Why Most Innovation Fails – and How to Fix It Innovation is a buzzword in every industry. CEOs and product leaders pour time and resources into brainstorming, experimenting, and iterating, hoping to create the next big thing. But the results are often disappointing. Why? Because most leaders confuse innovation with creativity and invention. They treat ...

An Amazing, Predictable Way to Innovate (That Most Companies Miss): Nail the Customer’s Job I enjoyed reading about a new startup called Visor recently. It’s an app designed to improve the car-buying experience. According to Columbus Business First (11/5/24), “Without a single ad, Visor has attracted some 8,000 users since its August debut, many leaving ...

How to Create a Competitive Advantage in Any Market Establishing a competitive advantage is the holy grail for every business. Differentiating your offering is the best way for most businesses to do this since very few businesses can establish a cost advantage. Innovation is an excellent way to differentiate but ONLY if you know how ...

Don’t Let Old Beliefs Stifle Your Growth Many executives believe that innovation should never be outsourced. But let’s clarify what we mean by “outsourcing” innovation. The Invention Fallacy One prevalent reason executives cling to this belief is the misconception that innovation equals invention. Because their teams are product and service experts, it’s understandable why they ...

The Stunning Power of Defining Your Market Right Most people define their market according to the product or service they sell and the people they sell to. While this may not impede day-to-day operations, it can be disastrous if you’re trying to innovate. For the purpose of innovation, it’s most effective to define your market as ...

How to Make Product Tradeoffs that Customers Love One of the most persistent challenges product teams face is making tradeoffs when deciding which features to prioritize in product development. With limited resources, time constraints, and competing stakeholder demands, the ability to make informed and effective decisions about which features to include, modify, or exclude is ...

The Navy SEAL Secret to Innovation Success “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.” This mantra, that originates from military training, particularly among U.S. Navy SEALs and other special operations forces, encapsulates a key principle in tactical training: the importance of deliberate, controlled actions over hasty, careless movements. In high-stress situations, such as combat or special ...

Good Strategy Can Be Hard to Make But This Can Help Good strategy can be hard to make. Making good company strategy and good innovation strategy have a lot in common. Both are shrouded in mystery. One reason good strategy is hard to make is because there’s a lot of confusion about what “good strategy” ...