We go into innovation discovery thinking, it's that lightning strike. It's that moment of genius where the dots just connect. That's innovation. It's totally not. It is the 99.9% of the sweat

and effort that comes after that, that is the biggest thing that comes up again and again.

To really innovate, you've got to find other people that want to do it too, because that's where the magic happens.

That's Joanne Garbin. She's served as Microsoft's Director of Innovation, where she guided her team in developing

billion-dollar opportunities.

Now, she's the co-author of the new book, The Insider's Guide to Innovation at Microsoft.

Joanne's got a lot of juicy stories to share, and you'll learn, one, what most people

overlook about innovation, two, the secret to

getting executives on board, and three, the four patterns responsible for Microsoft's innovation

success. And if you'd like a quick summary write-up of the actionable takeaways that Joanne

shared, I recommend you sign up for the free Gold Nugget email newsletter,

which you can find over at awesome at your job.com. I'm Pete McItis. This is How to Be Awesome at your job. And now, here's Joanne. Joanne, welcome. Hi. Thanks for having me.

Oh, thank you. I'm excited to talk innovation.

And I want to hear your backstory.

I understand one of your earliest tech innovations occurred at a mascot cooling system company.

Tell us the whole tale, please. Well, it was my company, brave 22-year-old

that I was. And it was an innovation that came out of being a mascot. And if you, which I've heard

a rumor that you were a mascot, If you've ever been in a mascot,

so you know that it takes about two minutes before you're completely overheated. And I was a

mechanical engineering student and I was like, I can solve this problem. So what turned into a

senior project with some friends, then after school became my first

company. And I actually managed to sell a few, which was really cool, including to the Seattle

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