Oh For Food's Sake

Unlocking Innovation: Human-Centered Business Growth with Neil Sykes

Episode Summary

All businesses communicate all the time, but they don't often think about it. Whether they’re persuading leads to become customers, supporting existing customers, handling shareholders or managing employees, it all comes down to good communication skills. On this episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast, we’re talking to business founder and NLP therapist Neil Sykes about how better communication can drive businesses forward.

Episode Notes

All businesses communicate all the time, but they don't often think about it. Whether they’re persuading leads to become customers, supporting existing customers, handling shareholders or managing employees, it all comes down to good communication skills. On this episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast, we’re talking to business founder and NLP therapist Neil Sykes about how better communication can drive businesses forward.

Neil tells us how he came from his market research background to launching his consultancy business during the Covid pandemic. He gives us a digest of his NLP training and explains how he uses his skills to help businesses to innovate new products and processes. Listen to him tie the “Six I’s” model for innovation into the Stage-Gate process we use in Food product development and unpack how each of the stages links to an overriding purpose. He gives us great tips on how to get better at innovation and how we can start to communicate better with our colleagues and clients.

Thank you for being such a brilliant and interesting guest Neil! If you have an idea of who you’d like to hear appear next on the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast, fill in our quick survey and let us know!

Timestamps

[1:33] Welcome to the podcast, Neil!

[3:03] Neil’s transition from market research to working with the food industry

[7:33] Using neuroscience in NPD

[10:12] Setting up a business during Covid

[12:47] The 6 I’s model of innovation and how they link to the Stage-Gate process

[17:37] Why purpose is the most important ingredient of food innovation

[20:30] “We don’t live our life on paper”: Communicating processes

[22:30] How NLP helps to unpack our daily interactions

[27:00] What Neil does to help companies to communicate better

[32:57] Taking the restrictions out of innovation

[36:27] Why “soft skills” are your biggest assets