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At the midpoint of 2025, the chemical industry is navigating a turbulent landscape marked by geopolitical conflicts, trade uncertainties, and shifting supply-demand dynamics. Host Victoria Meyer examines how leaders are driving innovation during times of economic uncertainty, sharing recent insights from established and emerging companies including Hexion, Lummus Technology, Pilot Chemical, Lanzatech, and others. She explores how companies can break out of the “we’ve always done it this way” mindset, overcome barriers to change, and embrace both incremental and disruptive innovation.
Victoria highlights practical strategies for fostering an innovation mindset—ranging from creating psychological safety for risk-taking to encouraging diverse internal and external partnerships. She underscores the importance of balancing operational excellence with a willingness to experiment, empowering teams to learn from failures, and aligning incentives to support new ideas. With a focus on actionable practices, this episode provides chemical industry professionals with a roadmap for building resilient, future-ready organizations.
Victoria breaks down these topics in this week's episode:
- How chemical industry leaders stay resilient and innovative amid uncertainty.
- Building change-embracing cultures over traditional approaches
- Creating safe spaces for innovation.
- Accelerating innovation through strategic partnerships
- Strategies for embedding small and large improvements into daily operations.
Killer Quote: "Just because this is how we’ve always done it doesn’t make it the right answer for today." — Victoria Meyer, The Chemical Show
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Creators and Guests
What is The Chemical Show: Where Leaders Talk Business?
Looking to lead, grow, and stay ahead in the trillion-dollar global chemical industry? The Chemical Show - the #1 business podcast for the chemical industry - is your go-to resource for leadership insights, business strategies, and real-world lessons from the executives shaping the future of chemicals. Grow your knowledge, your network, and your impact.
Each week, you'll hear from executives from across the industry - from Fortune 50 to midsize to startups. You’ll hear how they're tacking today's challenges and opportunities, their origin story (what got them here!), how you can take and apply these lessons and insights to your own business and career.
We talk:
- Business Transformation
- Innovation
- Digitization of business
- Strategy
- Supply Chain
- and so much more
Founder and host Victoria King Meyer is an expert interviewer - who brings out the best in each guest. She gained her industry experience at leading companies, including Shell, LyondellBasell and Clariant. Today, she is a high-performance coach and advisor to business leaders in chemicals and energy, as well as the host of The Chemical Show podcast, and founder of The Chemical Summit.
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Websites:
https://www.thechemicalshow.com
https://www.thechemicalsummit.com
https://www.progressioglobal.com
Welcome to The Chemical Show, the
podcast where Chemical means business.
I'm your host, Victoria Meyer,
bringing you stories and insights
from leaders driving innovation and
growth across the chemical industry.
Each week we explore key trends,
real world challenges, and the
strategies that make an impact.
Let's get started.
Victoria Meyer: Welcome back to the
Chemical Show where Leaders Talk Business.
We're at the midpoint of 2025,
which had more ups and downs
than most people would hope.
And of course, you guys
know these ups and downs.
Are we having tariffs?
Are there no tariffs?
There is conflict between Russia, Ukraine,
there's conflict in the Middle East.
There's potential trade wars.
There's just a lot of challenges.
Oh, and, and on top of that, oversupplying
a lot of markets, maybe some supply
or demand decline in other markets.
And it leads to a year of.
Uncertainty, I'll say.
Although as I talk with leaders across
the industry, some people are like, you
know, we're having a really good year.
Others are like, well, we're
not having such a good year,
or, my business is doing great.
we are approaching earning season.
In the next couple of weeks , publicly
held companies at least are going to
be announcing their second quarter
earnings, and so we'll get a better flavor
for how business is really occurring.
So stay tuned on that.
But I think one of the challenges
that companies have in these periods
of economic uncertainty is how
to balance growth and innovation
and things that maybe don't have
a sure return on investment with.
Simply tightening down the hatches,
focusing on business as usual, being
a little bit in a wait and see mode.
And so, you know, what I see
across the industry when I talk to
leaders is a bit of a mix on that.
if you're sitting still on
changing your business model.
You're gonna regret it.
And so, you know, I've talked with
number leaders recently and I'm
gonna bring in some highlights for
some from some recent episodes.
Just to talk today about how do we
foster an innovation mindset and practice
inside of your companies and Right.
A lot of companies across the
chemical industry are really
old, 75, a hundred years old.
In fact, I spoke with several recently,
um, Michael Levenfeld from Hexion,
Leann de Bruin from Lum Technology,
Christian Mcri from, pilot Chemical.
