UnNatural Selection

~ Evolution by Design: Synthesizing Cross-Industry Innovation ~–Curious about what innovation looks like in industries vastly different from yours? The UnNatural Selection Podcast applies ‘Survival of the Fittest’ to the world of business innovation. We explore how organizations adapt, evolve, and outcompete under the ruthless laws of evolution -- directly from the pioneers shaping their frontiers.–* This podcast is a living thesis on innovation strategy. The best place to start are the Synthesis Episodes (eg Episode 25)

UnNatural Selection is a business podcast hosted by Nic Encina, with 70 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Nic Encina hosts UnNatural Selection, a business show with 70 episodes published.

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  Episode #71

  Unplugged Arcade / LEGO • Ecosystem Arbitrage

  Sep 29, 202659 minS2

  Dan Winger spent 18 years at LEGO designing the future of play. Now he’s doing something counterintuitive: building a new category of games by looking backward. In this episode, Dan explains how he identified an overlooked niche in stagnant barroom gaming, designed around social behavior rather than technology, and turned an experimental product into a rapidly emerging business. We explore niche strategy, ecosystem customers, product-market fit, skill versus randomness, manufacturing bottlenecks, and how AI is lowering the barriers to entrepreneurship. The larger lesson: sometimes the biggest innovation opportunity is hiding in what everyone else has stopped reinventing.

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  Episode #70

  Mass Eye & Ear • Selective Senses

  Sep 22, 202641 minS2

  What if some of medicine’s biggest opportunities lie not in inventing new treatments, but in questioning what we already accept as standard practice? Dr. Rishi Singh , Chair of Ophthalmology at Mass General Brigham and Professor at Harvard Medical School , joins Nic to explore the evolution of ophthalmology through AI, imaging, oculomics, precision medicine, and remote care. They examine how AI can democratize expertise, how the eye can serve as a window into systemic disease, and why longitudinal data could replace “one-size-fits-all” treatment. The deeper lesson: innovation happens when technology changes not only what we can do, but what we consider possible… and what we stop doing simply because it has always been done.

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  Episode #69

  Illumina • Invariant Learning: Public-Private Synergy

  Sep 15, 202651 minS2

  Research & Diagnostics: Illumina • Eric Green What happens when the architect of genomic innovation inside government moves into one of the industry's most important companies? Dr. Eric Green , Chief Medical Officer of Illumina and former NHGRI Director, reflects on the transition from government to industry—and what it reveals about how innovation actually scales. The conversation explores public-private risk sharing, commercialization, multi-omics, AI, end-to-end genomic workflows, and the often-overlooked societal barriers that determine whether breakthrough technologies reach routine healthcare. The central lesson: scientific innovation is only half the challenge. The other half is building systems capable of absorbing it.

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  Episode #68

  Putnam Associates • Decision Quality in Low-Friction Information Economies

  Sep 8, 20261h 2mS2

  Management Consulting: Putnam Associates • Matt Riordan What happens when AI makes answers abundant, routine work cheap, and entire business models vulnerable to disruption? Matt Riordan , CEO of Putnam Associates , joins Nic to explore how AI is transforming management consulting – and what that transformation reveals about competition, innovation, and organizational survival. Matt explains why the scarcity is no longer information, but judgment; why domain expertise and context may become even more valuable in an AI-driven world; and why organizations need to learn faster, not simply work faster. They also explore the “pyramid problem” facing consulting as AI changes how people develop expertise, why companies that use AI merely to replace labor risk a race to the bottom, and why Putnam believes its future depends on combining AI with human creativity, experience, and strategic judgment. The deeper lesson reaches well beyond consulting: when the environment changes faster than your organization, your ability to learn may be your most important competitive advantage.

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  Episode #67

  Rudy Tanzi • Stopping Alzheimer’s Before Symptoms Start

  Sep 1, 202657 minS2

  Stop the Wildfire Early Can we stop Alzheimer’s before it starts? Dr. Rudy Tanzi – Harvard Medical School professor, Director of the McCance Center for Brain Health , and one of the pioneers of Alzheimer’s genetics – joins UnNatural Selection to explore how decades of discovery are changing our approach to one of humanity’s most feared diseases. Tanzi explains why the field is moving from treating symptoms to early prediction, early detection, and ultimately prevention—and how genetics, biomarkers, human brain models, and drug discovery are converging to make that possible. But beneath the science is a broader lesson about innovation: find the causal mechanism, move upstream, use extreme signals to reveal hidden structure, and place multiple bets where the potential payoff is asymmetric.

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