May 28, 2025
Most companies want to innovate, but only a few know what it actually means. Innovation is not just about great ideas and smart people, but primarily about the space that a company creates for them. In this episode of the Kogi podcast, Filip Hurda and Michal Valko look at innovation without illusions: why most attempts end in frustration, what distinguishes real change from empty slogans, and why it is not enough to motivate, but it is also necessary to reset the environment, leadership, and decision-making process? For all those who want more than just a nice innovation slogan in a presentation.
Listen to the interview on YouTube:
What distinguishes a company that “talks about innovation” from one that actually delivers it? According to Hurda and Valko, the difference starts right at the briefing: without a clear ambition, goal, and space for execution, only dead ends are created. Anyone who is serious about innovation must create an environment where people not only have ideas, but also the capacity, budget, and authority to test them. And above all: leadership that leads by example – not just a challenge to “innovate!”.
You will learn:
why innovations are more the result of a systematic approach than a random hackathon,
how to tell that innovations in your company “only work on paper,”
what the model can – want – can means and why real change will not occur without it,
how even a traditional manufacturing company can deliver innovation without a single post-it board,
why an innovative culture means, among other things, the ability to accept mistakes – and to learn from them quickly.
Practical, without clichés, and with the perspective of two people who not only advise on innovation but also deliver it themselves in companies.