177: How the VA Taps Veterans to Spark Innovation

What role does innovation play in the federal government, especially when it comes to healthcare? On this episode of Innovation Storytellers, we take a deep dive into the innovation happening at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) with Allison Amrhein, Director of the VHA Innovators Network. Allison brings us behind the scenes, sharing how the VA empowers frontline employees and veterans to identify problems and collaborate on solutions that impact real lives. It’s not about fancy tech—it’s about solving everyday challenges. From building a sense of community among employees to fostering a culture of human-centered design, the VA is showing how innovation can happen anywhere, even in the most traditional environments. During our conversation, Allison explains how the VA focuses on identifying problems before jumping to solutions—a mindset that has transformed how healthcare providers and veterans innovate together. We also explore the VA’s Greenhouse Initiative, a program that connects industry and entrepreneurs with the VA to shape products not yet on the market.  

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.