Innovator's Dilemma - Rowan Gibson's 4 lenses

Thanks to a Forbes article by Martin Zwilling, I am simply helping make viral the essence of what I view as compelling thinking of a successful mindset for innovation.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/martinzwilling/2015/02/24/how-smart-entrepreneurs-make-innovation-look-easy/

Martin Zwilling introduces us to/reminds us of Rowan Gibson - a reknowned thinker in innovation.  In his new book, Gibson posits that effective, breakthrough innovative thinking is fundamentally grounded in diligent assessment encompassing what Gibson calls four ‘lenses’:

1)   Questioning deeply-held beliefs and assumptions. The willingness to challenge accepted approaches and propose non-obvious alternatives is one of the fundamental driving forces for innovation. This is a thinking pattern and a culture which all entrepreneurs need to instill and nurture in every startup team member.

JB: Completely concurring, I add that this lens applies to not just start-ups, but innovative undertakings in any sized and any type entity (business, government, volunteer, etc.), as well as inter-industry (i.e.: video conferencing can compete with travel industry).  As a rule, accepted approaches are mostly followed, occasionally tweaked. The ripest opportunities are for those creative and daring enough to scrutinize conventional wisdom.                    

2)   Spotting and exploiting emerging trends. Innovative entrepreneurs have to start with a mindset of welcoming change, rather than trying to resist it. They don’t have to be futurists, they just have to be in the current time, not behind the times. Then they have to look for change, and continually hone their skills to turn discontinuity into opportunity.

JB: Strongly concurring, I gravitate more toward the notion of ‘better’ and ‘solve’ rather than ‘change’ as change is not always better nor does change always solve.  As Edison is attributed with famously saying,”… if I asked my customers what they wanted they would have said faster horses …” – this notion does convey a reality that customers/the marketplace  is not the only source of discerning need and opportunity.  Innovators with insight and vision can see opportunities to make improvements and actually enlighten customers/the marketplace with what-if ideas that connect dots in completely different ways. 

3)   Redeploying skills and assets in new ways. Innovators leverage existing skills and assets in new ways, new contexts, and new combinations, rather than assuming that new resources are needed for new opportunities. Strategic partnerships with other companies are a good way to extend the boundaries of your business and recombine resources.

JB: Strongly concurring in this context – it depends on the environment where the innovator is operating.  For instance, in an entity looking to evolve from legacy solutions and/or harness opportunity in emerging areas that are outside the entity’s sweet spot, creative innovators may find dart throwing leadership controlling purse strings more willing to accept a pathway that at least in the near term, redeploys skills, assets, core competencies – possibly with some work around approaches – to validate marketplace interest before fully unleashing full, long term investment commitments.  Conversely, other environments may be governed by thinking that has decided to at least significantly break from legacy-everything.  Certainly the strategic partnership/ alliance tactic can be a smart way to transition into innovative opportunity as well – with or without redeploying internal skills, assets & core competencies … depending on a variety of variables in each circumstance.  

4)   Paying attention to unmet needs and frustrations. It all starts with a customer perspective to uncover problems and frustrations, and then design solutions from the customer backward. But customers also tend to think linearly, so they don’t always know what they want. It’s up to you to match what is possible with what is needed.

JB: Completely concur.  This dovetails with my closing point for #2 above.  Again, to optimally innovate via this lens, innovators benefit most from insights into customers/ marketplaces – current as well as outlooks/ projections – for the industry/segment/ space.  Further, be aware of trends and projections for related and/or unrelated spaces ... that may be ripe for a form of convergence – facilitated more effectively via clever innovation.

Thanks to Michael Zwilling, I have added another book to my reading list.