picture of Jon Hirst, chief innovation officer at SIL international.

Innovation & Authenticity:
Friends or Foes?

As Chief Innovation Officer with SIL, Jon has seen the impact that comes at the intersection of innovation, ideation, and integration.
Jon has spent his career working in nonprofit and business settings designing solutions that create this very tangible impact.

Innovation! is the rallying cry of brands, businesses, orgs, and causes today.

One cannot flick through their LinkedIn feed more than a few posts without seeing some kind of content about Innovation.
At the same time, our culture – especially consumer culture – wants authenticity.

Yet that which is authentic tends to come from longevity: doing the same thing or making the same thing the same way, reliably, for a long time.
So there should be tension between innovation and authenticity, right? The classic tension between the old and the new.

To sort this out, Jon Hirst is our guest on the Brand Shepherd Podcast.

Jon is the Chief Innovation Officer for SIL International, an org that “works with local communities to develop language solutions that expand possibilities for a better life.”

Did you know that Jon and his team work with 7,000+ languages worldwide and that roughly every 40 days a language dies with the deaths of great-grandparents? So innovation is the tip of the spear for SIL and Jon has the kind of perspective to help us navigate how Innovation and Authenticity work together in a very pragmatic way.

This episode is packed with practical tasks you can do to implement an innovation strategy for your brand, business, org, or cause so be ready to take plenty of notes.

daimen carter

designer

  • Web designer
  • Web UX and UI specialist
  • Front end web developer
jess smith

strategic ops lead

  • Process development and implementation
  • Content development coordinator
  • Technical Project Management
john marshall

creative lead

  • Multifaceted designer for web, print, and video
  • Concept development
  • Deck design expert
nibir

wordpress engineer

  • Front end web developer
  • WordPress expert
  • Shopify, WIX, and BigCommerce expert
janine huldie

project manager

  • Project liaison
  • Keeps projects moving, big picture
  • Web Maintenance
brennan zagami

lead copywriter

  • Vibe, Tribe, & Why® Facilitator
  • Brand Experience Guide™ Copywriter
  • Web and Marketing Copywriter and Editor
daniel crask, founder of brand shepherd
daniel crask

brand strategist

  • Customer-first approach to brand clarity.
  • Creator of the Vibe, Tribe, & Why® brand clarity framework for business development.
  • Interests: his four children, writing music, health, exercise, and gardening.