#11 - Building Internal Culture to Embrace External Ideas w/ Mar Serra (Nestlé) & Benni Lickfett (Diageo)
The Corporate Venturing Podcast
<p>🎙️ Welcome to a new episode of <em>The Corporate Venturing Podcast!</em></p>
<p>Why do so many corporate innovation programs struggle? Not because of a lack of ideas, but because their <strong>internal culture isn’t ready</strong> to embrace them!</p>
<p>In this episode, I sit down with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mar-serra-phd-9482a851/" rel="nofollow"><strong>Mar Serra</strong></a>, Global Lead for Product Application at <strong>Nestlé</strong> (and former head of Nestlé Accelerator in Lausanne), and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bennilickfett/" rel="nofollow"><strong>Benjamin Lickfett</strong></a>, Global VP of Breakthrough Innovation at <strong>Diageo</strong>, to explore how to <strong>build internal cultures that truly support external ideas</strong>.</p>
<p>Together, we dive into the real challenges (and the practical solutions) for creating openness inside large organizations:</p>
<p>🌍 The cultural clash between corporate scale and startup agility<br>⚡ Why innovation fails without the right structures, incentives, and psychological safety<br>🛠️ Concrete tactics: accelerators, mentorship, reverse mentoring, hackathons, and “celebrating the kill”<br>👥 Spotting and developing the right internal champions (because innovation isn’t for everyone)<br>📐 How to adapt governance and processes (like Diageo’s Ignite model) to move at startup speed<br>🚀 Maintaining momentum once pilot hype fades—turning wins and failures into long-term belief in innovation<br>🎯 Securing leadership alignment without slowing everything down<br>💡 Why Return on Learning is as important as ROI</p>
<p>Both Mar and Benny share candid lessons from Nestlé and Diageo: two global giants learning to balance <strong>core business discipline</strong> with <strong>entrepreneurial freedom</strong>.</p>
<p>And we close on a personal note: the most rewarding transformations they’ve witnessed: individuals and teams returning from innovation programs with new confidence, resilience, and mindsets that ripple across the company.</p>
<p>If you’re building corporate innovation teams or trying to spark cultural change inside your organization, <strong>this episode is packed with practical wisdom and hope that it </strong><em><strong>is</strong></em><strong> possible</strong>.</p>
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<p><strong>Resources:</strong></p>
<p>• <a href="https://openroadventuress.substack.com/" rel="nofollow">Open Road Ventures</a></p>
<p>• <a href="https://www.bundl.com/venture-club" rel="nofollow">Bundl Venture Club</a></p>
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<p>🎧 <strong>Follow this podcast</strong> for more grounded stories from inside the world of Open Innovation and Corporate Venturing.</p>