Elizabeth Bieniek shares her journey from navigating the complexities of Cisco to embracing entrepreneurship, highlighting the challenges and triumphs of fostering innovation within corporate structures.

Takeaways:

• Persistence is Key: Stay committed to innovative ideas, even when they seem ahead of their time.
• Filter Feedback Wisely: Be cautious about whose advice you take, especially from those without relevant experience.
• Embrace Customer Insights: Customer engagement can lead to unexpected breakthroughs and validate innovative concepts.
• Celebrate Small Wins: Simple gestures can significantly boost team morale during challenging phases.
• Cultivate Company Culture: Actively protect and nurture your organization's culture to ensure innovation thrives.

The "intrapreneurial mindset" is explored as a blend of stubbornness and resilience needed to push through corporate red tape. Elizabeth emphasizes the importance of persistence in innovation, noting that many groundbreaking ideas require time to mature.

Her book, Cake on Tuesday: 25 Lessons to Unlock Corporate Innovation, serves as a guide for navigating innovation. A critical lesson: "be careful who you listen to." This underscores the necessity of filtering feedback, especially when pursuing uncharted territories.

The origin of Elizabeth's book title, inspired by a morale-boosting initiative during a challenging project phase. The "Cake on Tuesday" concept illustrates the significance of small gestures in maintaining team spirit and culture, especially during the "barren middle" of innovation projects.

Elizabeth Bieniek is an author, speaker, and consultant focused on “good peopling” as the secret to exceptional execution. As a founder and Fortune 100 innovation and engineering leadership veteran, her expertise lies in challenging assumptions, embracing diverse perspectives, and leading through ambiguity to build empowered, resilient teams that last.

Named to Toptal’s 10 most influential “Female Pioneers in Technology,” she has spoken on bridging the gap between human connection and innovation at EmTech NEXT, Chatham House, ITEXPO, AWE, and the Global AI Community. Her leadership and innovation philosophy have been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, Inc., International Business Times, and Women in Business. https://www.elizabethbieniek.com/

A "glow up" signifies a positive transformation, reflecting the journey of becoming a better, more successful version of oneself.

At The Glow Up, we humanize the startup and innovation landscape by focusing on the essential aspects of the entrepreneurial journey. Groundbreaking ideas are often ahead of their time, making resilience and perseverance vital for founders and product leaders.

In our podcast, we engage with innovators to discuss their transformative ideas, the challenges they face, and how they create value for future success.

If you're a founder or product leader seeking your own glow up, or a seasoned entrepreneur with stories to share, we invite you to join our guest list via this link.