Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
BlackBerry once ruled the business world.
Presidents, CEOs, and Wall Street relied on its encrypted devices. Then the iPhone arrived — and everything changed.
In this episode, Jacquie McNish, co-author of Losing the Signal, unpacks the untold story behind:
• The improbable rise of Research In Motion • The 2011 global outage crisis • The NTP patent war • 9/11 and encrypted messaging dominance • The internal fracture between Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie • The Storm failure • The QNX pivot and BlackBerry's second act
A fascinating case study in leadership psychology, technological disruption, and strategic inflection points.
This is a masterclass in: Innovation Leadership Disruption Scaling culture Strategic blindness Corporate inflection points
📘 Book: Losing the Signal by Jacquie McNish & Sean Silcoff amzn.to/4tVBHWk
🎙 Hosted by Aidan McCullen Aidan McCullen is a Thinkers50 Innovation Award winner, recognised for his contribution to global innovation practice through The Innovation Show.
Aidan is a Global and Irish Keynote speaker recognized for his engaging storytelling style and his bestselling book Undisruptable: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention. The Innovation Show remains the only podcast ever to receive a Thinkers50 award, and Aidan is only the second Irish person—after Charles Handy—to be honoured.
#BlackBerry #Innovation #BusinessStrategy #TechHistory #Leadership #StartupLessons #iPhone #Apple #Entrepreneurship #Disruption
BlackBerry once ruled the business world.
Presidents, CEOs, and Wall Street relied on its encrypted devices. Then the iPhone arrived — and everything changed.
In this episode, Jacquie McNish, co-author of Losing the Signal, unpacks the untold story behind:
• The improbable rise of Research In Motion • The 2011 global outage crisis • The NTP patent war • 9/11 and encrypted messaging dominance • The internal fracture between Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie • The Storm failure • The QNX pivot and BlackBerry's second act
A fascinating case study in leadership psychology, technological disruption, and strategic inflection points.
This is a masterclass in: Innovation Leadership Disruption Scaling culture Strategic blindness Corporate inflection points
📘 Book: Losing the Signal by Jacquie McNish & Sean Silcoff amzn.to/4tVBHWk
🎙 Hosted by Aidan McCullen Aidan McCullen is a Thinkers50 Innovation Award winner, recognised for his contribution to global innovation practice through The Innovation Show.
Aidan is a Global and Irish Keynote speaker recognized for his engaging storytelling style and his bestselling book Undisruptable: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention. The Innovation Show remains the only podcast ever to receive a Thinkers50 award, and Aidan is only the second Irish person—after Charles Handy—to be honoured.
#BlackBerry #Innovation #BusinessStrategy #TechHistory #Leadership #StartupLessons #iPhone #Apple #Entrepreneurship #Disruption
