The innovation perspective comes from outside

I love working with innovation! I’ve always been considered a “man of ideas” guy. Which means just “having lots of ideas,” not all good. It seems to me that the main thing is to let them come, even if they are silly, without blocking the thought.

On a day-to-day basis, however, this can become an addiction. Many people, and me too, have a habit of going to places like shops, restaurants and staying there analyzing the service as a whole. Often ideas come up about how they could do things differently so that service could be better or more profitable.

The other day, in a hotel, I had several of these ideas (not necessarily good ones) and after discussing them passionately with those who were with me, I amended:

Wow, I needed to have one of those “good ideas” for my own business.

Despite the seeming unpretentious outburst, I kept that in mind. For a few days this did not leave my mind and I began to look at our team opportunities to do this, to have ideas to change things, right here.

But it was in a meeting with a client that things really got clear. He called me to deal with an innovation project. In that scheme: connection in one day, meeting in the other. I wanted to have more time to analyze the case, but the schedule did not allow, I went to dry!

Arriving there, he showed me a situation he was living in and how he intended to solve it. He showed me his plan on a series of slides and ordered me to do what he asked.

Without any pretense, I began to ask him about it, with a real interest in going deeper into the subject, and the problem he was trying to solve. He tried to understand, “What’s the problem you’re after?”

And after a few questions I saw him with no answers. That same confident person who had started the meeting showing exactly what he wanted. And I realized that my questions went unanswered, not because he did not know how to answer them, but because, as he told me: he had not asked himself about it before.

In the face of embarrassment, I relieved: “Sorry, I did not want to ruin your planning …” and he equally kindly replied: “No, continue …”

But as you and I know, I’m not a genius. So why did my questions seem so difficult, being made without any pretense? If I was very young, I might be confident that I am very capable, but my age has already taught me the trap of overconfidence.

The answer to this question seemed simple: perspective!

The young man tried to find a new outlet looking inside, imprisoned by the visions of the business, operating methods and offer pillars. My perspective was looser, I assessed things with the eyes of a prospect. And at this point, the lack of time to analyze the case gave me advantages, I went without any ready formulation, just my repertoire of experiences.

These are the types of projects I like the most. When we have the opportunity to delve into the real motivation of the client’s business and bring in a free discussion of our experienced team with technology, data, process and marketing people.

It is from here, from an outside perspective of the organization, that we have helped our clients to see things in a new way, not because we see more, no! Just because it is an experienced look, but that has not yet been blocked by the limits that the business itself imposes.

Do you live such a situation? I invite you to try it, just call us!