Personal Disruption w/ Abim Kolawole

When we talk about innovation, we often focus on disrupting certain industries, but innovation also requires you to embrace personal disruption: your beliefs will be challenged, your direction will be changed, and your responsibilities will be shifted.

Today’s guest, Abim Kolawole, has embraced personal disruption throughout his entire career. Starting out as a lawyer for the SEC, he pivoted into running the claims business at Northwestern Mutual, and then pivoted again to his current role as VP of Digital Innovation. When I asked him about the winding path he has taken, he said:

“Your career journey is about optionality. You have to keep your options open to maximize opportunity. ”

But this episode is not just about Abim’s story, but rather its about the classic Innovator’s Dilemma: why large, successful, well managed companies struggle to adopt new innovations and technologies even though they see them coming.

We also discuss how large companies can use a crisis to force themselves to innovate, how to build a team that can accomplish innovation and not just talk about it, and the necessity to be rapidly adaptable in today’s fast-paced society.

You can follow the podcast and host Chuck Swoboda on Twitter for further exploration and discussion on innovation.

The episode is also available wherever else you listen to podcasts. Enjoy!