172: What PayPal Taught Us about Failing Fast and Fearlessly

In the latest episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, Susan Lindner engages in a compelling conversation with Mike Todasco, a distinguished figure in the tech world and former member of the original PayPal team. Mike brings a wealth of experience and insight into the discussion, shedding light on how innovation has shaped his career and continues to influence the tech landscape. Their conversation traverses Mike's transformative journey from PayPal to his current role as an AI expert, highlighting the pivotal role of innovation in both personal and professional contexts. Mike elaborates on the nuances of patents and the evolution of mobile technology, emphasizing the importance of storytelling in driving innovation. One of the standout topics is the impact of artificial intelligence across various fields. Mike explores how AI is revolutionizing ideation, healthcare, and voting while stressing the need for organizations to learn from past failures and cultivate a culture of risk and creativity. He also discusses the concept of decoupling rewards from results, drawing on insights from the poker player mindset, and how this approach can reshape our understanding of success and failure in innovation.  

Om Podcasten

Did you ever wonder how an innovation got to its finish line? How innovators saw the future, made a product, and created change – in our world and in their companies? I did. Innovation Storytellers invites changemakers to describe how they created their innovation and just as important – THE STORIES – that made us fall in love with them. Come learn how great innovations need great stories to make them move around the world and how to become a better storyteller in the process. I’m Susan Lindner, the Innovation Storyteller. But I wasn’t always. I’ve been a wannabe revolutionary, an epidemiologist at the CDC and an AIDS educator in the brothels of Thailand helping to turn former sex workers into entrepreneurs. Trained as an anthropologist and the Founder of Emerging Media, I’ve spent the last twenty years working with innovators from 60+ countries. Ranging from cutting edge startups to Fortune 100 companies like GE, Corning, Citi, Olayan, and nine foreign governments, helping their leaders to tell their stories and teaching them how to become incredible advocates for their innovations. Great innovation stories make change possible. They let us step into a future we can’t see yet. I started this podcast to shine a light on our generation of great innovators, to learn how they brought their innovation to life and the stories they told to bring them to the world.