1. Jump to
the next curve. Too many companies duke it out on the same curve. If they were
daisy wheel printer companies, they think innovation means adding Helvetica in
24 points. Instead, they should invent laser printing. True innovation happens
when a company jumps to the next curve–or better still, invents the next curve,
so set your goals high.
2. Don’t worry,
be crappy. An innovator doesn’t worry about shipping an innovative product with
elements of crappiness if it’s truly innovative. The first permutation of a
innovation is seldom perfect–Macintosh, for example, didn’t have software
(thanks to me), a hard disk (it wouldn’t matter with no software anyway),
slots, and color. If a company waits–for example, the engineers convince
management to add more features–until everything is perfect, it will never
ship, and the market will pass it by.
3. Churn,
baby, churn. I’m saying it’s okay to ship crap–I’m not saying that it’s okay to
stay crappy. A company must improve version 1.0 and create version 1.1, 1.2, …
2.0. This is a difficult lesson to learn because it’s so hard to ship an
innovation; therefore, the last thing employees want to deal with is complaints
about their perfect baby. Innovation is not an event. It’s a process.
4. Don’t be
afraid to polarize people. Most companies want to create the holy grail of
products that appeals to every demographic, social-economic background, and
geographic location. To attempt to do so guarantees mediocrity. Instead, create
great DICEE products that make segments of people very happy. And fear not if
these products make other segments unhappy. The worst case is to incite no
passionate reactions at all, and that happens when companies try to make
everyone happy.
5. Break
down the barriers. The way life should work is that innovative products are
easy to sell. Dream on. Life isn’t fair. Indeed, the more innovative, the more
barriers the status quo will erect in your way. Entrepreneurs should understand
this upfront and not get flustered when market acceptance comes slowly. I’ve
found that the best way to break barriers is enable people to test drive your
innovation: download your software, take home your hardware, whatever it takes.
6. “Let a
hundred flowers blossom.” Innovators need to be flexible about how people use
their products. Avon created Skin So Soft to soften skin, but when parents used
it as an insect repellant, Avon went with the flow. Apple thought it created a
spreadsheet/database/wordprocessing computer; but, come to find out, customers
used it as a desktop publishing machine. The lesson is: Don’t be proud. Let a
hundred flowers blossom.
7. Think
digital, act analog. Thinking digital means that companies should use all the
digital tools at its disposal–computers, web sites, instruments, whatever–to
create great products. But companies should act analog–that is, they must
remember that the purpose of innovation is not cool products and cool
technologies but happy people. Happy people is a decidedly analog goal.
8. Never ask
people to do what you wouldn’t do. This is a great test for any company.
Suppose a company invents the world’s greatest mousetrap. It murders mice
better than anything in the history of mankind–in fact, it’s nuclear powered.
The problem is that the customer needs a PhD to set it, it costs $500,000, and
has to drop off the dead, radioactive mouse 500 miles away in the middle of the
desert. No one at the company would jump through those hoops–it shouldn’t
expect customers to either.
9. Don’t let
the bozos grind you down. The bozos will tell a company that what it’s doing
can’t be done, shouldn’t be done, and isn’t necessary. Some bozos are clearly
losers–they’re the ones who are easy to ignore. The dangerous ones are rich,
famous, and powerful–because they are so successful, innovators may think they
are right. They’re not right; they’re just successful on the previous curve so
they cannot comprehend, much less embrace, the next curve.
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