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31 Innovation Questions

Harvard blogger Scott Anthony kicks off the new year by answering the questions he hears

most frequently at his presentations

By Scott D. Anthony

Posted onHarvard Business Review: December 27, 2010 9:45 AM

One of the simple ways that I try to make experimentation an everyday activity is to always try

at least one new thing each time I give a presentation. One such recent experiment I called

"choose your own presentation." I looked back at the 20 or so talks that I'd given this past

year, and I tried to group material into the questions that I most commonly get asked. I ended

up with 31 questions. My colleagues circulated the list before my presentation, and I went

through the eight questions that garnered the most interest.

I thought it would be helpful to provide the list of 31 questions, and my one sentence

perspective on each question, as it dovetails with my current book project (tentatively titled,

The Little Black Book of Innovation.) Consider it a summary of what's on my mind as 2010

comes to a close.

1. How do you define innovation? Something different that has impact.

2. What are different types of innovation? Innovation is more than whiz-bang technology;

consider different strategic intents (e.g., create a new category, extend current business) or

innovation mechanisms (e.g., new product, distribution channel, marketing approach).

3. How do I spot opportunities for innovation? Go to the source: the customer you hope to

target.

4. Which customers should I target? Look beyond your best customers to those who face a

constraint that inhibits their ability to solve the problems they face in their life.

5. What should I look for? As Drucker said, "the customer rarely buys what the business

thinks it sells him;" look for a job-to-be-done, an important problem that is not adequately

solved by current solutions.

6. How should I look? Start with deep ethnographic research; avoid focus groups!

7. How do I come up with an idea? Remember the Picasso line "good artists copy, great

artists steal;" seek to borrow ideas from other industries or geographies.

8. What is disruptive innovation? An innovation that transforms a market or creates a new

one through simplicity, convenience, affordability or accessibility.

9. What is the best way to disrupt a market? Embrace the power of trade offs. Seek to be

just "good enough" along historical performance dimensions but introduce new benefits

related to simplicity or affordability.

10. What does "good enough" mean? Performance above a minimum threshold to

adequately solve a customer's job to be done; sacrificing performance along traditionaldimensions can open up new avenues to innovate.

11. What is a business model (and how do I innovate one)? How a company creates,

captures, and delivers value; codifying the current business model is the critical first step of

business model innovation.

12. How can I "love the low end"? Build a business model designed around the low-end

customer's job-to-be-done.

13. How do I know if my idea is good? Let patterns guide and actions decide; remember

Scott Cook's advice that "for every failure we had we had spreadsheets that looked

awesome."

14. How can I learn more about my idea? Design and execute "high return on investment"experiments to address critical unknowns.

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15. How can I get other people behind my idea? Bring the idea to life through visuals and

customer testimonials.

16. How long does it take new businesses to scale? Almost always longer than initial

projections; be patient for growth and impatient for profits.

17. Why is innovation so important? The "new normal" of constant change requires

mastering perpetual transformation.

18. Why is innovation so hard? Most organizations are designed to execute, not to

innovate.

19. Who are your influences? Academics like Clayton Christensen and Vijay Govindarajan,

leading-edge innovative companies like Procter & Gamble and Cisco Systems, and thoughtful

writers like Michael Mauboussin and Bill James.

20. How do I encourage innovation in my organization? Stop punishing anything that

smells like failure, recognizing that failure is often a critical part of the innovation process.

21. What is "the sucking sound of the core?" The pull of the core business and business

model that subtly influences new ideas so they resemble what the organization has done

before.22. What is an innovation "safe space"? An organizational mechanism that protects

innovators from the sucking sounds of the core.

23. How should I form and manage innovation teams? Keep deadlines tight and decision

makers focused.

24. What is in a good innovation strategy? Overall goals, a target portfolio for innovation

efforts, a mechanism to allocate resources to achieve that portfolio, and clearly defined goals

and boundaries for innovation.

25. What is the best way to manage an innovation portfolio? Make sure you correctly

capture current activities and measure and manage different kinds of innovations in different

ways.

26. What does 'prudent pruning' mean? Recognizing that destruction is often a critical

component of creation.

27. What role should senior executives play in innovation? A big one.

28. How can I personally become a better innovator? Practiceinnovation is a skill that

can be mastered.

29. How can I find more resources for innovation? Shut down "zombie projects" that are a

drain on corporate resources.

30. How can I more quickly turn good ideas into good businesses? Remember what

Edison saidgenius is "1% inspiration and 99% perspiration;" get ready to sweat.

31. Has anyone built the ability to innovate at scale? An increasing number of companies,such as Google, Apple, Procter & Gamble, Amazon.com, Cisco Systems, Godrej & Boyce

and General Electric.

Scott D. Anthony is the managing director of Innosight Ventures, a venture-building and

investing business with offices in Singapore, India, and the U.S. He previously was president

of Innosight's consulting arm, where he worked with Fortune 500 and startup companies in

industries such as media, consumer products, and technology. Scott also speaks on the

topics of growth and innovation.