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 …
The First Step in Adapting to a Changed Market Given the forced shutdowns that most businesses are experiencing now due to the Coronavirus, it is essential that leaders adapt to make the most of the situation. That means understanding what parts of your business are essential and what parts can be changed or let go. To …
Why Most Innovators are Just “Flailing Faster” and What to Do About It Over 25 million copies of the late Stephen R. Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, have been sold. It remains a best-seller three decades after it was first published (1989). The second habit of highly effective people is to “begin …
What 3 Clients Have in Common What do an online university, an off-road vehicle manufacturer, and a yearbook publisher have in common? For one, all of them were clients of ours in 2019. We are grateful for their trust and the “word of mouth” referrals that brought them to us. We have enjoyed the collaboration …
Could This Change the Game for You? Are you tired of implementing growth initiatives that don’t work? Did you know that the number one cause for new product and new business failure is misunderstanding customers’ needs? This has been the case for decades, but it is totally unnecessary today. You don’t have to play a “game of …
How to Validate a New Offering People Don’t Know They Need Contrary to popular opinion, it is not good science to run experiments by testing minimally viable products to discover customer needs and validate the solution. Why? Because this conflates two experiments and can invalidate both. In good science, the customer need is validated first, …
Why Your Business Needs a “Customer Analysis” to Beat the Competition 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, however, is that in capitalism we are fighting to earn the business of customers. In …
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