Tendayi Viki joins Brian to unpack the difference between doing innovation and delivering value, with practical takeaways for product folks, innovation teams, and anyone who wants to stop spinning their wheels.
Innovation theater. Experimentation theater. Value that never quite materializes. In this episode, Brian Milner sits down with Tendayi Viki—author, strategist, and partner at Strategyzer—to talk about why so many organizations look like they’re innovating… but aren’t.
Together, they dig into what real innovation looks like (and how to measure it), how to escape the trap of cool ideas with no customer value, and why experiments only matter if they lead to decisions. You’ll also learn how to spot the difference between a small bet and a large leap, and what it actually means to “be a pirate in the navy.”
Tendayi Viki
Tendayi’s Books
Get the Agile Skills Video Library Use code PODCASTSKILLS for $10 off
Subscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®, and host of the Agile Mentors Podcast training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Tendayi Viki is a globally recognized innovation strategist, author, and partner at Strategyzer, where he helps large organizations build real value—not just innovation theater. With a PhD in Psychology and a client list that spans Unilever to The British Museum, Tendayi brings deep insight into the human side of transformation, backed by frameworks that actually work.
Brian Milner (00:00)
Welcome in Agile Mentors. We're back for another episode of the Agile Mentors podcast. I'm here as always, Brian Milner. And today I'm very, very excited. I have Mr. Tendayi Vicki with us. Tendayi, welcome in.
Tendayi Viki (00:13)
Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.
Brian Milner (00:15)
Very, very excited to have him here. Just to give you some background, if you're not familiar with his work, very prolific and very deep thinker here. He's a partner at a company called Strategizer, where he helps large companies innovate like startups. He's a regular contributor on Forbes, so you may have read some of his articles on Forbes. He's the author of three books, The Corporate Startup, Pirates in the Navy and the Lean Product Lifecycle. Pirates in the Navy is his latest one. Pirates in the Navy, correct me if I'm wrong, it's kind of about how to infiltrate via innovative presence in a large corporation. Is that correct?
Tendayi Viki (00:55)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, how to be a pirate in the Navy.
Brian Milner (00:58)
I love it. I love the title. ⁓ But his books are really
Published on 2 weeks ago
If you like Podbriefly.com, please consider donating to support the ongoing development.
Donate