Innovation is bringing unseen opportunities to profitable reality :: Steve Hinch

What if the true barrier to innovation isn't a lack of ideas, but how we manage them?

In this episode of What is Innovation?, Jared Simmons sits down with Steve Hinch — award-winning author, high-tech executive, and innovation consultant — to uncover the overlooked mechanics of corporate and startup innovation. Drawing on decades of leadership experience at Hewlett Packard, Agilent Technologies, and startup ventures, Steve breaks down innovation into four clear categories, reframes failure as a learning opportunity, and explains why managing innovation demands a radically different mindset.

Whether you’re in a Fortune 500 boardroom or an early-stage startup, this conversation delivers insight on how to build repeatable innovation processes, manage risk with purpose, and make sure your great ideas don’t die at the delivery stage.

Guest Bio:
Steve Hinch is the author of Winning Through Innovation: Lessons from the Front Lines of Business, winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award. With a long career spanning senior R&D, marketing, and general management roles at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies, Steve has also served as CEO of TeamLogic IT. He now consults with senior leaders across industries to design innovation strategies and processes that work, from product launches to corporate transformations.

What You’ll Learn:

• A simple 4-part framework for classifying innovation: product/process + incremental/disruptive

• Why innovation in large corporations fails — and how to fix it

• How to manage innovation differently from traditional projects

• Why failure is critical to innovation (and how venture capitalists accept it)

• How to protect innovation from corporate reporting cycles and quarterly pressure

• What support really looks like in a thriving corporate innovation culture

Highlighted Insight:
“Innovation is not just about seeing opportunity — it’s about delivering it profitably. Without delivery, even the best idea is useless.”

Quote to Remember:
“In the startup world, 80% of ventures fail. But that 20% that succeed? That’s where the real return is — and failure is part of the learning.”

Resources & Links:

• Winning Through Innovation – Book by Steve Hinch

• Steve Hinch on LinkedIn

About the Host:
Jared Simmons is the Founder and Principal of OUTLAST Consulting, a boutique firm helping organizations unlock innovation through intentional action. With leadership experience at Procter & Gamble, McKinsey & Company, and Coca-Cola, Jared blends corporate strategy with entrepreneurial thinking to help clients innovate on their own terms.