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 might think no consultant could grasp their unique challenges better than they do—and they’re probably right!
However, innovation isn’t just about invention. If you ever hope to turn innovation into a repeatable business process, you must start by discovering your target customers unmet needs first and then develop solution ideas to address them. Invention is merely the second step in the broader innovation process.
The Role of External Expertise
Expert consultants can reveal hidden unmet needs, empowering the firm to excel at invention. If your customers have complex functional needs, collaborating with someone who can identify and rank the opportunities in your market can significantly improve your ability to create winning new or improved—perhaps even breakthrough—offerings.
Leadership Responsibilities
Another reason many executives hesitate to seek external support is that they feel responsible for deciding:
- Which markets to pursue
- What products and services to sell
- How to win
I completely agree with this—these are crucial strategic choices that require careful consideration.
However, a skilled JTBD consultant can equip your team with potentially game-changing insights, empowering the firm to make informed decisions based on reliable data. Think of it like a doctor asking for an x-ray. They aren’t abdicating their responsibilities; they’re ensuring they understand the underlying issues so they can bring their expertise to bear on the real problem. JTBD consultants are professional customer diagnosticians.
Additionally, every project should begin by gaining agreement on:
- Objectives: Typically, this means driving revenue growth in a core market, identifying new opportunities, or mastering the customer experience.
- Target Market: We define this as a “group of people” paired with “the job(s) they’re trying to get done”—without reference to specific products or services.
- Success Criteria: We determine how to measure the success of the project.
Consequently, you’re never outsourcing your responsibilities or core capabilities; you’re complementing and enhancing them.
The Limits of Internal Expertise
Some executives resist hiring outside help because they believe their teams—including designers, engineers, and product managers—are sufficient. And, in many cases, that works just fine. But if you serve customers with complex functional needs, you could be limiting your growth potential.
The hard truth is that many leaders don’t know what they don’t know. Of course, this applies to all of us, but in the realm of product innovation, it often means that Jobs-to-Be-Done (JTBD) is only superficially understood or adopted. Part of this stems from people like me failing to simplify and communicate the unique benefits of JTBD—and I’m working on that! But it’s also due to some persistent misbeliefs than ensure high failure rates, such as:
- Customers cannot articulate what they want.
- Innovation is inherently risky, messy, and expensive.
- The path to innovation is to generate a multitude of ideas, fail fast, and iterate your way to success.
I’ve addressed these misbeliefs (and others) in previous articles, so I won’t dive deeper here, but I’m always open to discussing them with anyone interested. The truth really does set us free! I am sure that some of you are saying “huh?” because these beliefs are so ingrained.
The Bottom Line
Rather than think about hiring JTBD expertise as “outsourcing innovation,” recognize it for what it is: collaboration. Get the help you need to identify and rank the unmet needs in the market so you can choose what markets to pursue, what products and services to make, and how to win—with confidence.
For instance, when we were engaged by a fractional private jet company to help them create a new business-centric service for C-level leaders who fly frequently for work on company-owned jets, they didn’t outsource anything. They gained clarity about what it would take to invent a unique business-centric service with premium pricing, and then did it.
Don’t let outdated beliefs stifle your growth. Embrace collaboration and leverage your product/service expertise. The best creativity trigger is a well-defined unmet need—and it’s waiting to be revealed.
