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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