All of these are long,
well-established companies.
At the same time, I've talked recently
with a number of innovators that are,
newer companies, whether it be Integrity,
biochem, Lonza Tech and Jennifer Holmgren.
And then I've got a couple of
newbies coming up in upcoming weeks.
allied Microbiota is one of 'em
that, um, I'm talking with and that
you'll be hearing about very soon.
So today is really a bit about
how do we bring together.
Some of those insights and best practices
from these companies that are continuing
to innovate because they know that
innovation is their future and how
do we foster that innovation mindset?
So here we go.
So first of all, let's just
talk about what is innovation.
And I think we sometimes think
of innovation as being very
disruptive and it absolutely is.
It is the big, bad new idea that changes.
Your company, your customers,
the industry, and yet it's also
the incremental improvements
that day by day, step by step.
Make business better, at the
end of a year, at the end of
two years, where you started at.
And where you end is different because
you've made incremental improvements,
innovations, and transformations.
And so I think, you know,
when we talk about this, it's
not just about technology.
Um, whether it be process, technology
or , it and computer technology,
it's our business processes.
It's the way that we engage customers.
It's the way that we manufacture.
And I think, you know, when I
talked with Leon De Bruin recently
from Lamis Technology, he really
emphasized, this very point, um,
and Lamis, as you guys have heard.
If you've listened to, Leon's
podcast interview recently, uh.
they've introduced like 50 new
technologies in the last five years, um,
to bringing their technology portfolio to
something like 160 or 170 technologies.
So that's a 50% increase versus where they
were at the start of this, the decade.
Right.
And that's really important,
those big innovations.
And yet the incremental improvements,
the process improvements, the product
improvements are equally as important.
And so I think first of all, we
need to recognize that innovation
is happening everywhere.
And it's also, it's big and it's small,
and sometimes the most game changing
improvements happen incrementally, bit by
bit till we get to where we want to go.
So that's, that's one
piece just to frame this.
, But how do you become successful in.
Creating an innovative company, an
innovation mindset inside of your company.
And one of the things I think is so
critical is overcoming the, we've
always done it this way, mentality.
And by the way, in my mind as I was
prepping for this and as I'm speaking it,
that song, this is how we do it, uh, by
Montel Jordan is going through my mind.
So, um, I maybe I'll find a way to
link to it, in the show notes so that
you guys can listen to it as well.
Um, but.
Just because this is how we've always
done, it doesn't make it the right answer
for today, where we sit in 2025 where
we're heading in 20, 30 and beyond.
And so.
It's a dilemma because across the
chemical industry, operational
excellence is so critical.
Manufacturing, consistency, product
consistency, process consistency.
And we've really fed into this,
as our businesses and that's
really what's driven success.
And yet if we always do
it the same way we are.
Likely to get outpaced by the competition.
And so one of my favorite books, it was
written a long time ago, probably about
25 years ago, it's called The Innovator's
Dilemma, by Clayton Christensen.
And he talks about this very thing, And
he gives some examples of companies.
And if you think about, you know,
something that one of the examples in the
book is around like steamships, right?
And so if you think about the shipping
industry, at one point it was sail, right?
And these beautiful sailing ships
with multiple sails, and then they
were replaced by steam engines.
But the people that were making the
sales thought, oh, this is the most.
Effective way.
It's the most innovative.
Why would anybody ever do anything?
I'm not worried about it.
And yet, along comes the steam engine and
then along comes nuclear and other stuff.
And by the way, I have now
outpaced my knowledge of shipping.
So, um, you get the point though.
So the innovator's dilemma is,
being excellent is not enough.
You kind of have to reinvent yourself.
And that's part of it.
Um, and you've gotta innovate and
you've gotta reinvent yourself
because you're competitors.
Old and new certainly are.
So some of those barriers are
really around this idea that,
well, this is what works.
I know this is what works and this
is efficient and I'm gonna do that.
But you have to overcome that
and change some assumptions.
So, you know, when I talk with Jennifer
Holmgren from Lonza Tech, now Lonza Tech
of course, is a young, innovative company.
They're 20 years old.
You know, they're a 20-year-old startup.
And Jennifer talked about
this home run obsession.
So like, we're waiting for the big
breakthrough and it's a bit of a trap.
Um, and that you have to come up with
incremental progress, and not get
distracted by unrealistic expectations.
So, that's something to consider as you
move beyond the, this is how we do it.
Mindset.
You know, the other piece, and, and
when I talked with Christian MacGyver
at Pilot, she talked about this, right?
