More on neurodiversity at Does neural diversity hiring impact your innovation success? S11 Ep22

Past ShowsStudio SessionscreativityInnovationinnovation teamPodcastsradio showteamwork

Phil McKinney Twitter

Phil McKinney is an innovator, podcaster, author, and speaker. He is the retired CTO of HP. Phil's book, Beyond The Obvious, shares his expertise and lessons learned on innovation and creativity.


Related Posts

Mastering Critical Thinking in the Age of AI

Two AIs, same question, different answers, and both missed the obvious one. Three checks to keep your critical thinking sharp when the answer comes from AI.

Ai generated thumbnail on critical thinking in the age of AI

Succession Planning: Why I Cried on Stage as CEO

Good succession planning isn't a press release. It takes time, a ready successor, and relationships you share instead of hoard. How I'm handing over CableLabs.

AI generated by Adobe Firefly

How To Build Innovation Teams (My Playbook From HP and CableLabs)

How to build innovation teams, from the playbook I used at HP and CableLabs: culture before hiring, the right roles, the Idea Fund, and the right metrics

Image of how to build innovation teams. Portions are generated by AI.