IAM1317 – CEO and Author Helps Companies Institutionalize Innovation

Rebecca D. Costa is an American sociobiologist and futurist. She is the preeminent global expert on the subject of “fast adaptation” and recipient of the prestigious Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Award. Her career spans four decades of working with founders, executives, and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. Costa’s first book, The Watchman’s Rattle: A Radical New Theory of Collapse, was an international bestseller. Her follow-on book, titled On the Verge was introduced in 2017 to critical acclaim, shooting to the top of Amazon’s #1 New Business Releases. Costa presently hosts the popular news podcast, The Costa Report, along with 12 world-renowned subject experts. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, SF Chronicle, The Guardian, and other leading publications.

• CEO Story: Right after college landed in what was later called Silicon Valley. Rebecca later realized that she had a passion for what was next. Build her business and write bestselling books.
• Business Service: Help corporations to have predictive analytical data for what is most likely the next trend.
• Secret Sauce: Assigning a person to Institutionalize innovation.
• CEO Hack: Asking deeper questions, instead of just asking the end result. Ask the people who exceeded the goals or brought innovation to the company, what did they differently.
• CEO Nugget: Getting things done. True to your own style and it’s important to communicate that.
• CEO Defined: You have to have a vision and a passion for the future. Assign a person that will institutionalize innovation in your company.

Website: www.rebeccacosta.com

Facebook: rebeccadcosta

Twitter: rebeccacosta

Linkedin: rebecca-costa-53145240/

YouTube: TheRebeccaCosta

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Transcription

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00:23 – Intro 

Want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, start-ups, And CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:50 – Gresham Harkless 

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Rebecca Costa of rebeccacosta.com. Rebecca, super excited to have you on the show.

00:59 – Rebecca D. Costa 

Well, thank you for having me.

01:01 – Gresham Harkless 

Yes. Super excited about all the awesome things that you're doing. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Rebecca so you can hear about some of those awesome things. And Rebecca D. Costa is an American Sociologist and Futurist. She is a preeminent global expert on the subject of fast adaptation and the recipient of the prestigious Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Award. Her career spans four decades of working with founders, executives, and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, and Rebecca's first book, The Watchmen's Rattle, a radical new theory of collapse was an international bestseller.

Her follow-on book titled On the Verge was introduced in twenty seventeen to critical acclaim, shooting to the top of the number the Amazon's number one new business releases. Costa presently hosts the popular news podcast, the Costa Report, along with twelve world-renowned subject matter experts, and her work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, SF Chronicle, The Guardian, and other leading publications. Rebecca, super excited to hear about all the work that you're doing and even more excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the IAM CEO Community?

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02:10 – Rebecca D. Costa 

I am indeed. That when I listen to all those credentials, it makes me feel old.

02:18 – Gresham Harkless 

No. We just say a little seasoned and experienced and definitely an expert in all the things that you've been able to kinda, accomplish. So I guess, what I wanted to do, because I had to kick everything off, was rewind the clock a little bit, hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I like to call your CEO story.

02:33 – Rebecca D. Costa 

Well, I was fortunate right after college to land in what later became Silicon Valley. This was the early eighties, and, it was just a wonderful time to be a young person when, you know, everything was just new and, venture capital was flowing in in like nobody's business, and everybody had an idea that seemed to be fundable. And, it was just, that I didn't have an appreciation then for, how, supportive the infrastructure was as it was building out for entrepreneurs and for creative thinkers.

And, I had a science background, and pretty much if you could spell your last name, they were hiring, because, nobody had the required, prerequisite experience because everything was new. So how could you have, no one had fifty years of experience in the semiconductor industry, so, you didn't have to have a lot of qualifications. What you had to have was the ability to adapt quickly, and learn, you wanted to be a bright person in a very, very dynamic environment, and you needed to be able to respond very fast.