Their technology is decades old.
And she talked actually about using their
sulfation technology and updating it.
For bio-based surf actives and for
regulatory shifts, which basically
was okay, we can't keep doing what
we're doing with the existing assets
because people don't want that stuff.
We have to evolve and get ready
and move on to the new things.
So I think this whole aspect of embracing,
it's not always about how we've done it.
Um, and that operational excellence is.
Critical and vital, but we
have to leave room for changes.
So that's one, one piece of this.
The second point I've got here is around
creating psychological safety, right?
And that's a big word.
But basically making it okay to innovate,
to make mistakes, to learn and to grow.
So it is, it's a classic
leadership challenge.
'cause again, back to the whole,
we value operational excellence.
Every company values
operational excellence, right?
You're doing something, you're creating
something, you're producing something,
you're doing it over and over and
over again in a repeatable way.
Um, and yet.
Making it okay to make mistakes, to be
vulnerable about what you do and what
you don't know to ask questions about.
Well, what is that new
technology and that new approach?
And recognizing smart failure.
So, you know, um, Michael Levenfeld from
Hexion talked about this is, you know, he
talks about asking dumb questions, right?
And that he models the asking this,
the quote unquote dumb question, right?
Because people assume, and I you, you've
been there, I've been there, you've been
there, you're in a room and you're like,
what the holy heck are they talking about?
And somebody, and you assume, and you
look around and you assume everybody
knows, or you look around and you
know, we're talking innovation.
You assume everybody knows
that this is how we do it.
Right back to the.
This is what we do and I don't
wanna do something different
because I don't wanna make mistakes.
So creating that space to be wrong.
For your team to try out new things,
whether it's a new business process, a
new technology, and figuring that out.
Now, I like to talk about this also
though, within the sandbox, right?
So if you've done any IT projects and,
uh, people talk a lot about, you know,
we're working on it in the sandbox.
I put together a sandbox for us
to test this out, and I think
that's so critical, right?
Creating boundaries so that
whatever it is that you're doing.
Is not affecting the entirety of your
enterprise, but you create a space to
test, study, inform, and then decide
how to take it out more broadly.
And so that's part of this whole
creating space for innovation inside
your business and inside your company.
The fourth thing is this whole,
aspect of getting away from
not invented here syndrome.
Right?
And, and I think companies
are doing this much better.
And in fact, the biggest companies.
Who are often the ones that have
this non invented here syndrome, are
recognizing that they need to partner,
partner with innovators, partner with
other people across the industry.
So creating and engaging diverse
teams internally and externally,
whether it's with business partners,
customers, suppliers, third parties,
now, of course you have to be mindful
of intellectual property and you
know, your, you guys know how to do
this and your lawyers know how to do
this and we all know how to do this.
But, this aspect of let's building
really diverse cross-functional
teams and actively pursuing external
partnerships, it's a must if your
company is, like most companies, I
know there had been dramatic cuts.
For the past decade, two decades
in r and d spend in innovation
spend because it's this idea of,
well, what's, what's the payback?
Well, so therefore the payback comes when
you give space for a small innovator to.
Identify something and
then bring it inside.
Bring it inside your company to create
that partnership, to take that innovation,
test it out in a bigger space, and more.
And, and again, companies
are doing this a lot.
When you look across the bios surfactant
space, I see that all the time.
Right.
Cecil partnering with people, uh,
das partnering with people IBC, which
is still in the innovative space.
They're partnering with
companies smaller and bigger.
And so this whole aspect of, getting
diversity of points of view in terms
of who's on your team and who's helping
figure out this innovation This whole
aspect of going external and finding
innovations externally that you can
bring into your internal business.
So that's my third point.
my fourth point around this is.
The companies that are doing this really
well in terms of driving innovation
inside their mature companies are
creating incentives and rewards and
structures that drive innovation.
So, um, I.
You know, I've got my note here says,
let's talk about rewarding the process
and not just the result, right?
So I tried something, I learned something.
We should report, reward it,
and we reward, create this
reward system along the way.
Now, I am gonna tell you, it goes
completely against this adage of
process, progress, not process, right?
Because ultimately.
We're all trying to achieve an outcome.
So you have to find the right balance
to reward risk taking, and innovation
versus operational excellence.
And, Reward the process,
the learnings along the way.
The fact that, hey, this is a,
you know, maybe it's a 12 month
innovation process or cycle, or maybe
it's a three year innovation cycle,
but, um, we got to a milestone.
We've learned something, we've
tried something new, we've done
it, and, it's been successful.
