Stay ConnectedIlluminators is a show about the people and the forces transforming the business of energy.
Businesses and industries regularly face sweeping transitions. Those transitions are now getting more frequent and volatile as technology cycles speed up.
We’ll tell stories about how businesses or industries have managed disruption throughout history. This show will help energy experts learn from the wider world of business, and help business learn about the unique world of energy.
New technologies and products fail all the time — but sometimes those failures turn into something unexpected. In this episode, we’re exploring the surprising ways that technology evolves.
Remember Segway, the personal transporter that became a cultural joke? Turns out, it’s a major force behind the scooter revolution.
Remember Google Glass, the augmented-reality glasses that freaked everyone out and became an object of scorn? It's now a powerful tool in manufacturing and industry.
Uplight has a few examples of technology investments that didn’t pan out — but they led down a path to other interesting areas of product development. We’ll revisit a few of them.
We’ll also talk with a venture capitalist who’s evaluating all kinds of consumer technologies — some without an obvious application in energy — that could benefit the way utilities deliver services.
Guests featured in this episode:
Resources:
ILLUMINATORS is brought to you by Uplight, the leading provider of end-to-end customer-centric technology solutions dedicated solely to serving the energy ecosystem. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.
What can JCPenney, Southwest Airlines and Green Mountain Power teach us about knowing (or not knowing) your customer?
This episode will look at how companies are evolving in this customer-centric world. How can a fierce dedication to the customer change the fabric of a company? And how can companies fail when they lose sight of their customers?
Sometimes the customer isn’t who you think. JCPenney is an iconic retailer who failed to understand its customers’ needs and became “America’s favorite cautionary tale.” In the first part of the show, we’ll look at why the retailer failed in a bid to reinvent itself.
Sometimes it takes an outsider to step back and understand what the customer wants. That’s what happened when lawyer Herb Kelleher started Southwest Airlines. He didn’t have any airline experience, but he created a human resources culture that made employees happy -- and made customers happy in the process.
Finally, we’ll profile Mary Powell, the CEO of Green Mountain Power, who makes interaction with customers a central part of her job. She’ll describe her approach to customer centricity and innovation: "One of my biggest fears is being out of touch with what people want and what really matters to people."
Guests featured in this episode:
Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University
Jody Hoffer Gittell, professor of management at Brandeis University
Mary Powell, president and CEO of Green Mountain Power
Resources:
ILLUMINATORS is brought to you by Uplight, the leading provider of end-to-end customer-centric technology solutions dedicated solely to serving the energy ecosystem. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.
Thomas Edison wasn’t just an inventor. He created a whole new way to make and sell his inventions — setting the stage for modern corporate innovation. His model influenced a generation of titans: General Electric, Westinghouse, Ford, and the electric utility as we know it today.
And then, something shifted.
In the 1970s, executives of large companies turned their attention to “shareholder value.” They valued efficiencies, cost cutting and dividends over invention and innovation. Today, when a startup with a few software engineers can present a competitive threat to a big incumbent in a very short period of time, this presents an existential challenge.
We'll start this episode with a re-examination of Thomas Edison’s legacy. How did he set the stage for modern corporate innovation?
Then, we’ll talk about the limits of that model. How can corporations shift from “big to bigger” mindsets into “new to big” strategies? We’ll talk about how to apply creativity and a venture capital mindset to utilities like Exelon.
Guests featured in this episode:
Resources:
ILLUMINATORS is brought to you by Uplight, a software and analytics leader changing the way the world uses energy. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.
What can we learn from Walmart, Xcel Energy and the humble electric motor?
In retrospect, big economic or technological shifts are often obvious — but they’re not always obvious as they’re unfolding. This episode will focus on how big businesses respond to external challenges in real time.
We’ll start with a glimpse at how the distributed electric motor catalyzed the second industrial revolution. Are we in the middle of an “electric-motor moment” for the modern economy?
Then, we’ll reflect on Walmart’s groundbreaking push into sustainability back in 2005. What does it tell us about how to craft a purpose-driven business case?
We’ll finish with a conversation about Xcel Energy’s goal to get 100% of its energy from zero-carbon resources by 2050. How do you push a “moonshot” goal through an executive team and a company with thousands of employees? And how will it influence other electric utilities to make bold moves?
Guests featured in this episode:
Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy
Rebecca Henderson, economist and professor at Harvard Business School
Brett Carter, executive vice president and chief customer and innovation officer at Xcel Energy
Resources:
Rebecca Henderson’s HBS case study on Walmart
Xcel’s report on its zero-emissions goal
Erik Brynjolfsson’s book: “Machine, Platform, Crowd”
ILLUMINATORS is brought to you by Uplight, the leading provider of end-to-end customer-centric technology solutions dedicated solely to serving the energy ecosystem. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or anywhere else you get your podcasts. .
Illuminators is a show about the forces changing business. What can energy companies 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 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.
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