A Beautiful Illustration About What Customers Want Most business leaders are looking for ways to create unique value for their target customers to differentiate and grow. But how do you create unique value in a repeatable manner? Is it even possible? Yes, it is possible, but you must understand what a customer “need” really is …
Better Questions Will Improve the Information You Receive from Customers Leaders often execute strategy and innovation in the wrong sequence. Here’s what the former CEO of P&G, A.G. Lafley, and business consultant, Ram Charan, say about this: “All too often, managers decide on a business strategy – what markets to pursue and what products to …
Why It Is Essential to Get the Front End of Innovation Right The late great coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi, began the first day of practice every year telling his players, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” Some people might find this silly but that would be a mistake. Coach Lombardi knew that …
Selling More Isn’t Always About Selling Here’s a classic 5-minute video of the late great Harvard Business School Professor, Clayton Christensen, explaining how the jobs-to-de-done (JTBD) innovation approach can help any business sell more. The breakthrough jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) approach he is describing has nothing to do with “selling.” 3 Takeaways: First, being “customer-focused” is not …
Why Most Organizations are Failing at Innovation Study after study has shown that the #1 reason for startup and new product failure is “no market need,” i.e., misunderstanding customer needs. The primary challenge of innovation is not to come up with ideas, develop and commercialize them; it’s to gain clarity about the opportunities in your …
How to Make the Competition Irrelevant Most leaders agree that obtaining competitive information is essential for developing an effective strategy. Gaining competitive intelligence is often viewed as similar to gaining military intelligence. The big difference is that in capitalism we are fighting to earn the business of customers. In war, there are no customers, and …
How to Create New Products that Customers Want Some people believe that the most innovative companies create customer demand with breakthrough new offerings. They say things like, “Nobody knew they needed an iPhone until Apple created it. Apple created needs that people didn’t even know they had.” Hence, if you want to be an innovation leader, …
If You Think Innovation is Risky, Try Irrelevance If you think innovation is risky, try irrelevance. Three mistakes that cause leaders to unduly pull back from innovation: 1) Failing to validate customers’ unmet needs before investing in the development of solutions. Study after study has shown that the number one cause of innovation failure is …
How to Get Online Classes Right In mid-March, COVID-19 forced America’s K-12 schools and universities to change their delivery platform from traditional classrooms to online programs. This has been a massive challenge for all involved. Not surprisingly, the online programs have fallen far short. Although most schools and universities are opening in the fall, their …
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