The Seven Lessons

“These are the nuts and bolts of innovation—where the hard work of innovation builds enduring value.”

—Thomas Koulopoulos, The Innovation Zone

1.  Build for the unknown.

Uncertainty dominates the landscape for innovation. Without embracing the risks of the unknowable, companies are bound by the experiences of the past. Worse, they fail to adapt and act before new external conditions are fully present or understood.

2.      Fail fast.

To innovate, organizations must be prepared to move fast and fail even faster. (Failure happens!) There’s little time to regroup and reconfigure after a failure—even the “right” kind of failure—and preparation is key.

 3.      Abandon the success of the past.

Staying innovative requires letting go of old models that define the past—easier said than done for most companies. But the variables of business are constantly changing, and successful organizations can’t be bound by days gone by and the notion of how things have been done.

 4.      Separate the seeds from the weeds.

Innovation doesn’t work by building on the known or expected. Instead, it creates its own “ecosystems” where unknown seeds will eventually sprout. The job of innovative companies is to keep a watchful eye out for new growth in surprising places—often a difficult task for larger organizations steeped in old systems and procedures.

 5.      Focus on process—not product.

At the heart of innovation is a culture and commitment to the process of innovating. Companies that instill a true spirit of experimentation, and consistently invest in new ideas, know that innovation is much more about changing a business than delivering any single product or service.

6.      Create an innovation experience.

In the past, the value of innovation resided entirely in the product. But there comes a point. when companies hit a hard stop in how fast they can change a product. The good news? Every organization can continue to accelerate innovation, and the value it delivers, by shifting focus from product innovation to “experience” innovation. As they do, customers will think about the experience—not the company, product, or service. (Think: Apple and music, WalMart and retail, and JetBlue and air travel.)

7.      Challenge conventional wisdom.

Innovative companies play to their core competencies, yet avoid a fatal mistake: getting stuck in them. Rather than cling to what a product or service is “supposed to be,” they challenge conventional wisdom and consider new, even outrageous, ideas.