How the Amazon Innovation Accelerator changed one leader’s way of thinking

For many experienced small business leaders, the hardest part of innovation isn’t having ideas. It’s knowing when to trust them.  

That was the hidden barrier that had been blocking Paul Barker, Director of Ocean 3D (North East), for some time – until he joined the Amazon Innovation Accelerator. 

A trainer who wasn't expecting to change 

Ocean 3D builds virtual pre-familiarisation tours that help people feel confident going somewhere new. A hospital appointment, a new school, a job interview. For people with mobility issues, neurodivergence or mental health conditions, not knowing what’s on the other side of a door can be the difference between going and staying home.  

Paul joined founder Chris Wood at Ocean 3D two years ago. With decades of experience as a business trainer behind him, Paul’s initial reaction to joining the Amazon Innovation Accelerator was scepticism. 

I wasn't sure what to expect. We don’t sell anything on Amazon. We don’t use Amazon. As a trainer in a previous life, someone who tells people how to do things, I went in sceptical. Boy, how wrong I was. 

Nevertheless, Paul signed up. He hoped to make a few connections but didn’t expect any real change to how he did business.  

The day he didn’t want to end 

Before the first day had even started, Paul had found his focus for the programme.  

Standing outside a fulfilment centre so big he couldn’t see the end of it, climbing what felt like hundreds of stairs with a leg infection, he saw himself in his customers. He realised that Amazon could benefit from virtual tours. 

I came with all these preconceptions. Halfway through, someone said it was time for lunch. But I wanted to keep going. I’ve never had that feeling before. It started the moment Amazon introduced Working Backwards.

That reluctance to stop was the first sign something had shifted.  

The Working Backwards model has transformed how I think. It's been the catalyst for one of my biggest ideas.  What started as a cheeky concept during the programme became the basis of a full proposal centred on immersive pre-familiarisation for Amazon’s fulfilment centre. 

From scattered ideas to one clear focus 

The change wasn’t limited to one new idea. Working Backwards gave Paul a more structured way to approach innovation and helped him become more selective about where he puts his time and energy. 

I’m now spending less time on work that isn’t relevant. Before the programme, I might have 27 ideas and an inability to focus on any. Now, I concentrate on one idea, which has helped improve my productivity. 

For Paul, that focus has become a habit he now applies across the business.  

I’ve always worked on a basis that you don’t go straight at a problem, because you’ll hit a brick wall. You look at it from the side, from above. Amazon reinforced that for me. Working backwards is my mantra now.