The Copernican Revolution took a major step forward in 1543 when Nicolaus Copernicus published his mathematical proof that the earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around. It took many years to be broadly accepted. Evidently, it’s quite normal for people to see themselves as the center of the universe – then and now! One thing seems certain: it’s essential for leaders to deal with reality as it is, not as they would have it.

That’s why it’s so important for every leader to understand another similar mindset shift that is underway today. While most organizations say they are customer-centric, it’s still quite common for people to respond to market challenges by generating ideas before there is agreement about the customers’ objectives or the problem to be solved. Either that’s due to the organization being product-focused, at a loss as to how to determine the customers’ unmet needs, or both. Regardless, the good news is that this is fixable problem.

Fortunately, more and more companies are truly taking a customer “needs-first” approach to innovation instead of the old “ideas-first” approach. And while that’s an excellent start, it’s not enough. (See When Being Customer-Focused Isn’t Enough). There’s another additional mindset shift underway that market leaders are leveraging into a competitive advantage. I’m talking about the shift from being “customer-focused” to being “customer job-focused.”

Being customer-focused usually means trying to understand the customer with personas that are based on demographics and/or psycho-graphics. But that does not explain why people buy products and services. It may provide a correlation with purchasing behavior, but it’s still always just a proxy for the job customers are trying to get done. Jobs explain causality, i.e., why people buy a category of products or services. The criteria they use to measure success explains why they buy a specific model within the category. Leaders who understand this can take a huge step forward in their ability to manage innovation and growth.

Any firm that wants to drive innovation and growth as a repeatable business process must determine:

The best way to leapfrog the competition is to create unique value for your target customers. The best way to create unique value for customers is to identify and address their important unsatisfied needs. This is how leading firms figure out where to focus and what to do to drive innovation and growth with confidence.

Are you tired of slugging it out trying to gain market share? There’s a better way.

Reveal needs. Create value. Drive growth.