I know firsthand that innovation isn't just exciting. You know, it can also be messy and uncertain and at times incredibly hard.All the while innovation will test the fortitude of every innovator. The hurdles for women in technology can sometimes be a little higher. So with that in mind, I'd like to shift the way you think about innovation, help you understand what else you're up against, and share three essential strategies you can apply right away to activate resilience from within. These are lessons I've learned throughout my career as an entrepreneur, as an intrepreneur inside of companies, and an innovation coach. We also will explore unique advantages that women have in over overcoming seven of the most common challenges, that innovators face. These can become your superpowers. So if you have any questions, insights, or ahas, please share them in the chat.

At the end, I'll also offer some simple ways we can stay in contact and continue this, conversation. So before that, I want to first take you back to the morning of 03/10/2000 when I stood on a stage in Palo Alto, California ready to pitch my company to the legendary Silicon Valley band of angels. So I want you to think of these guys like Shark Tank, but there were like 30 of them in the audience. And they were some of the big money that were fueling the ever expanding .com bubble. Now this pitch was a big deal because I was one of only three women at this point given a shot to pitch to the band, and the stakes couldn't be higher for me personally. You see, the month earlier, I had left my secured job at Hewlett Packard to take a leave of absence to chase my dream and make sharing video as easy as a photograph.

My husband David and I had been developing the platform and bootstrapping the startup for about a year, but it was draining our life savings and putting huge strain on our marriage, all the while juggling the demands of raising two young children. An investment from the angels would not only be a lifeline, but it could finally launch our startup in due orbit. So from the stage, I passionately shared my frustration with trying to show my grandparents who lived across the country, an eight millimeter video clip I had taken of my daughter, Nicole, taking her very first adorable steps. You see, in the year February, you know, sharing video was incredibly time consuming, complex, and hard. Today, we can do this effortlessly in a family chat chat thread, with our cell phones. Now luckily, the Angels, they got it right away, and they knew this was a hard problem to solve.

And they listened intently and asked great questions when we talked about the technology platform, the business model, and the $3,000,000,000 market opportunity that lie ahead. And in those moments, I could feel the energy shift. You know, success felt certain. I fully expected to receive the seed funding I requested. Relief was finally on its way. Then it happened. Ping buzz. There were Blackberries and pagers and these brick cell phones going off all over the theater. The angels were, like, squirming in their seats, and two guys got up in the back and ran out in a panic. The energy in the room definitely shifted. I was like, what's going on? Right? In that moment, the.com bubble busted. Silicon Valley was getting clobbered, and so was my dream. A week later, with the market still in a free fall, one of the angels calls me. Hey, Michelle. That pitch, that was really interesting idea.

But, you know, it's never gonna get funded in these market conditions. It's gonna get way worse in the valley before it ever gets better. My advice? Go back to HP and hunker down. I had to sit with that for a few days. After some painful soul searching and some tough conversations at home, I decided to kill my company, choosing stability for my family. Others involved in the project said that was a good decision. My husband, Dave, was relieved. But for me, secretly, I was haunted by questions that would have no answers. What did I miss? Could I have done something differently? What if I didn't quit? For a while, I had no I hadn't even noticed the gifts of the great lessons I was learning. Those would actually come later.

You know, the thing is is that I got kinda wrapped up in wondering, you know, was this guy, like, yanking my chain? Was he gonna deal my idea, or was he really providing sound advice? Ultimately, HP actually welcomed me back, encouraging my entrepreneurial spirit and placed me on a lot of different innovation projects in the imaging and printing business where video opportunities were most likely to emerge. I just needed to wait and be ready. Then the unexpected happened. In 02/2005, HP acquired Snapfish. At the time, Snapfish was the largest photo sharing and printing platform in the world. And soon after, I was invited to join Snapfish to become the director of digital asset management.

In that role, I would be, leading a very talented team that were focused on upload of assets, enhancement of images, and the storage of photos, and, yes, soon to come, video. Together with my team, we need photo and video integrations and sharing on the platform fun for millions of families around the world. That was when I eventually had my epiphany. My dream of connecting families through video had actually come true, but it just didn't come true in the way I expected on the day that the .com bubble burst. Now you see, the best part was that the .com setback actually taught me great lessons about uncertainty and unexpected outcomes in innovation. They're just a natural part, of the plan. And it was my opportunity to learn to deal with such things in an even better way.

