It was a great pleasure speaking at the Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network Breakfast Series. Yes, I said breakfast, for those of you who know me I am NOT a morning person so this was a huge feat for me.

Building an Innovation Center of Excellence is multifaceted. It takes hiring a team, building the team and organization capabilities, building a pipeline, and sometimes even building the office itself.  And of course, this all needs to happen at the same time, with no pressure.

I was asked to speak on some of my favorite pages from my Innovation Playbook, including what I have learned building two innovation centers in Chicago. I found no matter what company I have worked for we all have similar pain points when it comes to innovation.

I chose three areas:

1. People – what you should look for in hiring and what you can expect. 
2. Capabilities – I shared the importance of the role of the consumer in innovation.
3. Greatest Surprise or as I like to say WTF moments. I shared some of the issues and challenges on driving change in an organization. From changing behaviors or routines to driving change across an organization which can feel like shifting the titanic.