So, I was very lucky to ride the wave of any number of technologies and eventually to form my own company. And, what I realized is that I have a great passion for what's next. I have a great passion for what the next disruptor is. It's in my DNA. I'm curious about what the next thing is and I'm always fascinated that people are just even CEOs and CEOs in particular, I feel this is a crime, to get really stuck in the minutiae. They're looking at quarterly big profits. They're looking at operational problems that are gonna hang them up. They're really stuck in the minutia. And I'm I think that, and this is probably gonna get a little bit ahead in your program and we'll talk about this, but I think that the CEO's primary function is to have the vision to be looking at what the new disruptors are into preparing the culture and the leaders in the company to embrace that disruption, to get there before anybody else, to head off danger and to get the jump on the opportunity before anyone else.

That is the CEO's function, and we've reduced it in many cases to profitability. And I think that because of that, our whole economy is suffering, that we are not a future-oriented business community. And, there's a bit of a disconnect between futurists like myself. You know, that's the label that was put on me. You're a futurist. Now, I want to make it clear that doesn't mean I talk to dead people or read tarot cards or anything. You know, I'm not that kind of futurist. I'm a data analyst. I look at predictive analytical data and for what is the most likely next trend. And then I work with corporations to help them get ready for that. Right, get there first and I'm always shocked. I go into the C-suite. I go into the board of directors level of multinational corporations, and they have no idea what's about to hit them. I mean, they look at me like I'm speaking a foreign language.

I remember two years ago, three years ago talking about NFTs and NFTs are not friendly. Let's face it nonfungible tokens already sound like English, it's not like an actual visual pops up in your head of what a nonfungible token is, and so automatically even the words and people are saying, well, why do we need to care about that? Why, and ten years before that it was blockchain technology. Why do we need to care about that? So, these things by the time the leadership hears about them, nine times out of ten, it's too late. You should have been on top of this a decade ago. Right? And then that just throws the whole organization into a pressure cooker. And, I'm against that.

I think that is the fault of the CEO. If you are ever playing catch up, then the CEO didn't understand what their primary function is. So there's a chunk of data that would be really valuable. Why is it valuable for two reasons? The negative reason is it's gonna slam you up the side of the head. Somebody's gonna fund it, buy it, license it, and it's coming. Right? Number two, you could make an investment to buy that patent or secure it at the lowest possible price. When it's provisional. People who are filing provisional patents generally need funding. What a wonderful opportunity to get in there early. Right? So the second chunk of data, what is your program for checking on major research projects in universities? When I saw that, I said, well, how are you getting your information about the future?

08:20 – Gresham Harkless 

Yeah. Absolutely. And I love how you said, institutionalizing that aspect. And so I know this is, like, some of the the work that you do with clients, and this might also touch on what I like to call your secret sauce, and what sets you apart and makes you unique. Do you think that organizations that, I guess institutionalize you? Sometimes you hear there are organizations like Google. You hear they have a certain amount of time that they spend on creativity. Just do you think that's the path that organizations should be taking and not lose sight of that creativity, the innovation, and looking ahead to see how they could solve not just today's problems, but tomorrow's problems? Do you think that's the way, you work? And, obviously, that is needed in organizations as a whole.

 09:01 – Rebecca D. Costa

Yes. I think you have to institutionalize innovation. In the same way, you institutionalize the efficiency in your corporation and profitability. You have to have people, budgets, and processes assigned, right, that are identifiable and that everyone in the company knows. You know who to go to in HR if you, didn't get your paycheck. In that same way, you've got to institutionalize innovation. And you mentioned what my company does. My company is called the Costa Group. That's what we do. We go into corporations, and we help them to institutionalize innovation. And sometimes it starts out with very simple things. Like, there's an innovation trade show inside the company one day a year, and all the board and the C-Suite. The CEO has to be present. And on that day, we go curate university developments that are relevant to them.

We go curate people that have patents that are relevant to them, and they come into the corporation and actually show them what they have so that it's not theoretical. You can touch and feel the innovation. You know that it's real. And then we ask them, do you wanna put money into it? Do you wanna license the technology? Do you wanna partner with this company? And then each of those demonstrators sits down with the board and the top management, and they make a decision in that room. We're gonna move forward. It's premature.