The other piece to me that goes
along this with, with this is, being
really clear about having data-driven
risks and taking data-driven risks.
So not just, innovating for the
sake of innovating, which some of
that happens and it's absolutely
true, but understanding that along
the way, you've gotta gather data.
You have to understand why
something is working, and then
understand what those risks are.
This manifests in a couple different ways.
When I talked with Charlie Landis of
IBC, integrity Biochem, he talked about
empowering their scientists to Dr.
Daydream a little bit, right?
Exploring the left field ideas,
being open to fast failures.
Now again, not unbounded, there's
boundaries 'cause you have to
bring something to the table.
But creating that space and
that incentive for innovation,
so those are the four biggies.
And then what can you actually do?
So this is like, okay, Victoria,
that's all really awesome.
How do I actually get there?
, First of all.
Just try, right?
So I think this whole idea of agile and
agile processes and agile innovation,
which is really, a lot of what the tech
community is built on, ideate, test,
learn, do, repeat, fix, keep going and,
and doing that, that is so critical.
The second piece is really harnessing your
customer and business partner's feedback.
They want different things than
you're offering today, right?
They know it.
Your sales team knows it.
Your tech support team knows it.
People know it.
We get kind of stuck when they say,
well, you know, I'd really like an apple.
Well, that's fine, but we only sell pears.
Okay, fine.
But is that really what they need?
So getting versed with asking better
questions, understanding the why.
Behind what your customers want.
And getting that feedback.
And when you understand the why
of what they're looking for, you
can innovate more effectively.
Side note, one of my favorite speeches
I, give to sales and commercial team is,
about finding your customer's,
why to help you win.
So if that's something that you guys are
interested in, bringing that perspective
of, okay, why, why does the why matter?
Let's talk.
Would love to come in and
support you with that.
So that's my little side note.
But back to the whole harvesting
customer feedback, understanding their
why, bringing those cross-functional
teams together, sales, manufacturing,
supply chain, to address that customer
feedback and thinking outside the box.
And then some of this is also
what becomes so critical in
innovation is communication.
So I was talking to a leader just this
week who, expressed how frustrated
their sales and business team is because
there's an innovation this company was
implementing regarding a new product.
So new product come to
market, super excited.
They've been working on this.
They've gone out, they've
gotten their, customers excited,
they're starting to get orders.
They apparently had some, you
know, they must have had some test
product along the way, et cetera.
And then they had a meeting where
manufacturing said, oh, well,
we actually can't produce that.
What, like where have you been?
, So this whole aspect of communicating to
all the steps of your value chain, being
really transparent about your goals, your
timing, your capabilities, um, not trying
to necessarily, force the capabilities.
I mean, again, there's this whole aspect
of you have to create the nudge and the
tension to make change happen sometimes.
And this is where things again that.
Take place a lot in other industries,
particularly in the tech industry.
You know, sprints, hackathons,
creating these test systems to
capture ideas and implement it.
It sounds complex.
Some of this can be done
in a spreadsheet, right?
A spreadsheet, and five people in a room.
Like, well, what's the next big thing that
we're gonna do with our sales process?
What's the next big thing or
the next little thing that we're
gonna do in our supply chain?
So getting creative.
Getting innovative.
And at the end of the day, you know,
we talk a lot and I think the whole
aspect of, um, where we are today
in the world with ai, AI is amazing
and I use AI tools for a number
of different things in my business
and in the podcast and in creation.
But AI can't replace the power of humans
together for innovation, for ideation,
for thinking really outside the box.
And ultimately when you want your
company, which is, you know, most
of the companies across the chemical
industry are mature, mature pro
companies, mature products, mature
businesses, yet still need to innovate.
To stay successful, to grow, to
be profitable, and to be here
for another 10, 20, 50 years.
Innovation is really critical.
So harnessing the power of your
people inside your company, outside
your company is really critical.
So anyway, go out and innovate today.
Go do something new.
Think about, you know, what the
next step is and I would love
to hear, gimme some feedback.
Um, send me a message on LinkedIn.
Shoot me an email.
What innovations are you working
on, big and small that you wouldn't
have thought about even and
considered, you know, a year ago?
Um, I would love to hear from you.
So anyway, that's it for today.
Thanks for joining me
today on The Chemical Show.
Keep listening, keep following,
keep sharing, and we will
talk with you again soon.
Thanks for joining us
today on The Chemical Show.
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You can find me at Victoria King
Meyer on LinkedIn, and you can also
find us at The Chemical Show Podcast.
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