It also gifted me an intense curiosity about higher performance and resilience building when making new ideas real. This not only has informed my innovation career for decades, but today inspires my coaching mission to help innovators deal with observe adversity. So, you know, when we step back and look at an innovation journey, you know, entrepreneurs and intrepreneurs inside of companies, I call them innovators, often say that innovation can feel like a wild roller coaster, ride with high g force turns and dips and loopity loops. And this can be thrilling for some and terrifying for others. The truth is that many miss the fact that a roller coaster, no matter what it does, ultimately comes back to where it started. And today, I wanna use that insight in a way that could hopefully smooth out the ride for all innovators.

I invite you to think of a more balanced view using an infinity sign instead of a roller coaster, Where at times there's a new challenge and that we're just simply rotating between three critical stages of an innovation infinity loop. Starting at point a, returning to a, and in between visiting three important stages. So I'm gonna just really quickly, put these into the chat so you can take a look. And let me go through them really quick. So first, I call it the fortify stage. That is the left side of the infinity loop where we are preparing. We are building endurance and tolerance for the hard stuff ahead. At the cross section is what I call face. So this is the action stage where courage, wisdom, and persistence are gonna always be put to the test. And then finally, that right side, I call metabolize.

This is the nourishing elimination stage where you keep what serves and just let go of the rest. Many novice in innovators skip the first and the third and really depend on a lot of willpower to face challenges. This is called learning from the school of hard knocks. And believe me, I started there too. But it can be exhausting, and I know there's a better way. So let's take a look a little more closely at stage one. So fortify. By fortifying yourself, you build endurance and tolerance for the challenges ahead. Now I am not referring to tactical innovation activities like gaining funding and product market fit and talent acquisition. These are covered, in great innovation book and talk throughout the world.

Instead, I'm gonna talk about the overlooked areas of the inner game, the emotional and psychological struggles around fear and doubt and that impulse to quit that happens more often than people actually share. How do I know? Well, through decades of my own personal innovation experiences and coaching other innovators who have shared privately their their struggles. These are folks from some of the world's biggest tech firms and startups in the world. And from that experience, I started to see patterns emerge. And I created a framework I call the seven headwinds of innovation. By naming these formidable challengers, we automatically take away some of their power. You know, think about it like when we name Voldemort if you are into, Harry Potter movies. So I'm gonna go ahead and put into the chat the seven headwinds that I have discovered and share a little bit about each one very quickly.

So number one, uncertainty. Right? Innovators, you are going to be stepping into the unknown frequently without any guarantees, and you are gonna need to get good at it. So number two is creativity on demand. This is where you're gonna be ideating and solving problems and delivering consistently under pressure from stakeholders and managers and investors, you are gonna need to dig deep to get to that creative spark on demand. Next is what I call objectors. So, you know, others are generally not gonna understand your idea the first or second or even the third time they hear it. And you gotta get used to that. In fact, if an objector calls your idea crazy, just know you're actually on to something. The next, competitor the next, force is what I call competitors.

So others are actually going to understand your idea or something similar to it, and they're going after it too. This level of competition can actually sink great innovators or cause them to rise. You get to make the choice. Number five, this is what I call emotional triggers. So navigating strong emotions in others and in yourself can be tricky. Remember, you know, you, your idea doesn't care about the drama and often gets lost in unresolved conflicts between humans. Number six, the work grind. You are going to work lots of hours and run, metaphorically, miles that nobody are gonna see, And you are still gonna have to persist and run those miles anyways. Then lastly, something I learned a lot about was unexpected outcomes. Handling surprises, some which are exhilarating and others are just soul crushing.

