The outcomes of successful innovation usually appear obvious in hindsight; It’s hardly ever obvious in advance. Henry Ford once remarked that “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would’ve told me a faster horse.” In other words, your customer often can’t tell you what they really want until after they see it, which is not very helpful if you’re the innovator. What might be helpful is a process that an innovator could use to determine what a customer might want.
One lifelong student of innovation suggests that “When people look to improve something in their lives, they’re usually thinking about three specific dimensions: functional, social, and emotional”.
This implies a perhaps more indirect route to innovation, but when it comes to connecting a customer to something new, the shortest distance between two points is not always a straight line. Take a few minutes to understand “What’s the Secret to Successful innovation?
