Can You Innovate Without Craziness?

January 27, 2009 · Posted in business, innovation · Comment

Bizarre and weird behavior isn’t the source of innovation. Innovation is satisfying customers’ unmet desires. Unless your customers’ want to watch you act crazy then bizarre behavior is not innovative.

All you need to satisfy customers’ unmet desires is to understand your customers and have a system for creating products and services that do more of what customers want. That sounds remarkably sane.

So why all the hype about acting like a lunatic to be innovative?

Innovation by definition is change. Crazies love change, any change, the wilder the better. Sensible people naturally avoid most change because it also produces risk. But sane logical people change all the time. What they want to avoid is risky change that doesn’t provide value. Give a sane well adjusted person a low-risk high value improvement and they will gladly accept that change.

Tags: <crazy, creativity, customers, innovation, intelligent, predictive innovation, profit, return on investment, risk, roi, sane, shoes, smart>

Innovation Is Predictable

June 27, 2007 · Posted in innovation, mindset · 2 Comments

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Yesterday I was told, “Innovation isn’t predictable. If it was predictable then they would already be doing it.” That statement shows why most people can’t innovate. Every assumption was wrong. Innovation is Predictable. Innovation MUST BE Predictable.

Innovation isn’t about new. Its about satisfying peoples unmet desires. Innovation doesn’t have to be new at all. And lots of new things don’t innovate. You must satisfy a desire. That is innovation.

As soon as you realize innovation is the act of satisfying someone’s unmet desire its obviously predictable. You can’t innovate doing the same thing. That doesn’t satisfy an unmet desire. So you automatically know a big don’t list. So you can find the innovation TO DO list.

Unmet desires are easy to find. Just ask, “What could make this better?” You will get a big list of possible improvements. And the designers, engineers and marketers knew a huge list of things they didn’t include in the current product. They chose the current features from a big list of possible features. They didn’t include every feature because some features like price and simplicity were needed. So before they ever made the current product they knew how to innovate it. They had a list of innovations.

So when you realize that Innovation is Predictable your next question is how do I predict the best innovation?

Tags: <6 sigma, competition, complete innovation system, innovation, innovation consulting, innovation education, innovation method, innovation system, innovation training, patent, predicing innovation, predictive innovation, profit, sales innovation, six sigma, successful innovation, systematic innovation>

Make a Killing With Unprofitable Ideas.

January 8, 2007 · Posted in business, competition, entrepreneurship, innovation, success · Comment

The most valuable idea you can find might be the one that you can’t profitably market. Have I totally gone out of my mind? Has all this talk of abundance and things being free and eliminating jobs being a good thing rotted my brain? No, not in the slightest! For once I’m going to tell you a way to succeed in a scarcity environment. I’m even going to tell you how to fight dirty and DESTROY YOUR COMPETITION. No I’m not talking about some profound way of avoiding competition and embracing each other to become friends. I mean wipe out, nuke, obliterate, put out of business and just be mean nasty and underhanded.

You’ve created a fabulous product. Your marketing has connected with customers that stand in line to buy your great new product. The profits are rolling in. You make plans to expand and crank out more of your product to meet the ever-increasing demand. Life is great.

So there you are driving your new super luxury convertible when you hear on the radio that someone figured out a way to do exactly what your product does for 1/10th the price of your product with something just about everyone can get in any store. You spit your double latte half-caff espresso all over the windshield and nearly run off the road. In utter disbelief you shout, “how is that possible!?!” You can’t even buy the raw materials to make your product for that price.

When you get to your office and try to verify what you heard on the radio you get the call. Your largest distributor just canceled that multi-million dollar order. That is when it hits you; instead of spending 3 weeks on a cruise you will be begging investors and bankers for help to avoid bankruptcy.

That is why you need to discover unprofitable ideas. If you had known this was possible you never would’ve risked so much. You would have found a different product and you would’ve been prepared. When you come up with your great innovation you need to uncover all the competition. Competition might not be another business. It might be the next great idea just around the corner. Sometimes the worst competition is your own customers. If your customers suddenly don’t need your product, you’re business is dead.

Tags: <bankruptcy, business strategy, business success, compete, destroy your competition, dirty tricks, killer strategy, low price, market strategy, mba, profit, street fight, unfair competition, win, winner>