Either way, you can't hold too tightly to expectations as adaptability reigns supreme in innovation. Now this is what we're up against folks, and here are a few watch outs. All innovators will experience all seven headwinds at one time or another, but women can have a rougher ride with higher levels of perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and prolonged rumination beyond their male counterparts, research shows. But on the flip side, ladies, your increased emotional intelligence and compassion for others actually gives you an extra boost, to navigate some of the headwinds even more effectively. So no matter what your gender or identity, this is where we all have a chance, to grow and to shine. So recognizing the seven headwinds of innovation fortifies you for what's to come and raises your resilience by recognizing what's coming at you. So you just don't get blindsided. So with that, let's move on to stage two, innovation where the infinity sign actually crosses. So this is face, I call it.

It's the moment of truth when you enter the innovation arena and you face one or more of the seven headwinds. Although there are way more practices very specific to each one of the headwinds, in this talk, I'm gonna share three that every innovator can apply across all seven. So, let me pop those into the chat real quick. And, so the first one is to stay presence present. Otherwise, your brain is going to get hijacked and narrowed on fear. That's fight, flight, or freeze reactions that cause you to completely miss other positive options that can put you on a better path. Number two, I want you to choose courage over fear. Make it an actual habit to take uncomfortable action despite the potential for loss or failure, embarrassment, or judgment.

More often than not, things actually work out better than you ever imagined. And you learn that fear is only showing up as false evidence acting real. So it's an acronym, right? False evidence acting real. So number three, I want to encourage you to focus on progress, not perfection. Each day focus on making one bold move or taking even one small step forward with persistence. Perfection is only a measure in current business operations, never in innovation where experimentation and learning are our measuring stick. So using these three practices regularly builds confidence and competence and then resilience begins to rise while avoid getting stuck. Now let's look at the final stage. So this is that right side. So now we're gonna metabolize experience.

It's like digesting food, you know, It involves extracting value and nutrient and then letting go of the rest. Many innovators, and in my experience a little bit leans a little bit more towards men, they rush ahead and actually skip this step. Wanting to avoid the emotional discomfort or revisiting negative outcomes. But research shows that over time, this act this resistance actually limits their future risk taking and raises the possibility for emotional triggers to explode at any time. Women, you aren't immune to this either but since you tend to experience, you know discussion more openly with friends, trusted friends about your experience, it becomes a little bit easier to metabolize. And this becomes a powerful advantage and an opportunity for real leadership.

So for anyone wanting to metabolize innovation incomes, as nutty as they can be, good, bad, or ugly, I recommend three, practices. And let me get those into the chat really quick. The first one is acceptance. Sometimes people call it radical acceptance. Fully accepting innovation outcomes releases us from the emotional burden of a past that we can never go back and change anyways. That's the truth. In this way, you can move your attention and energy towards making progress in the future instead of ruminating about the past. Number two, consider hosting a retrospective. So, you know, we should always regularly evaluate what's working, what's not working, and what experiments can we run to create improvements. This actually periodically gives teams and individuals a chance to clear the air, gain shared learning, and adapt and adjust. Finally, I want to encourage you to celebrate.

Take time out and recognize accomplishments and and overcome and times you overcome challenges. In this way, you anchor learning and generate motivation and momentum. So, metabolizing practices not only gives rise to resilience, but it brings extra insight, for an innovator innovator facing their next challenge. In that way, the three stages come full circle. Not as a whiplash as part of a roller coaster, but instead a much smoother, ride and a way to sort of take back a sense of control. So in conclusion, I shared my.com story that absolutely derailed me at that time, but that experience helped me realize my dream in a way I never expected, a way that was more fulfilling and worked better for my family. It also set me on a path to understand the seven headwinds of innovation and how resilience worked.

I also want you to know if you find this topic interesting, I have a book coming out later this week, and, and I'm available to speak to your teams. If you'd like to reach out, follow me on LinkedIn or, you can reach out to me on my web page, michellevendolen.com. I'll pop that into the chat too. I wanna just leave you with one final thought. So there's a lot of tough problems in the world that need to be solved. We need resilient innovators more than ever, making their bold ideas real. I believe this is a valuable career currency that can be gained through personal growth and development. For women in technology especially, please do not underestimate the unique qualities that you naturally bring to the innovation arena. Please show up. Please be bold and lead by activating the resilient innovator within.