Introducing ILLUMINATORS: A Preview of What's to Come

Trailer May 23, 2019

Show Notes

Illuminators is a show about the forces changing business and what energy companies can learn from them.

Like in many other industries—manufacturing, retail, media, hospitality—leaders of utilities have a very difficult task. They can’t avoid change. They have to embrace it.

This show will borrow from some of those industries.

We’ll explore topics like: What can JC Penney’s flop tell us about knowing your customer?

What can Thomas Edison teach us about corporate innovation?

What does the second act for Google Glass tell us about the surprising ways that tech evolves?

And what’s the role of big corporations in solving big problems like climate change?

This is a show with two kinds of people:energy nerds fascinated by the wider world of business and people in business who want to learn from stories of disruption.

Illuminators is a new podcast from Uplight. Subscribe right now on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you get your podcasts.

Transcripts

DEVREN: Hey, I’m Devren Hobbs.

BRAD: And I’m Brad Langley. We’ve both worked at startups and big companies alike—making products and directing strategy.

DEVREN: And we’re co-hosts of a new show called Illuminators.

Together, we’re looking at how companies and industries have managed change—or failed to manage change—throughout history. What can it tell us about this crazy, competitive world that energy companies find themselves in?

BRAD: So, we both work in the energy business. And this is an industry in the middle of its own tectonic shift.

DEVREN: Like everywhere else—manufacturing, retail, media, hospitality—leaders of utilities have a very difficult task. They can’t avoid change. They have to embrace it.

BRAD: This show will borrow from some of those industries. We’ll explore topics like: What can JC Penney’s multi-billion dollar flop tell us about knowing your customer?

MARK COHEN: You can’t ever rely on the fact that your customer doesn’t get it. If your customer doesn’t get it, it’s because you don’t get it.

DEVREN: What can Thomas Edison teach us about corporate innovation?

LEONARD DEGRAAF: He set the pattern for how the modern corporation in the 20th century continue to innovate—and continues to innovate to this day.

BRAD: What does the second act for Google Glass tell us about the surprising ways that tech evolves?

STEVEN LEVY: So one of the pieces of equipment that they use—they take out to them besides their torque wrenches and all the other stuff—was the Google Glass.

DEVREN: And what’s the role of big corporations in solving big problems like climate change?

REBECCA HENDERSON: So they use their size in a super productive way to help the whole industry switch. And that’s an example of something seemingly mundane, but where they followed through, followed through, followed through—and I think it’s why they have even more ambitious goals—because they can see the way that will make them money.

BRAD: This is a show two kinds of people—energy nerds fascinated by the wider world of business. And people in business who want to learn from stories of disruption.

DEVREN: Illuminators is a new podcast from Tendril. Subscribe right now on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you get your podcasts.