It's not our business line. We're not going to move forward. We think that this is a good opportunity for us to fund you, to license, get an exclusive license, you know, whatever partnership, whatever it is, but they make a decision in that room. And then it flows downward. That kind of progressive action and support to assign people at lower levels to move forward with these innovators, it's got to come from the top down. It never works. Innovation never works when it's from the bottom up. It never works. You lose those people.

11:19 – Gresham Harkless 

No. That's extremely powerful. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app something from your books or a habit that you have. What's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

11:32 – Rebecca D. Costa 

I didn't get deep enough. I was just looking. I only had time for the actual result. And that unfortunately caused me to turn my attention to what wasn't working. I asked those questions about things that weren't working and weren't producing. So if we missed a sales goal, I go, alright. Well, why did we miss the sales goal? What are we gonna do? So I became very negatively focused as opposed to focusing on, well, what did the people that exceeded their goals, right, or who brought innovation into the company or who changed the way we did things in the past. What did they do differently? And how do I get more of my company to behave like them? So, unfortunately, I was, like a lot of CEOs, I'm focusing in on what's not working, Yeah. Trying to fix it. And I think that didn't make me a good CEO.

 12:34 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah.

 12:35 – Rebecca D. Costa

Also, I think this is just it probably doesn't fall under a hack, but I think it is very important. And that is, as animated as I am today. Right? I'm an introvert.

12:50 – Gresham Harkless 

Mhmm.

12:51 – Rebecca D. Costa 

So, when I'm working on something in my office and somebody comes in and they have a pants-on fire emergency. I feel a little resentful because I wanna get my work done. That's how introverts are. So I think you have to be true to your own style.

 13:08 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That makes so much sense. It actually, like, segway right to the question that I was gonna ask, which is around the CEO nugget, which is essentially, like, something you might tell your younger business self or advice you would give to your best client, and I almost wonder if that's it because, the word that you said, and, obviously, you said you were introvert. So, you know, this is the way that you could show up to kinda show your team.

13:28 – Rebecca D. Costa 

Yes. I had a Vice President of Finance one day tell me people think you don't like them. And I said, well, why would they think that? If I don't like someone, it's not as though I wouldn't tell you know, say, hey. I have a problem with you. I have command of the English language. I would try to resolve my differences with them. Do I seem like a person who would dodge that? And they said, no. But we noticed that when there's a company party, you only stay for five minutes and leave. You don't have cocktails with us. You don't hang with us. Like we have these picnics and you come to the picnic and then you leave. It's like you don't like us.

And I said I'm just not comfortable in really large groups. And they said, but you make speeches to five and ten thousand people in a room. And I said that's different. I'm on a stage. I know what I'm gonna talk about, and then I go back to my hotel room and order room service, have a bath, and catch my flight home. So, it's not important, it's not just important to be true to yourself. It's important to communicate that. One thing I will say is that all CEOs need to be honest about their focus on the future and whether they have institutionalized innovation and whether they have put people, actual people, and resources toward their company's future, or are they focused on efficiency.

 14:58 – Gresham Harkless

That makes so much sense. Well, awesome. I truly appreciate that definition. Obviously, appreciate your time even more. What I want to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and, of course, how best people could get a hold of you, listen to your show, get copies of your book, and find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

15:16 – Rebecca D. Costa 

Well, they can reach me at my name, rebeccacosta.com. That's rebeccacosta.com. There are a lot of videos articles and interviews that I've done on that page. And, also, there's a link to our podcast, which is dedicated completely toward disruptors, future disruptors. So any CEOs listening right now, the podcast is a must. Whether it's space flight or, nutrition, or we're talking about the broadcast world. Whatever it is, we're on top of what's going on in the future.

15:55 – Gresham Harkless 

Yeah. I absolutely appreciate that. And, of course, to make it even easier, we'll have the links and information, in the show notes so that everybody can subscribe, follow up with you, and of course, contact you, to make sure they're institutionalized that innovation within their organizations. Truly appreciate that. Rebecca, of course, appreciate your time, again, even more, and I hope you have the rest of the day.

16:14 – Rebecca D. Costa 

Thank you.

16:15 – Outro 

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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