EP 665 Paul Nunes — Motorola, Combinatorial Innovation and the Treasure in the Trash

Posted 9 hours ago Tagged

“When’s the last time you thought about your suppliers as your partner in innovation?”

Paul Nunes, co-author of Jumping the S-Curve, Big Bang Disruption and Pivot to the Future, returns to talk to Aidan McCullen about the companies that come back from the dead. Motorola is the case study, combinatorial innovation is the engine, and the uncomfortable question underneath it all is what your company would actually be worth in pieces.

In this conversation, Paul reveals:
→ What a Lazarus taxon is, and why a handful of companies reappear decades after everyone wrote them off
→ How Motorola collapsed, sold to Google largely for its patents, and found a second life under Lenovo
→ Why a drone is really a phone camera, a gyroscope and some software, and what that means for your R&D budget
→ The $180 to $200 phone strategy that won the markets Apple and Samsung were not designing for
→ Why Kodak kept making billions long after everyone declared it dead
→ The million-dollar Porsche nobody could restore, and why somebody bought it anyway
→ Why Shockley Semiconductor should be a household name, and what the Traitorous Eight really cost it
→ Why putting your name on a stadium or a football shirt may be the first signal of decline
→ The line every chief strategy officer eventually says: it wasn’t that we didn’t know what to do, we no longer had the people to do it
→ Why the man who built the Learjet also built the car radio that became Motorola
→ Why price deflation, not competition, may be the fundamental strategy problem of the next decade

00:00 Innovation And Downfall
01:13 Sponsor And Guest Intro
02:18 Lazarus Companies Explained
05:54 Motorola Rebirth Story
07:30 Combinatorial Innovation Basics
14:41 Modularity And Supplier Innovation
19:18 Partners Turn Competitors
24:33 Motorola And Nonconsumers
27:56 IP And Hidden Value
34:57 Vanity Marketing Signals
39:32 Talent Curves And Seed Corn
44:44 Deflation And Strategy Pressure
48:01 Closing Thoughts And Wrap

About Paul Nunes
Paul F. Nunes is co-author of Jumping the S-Curve, Big Bang Disruption, Pivot to the Future and Mass Affluence, and spent years as Global Managing Director of Research at the Accenture Institute for High Performance. His research on growth, disruption and reinvention has been covered by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Forbes. 

Find Paul Nunes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-nunes-5351773/

About the Host
Aidan McCullen is the 2025 Thinkers50 Innovation Award recipient, keynote speaker on AI, disruption, innovation and change, host of The Innovation Show, and author of Undisruptable: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention (Wiley). Learn more about Aidan at https://theinnovationshow.io/about-aidan-mccullen

This series is brought to you by Kyndryl, who run and reimagine the technology systems that drive advantage for the world’s leading businesses. With a unique blend of AI-powered consulting built on unmatched managed-service capability, Kyndryl helps leaders harness technology for smarter decisions, faster innovation, and lasting competitive edge. Learn more about Kyndryl and the Kyndryl Institute at https://www.kyndryl.com.

Subscribe to the Thursday Thought on Substack for a chance to win a copy of one of Paul’s books, with thanks to Kyndryl.

About The Innovation Show
The Thinkers50-recognised podcast where square pegs find their place in a world of round holes. Hosted by Aidan McCullen, author of Undisruptable, it brings you conversations with world-class authors, scientists and practitioners on disruption, innovation, change, transformation and leadership.

Connect:
🌐 https://theinnovationshow.io
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🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-innovation-show/id1148455669
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/63nFKf4bsSWo3W72gWtOsK?si=b62d9614237c4450
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/theinnovationshow
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidanmccullen

#Innovation #PaulNunes #CombinatorialInnovation #JumpingTheSCurve #Motorola #Disruption #Leadership #Strategy #Modularity #Podcast #AidanMcCullen #TheInnovationShow #Thinkers50 #Reinvention

 

Dov Baron, author of The Art of Belonging, on The Innovation Show episode 664 with Aidan McCullen, discussing identity addiction and cultures of belonging

Dov Baron — The Art of Belonging and Identity Addiction

Posted 5 days ago Tagged

Identity addiction is why most behavioural change fails, says Dov Baron, author of The Art of Belonging. In Vancouver, he tells Aidan McCullen about the 1990 climbing fall in which he died five times, the moment a dead cat forced him to choose a new life, and why organisations that want innovation must build community, psychological safety and healthy conflict.

Alex Osterwalder explains the business model portfolio and explore vs exploit governance on The Innovation Show with Aidan McCullen.

Ep 663: Alex Osterwalder — Why the Core Business Kills Innovation (Explore vs Exploit, Part 3)

Posted 3 weeks ago Tagged

The core business kills everything that looks different. In Part 3 of the Strategyzer series, Alex Osterwalder shows how a business model portfolio and the right governance let leaders explore and exploit at the same time — from SonoSite’s incentives trap to Logitech’s trees, plants and seeds.

Alexander Osterwalder explains value proposition design in the age of AI on The Innovation Show with Aidan McCullen.

Alex Osterwalder — Value Proposition Design in the Age of AI (Part 2)

Posted 3 weeks ago Tagged

Generative AI can formulate a brilliant value proposition — but only if you’ve done the homework it cannot do for you. Alexander Osterwalder returns for Part 2 of our Strategyzer series to share the four evidence-based foundations of value proposition design, the new Value Stack tool, and why growth is a profession, not a creative gift.

Alex Osterwalder on The Innovation Show Ep 661, Kill Projects? — evidence-based innovation with the Strategyzer books, hosted by Aidan McCullen

Alex Osterwalder — Which Projects to Fund and Which to Kill

Posted 4 weeks ago Tagged

Business cases are a fantasy, says Alex Osterwalder. What you can measure is the evidence they could work. The Strategyzer CEO and Business Model Canvas creator shares his evidence-based innovation playbook: five levels of evidence, scored across desirability, feasibility and viability, that show leaders which projects to fund and which to retire. Part one of a three-part series.

Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, author of Powered by Projects, explains the project driven organization on The Innovation Show with Aidan McCullen.

Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez — Powered by Projects and the Project-Driven Organization

Posted 1 month ago Tagged

The project driven organization is Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez’s answer to a world where agile is no longer enough. The creator of the project economy joins Aidan McCullen to explore why EY’s Project Everest and Nike’s digital transformation stumbled, why leaders must launch less and finish more, and how “are you crazy?” projects create the future.

Rita McGrath and Sangeet Paul Choudary explain structural uncertainty and rule makers versus rule takers on The Innovation Show with Aidan McCullen.

Rita McGrath & Sangeet Paul Choudary — Rule Makers, Rule Takers and Structural Uncertainty

Posted 1 month ago Tagged

Rita McGrath and Sangeet Paul Choudary join Aidan McCullen to explain structural uncertainty — the moment the game itself, not just the play, becomes the thing in question. They cover transient advantage, network effects, rule makers versus rule takers, and how to use AI without outsourcing your thinking.

Carla Johnson, author of RE:Think Innovation, explains the Wheel of Innovation on The Innovation Show with Aidan McCullen.

Carla Johnson — RE:Think Innovation and the Wheel of Innovation

Posted 2 months ago Tagged

Innovation isn’t a gift — it’s a process. Carla Johnson, author of RE:Think Innovation, shares her Wheel of Innovation: five steps to new, great and reliable ideas. Hear how Big Ass Fans, the CDC’s zombie campaign and a Cisco router love story prove anyone can learn to innovate — and pitch ideas that stick.

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