Beware of innovation for innovation’s sake! How insightful information about customers’ unmet needs leads to GENUINE innovation of offerings.

Tuesday: Return Driven Strategy FROM THE DESK OF MILES EVERSON: The business landscape is constantly changing. With this change comes the need for companies to innovate their offerings to keep up with their target market’s varying demands and preferences. By “innovate,” we don’t mean simply innovating for innovation’s sake. What we mean is ensuring that customers’ needs are always the focus of innovation. Keep reading to know more about how innovation of offerings lead to an ethical maximization of a company’s wealth. CEO, MBO Partners Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

Beware of innovation for innovation’s sake! How insightful information about customers’ unmet needs leads to GENUINE innovation of offerings. In the past 2 weeks, we talked about the first Competency Tenet, which is Deliver Offerings. We also mentioned why planning and execution are equally important steps in helping a company deliver genuine offerings that fulfill customers’ unmet needs. Today, we’ll focus on the second Competency Tenet, which is… INNOVATE OFFERINGS! According to Professor Joel Litman and Dr. Mark L. Frigo’s book, “Driven,” through the innovation of offerings of a return-driven organization, more and more needs can be met. This can also facilitate business success. As an independent professional who’s working to build a brand, you should consider the importance of this tenet as it will help you stand out from the rest of your competitors. This will help distinguish your brand in your industry. Here are some of the things you have to take note of regarding this tenet: Innovate offerings by constantly gaining detailed, insightful information about your customers’ unmet needs. Innovate the entirety of your offering. This means not only focusing on your product or service’s function, but also on the psychological attributes and influences your offering can potentially deliver for the fulfillment of a need. Ensure that your customers’ needs are always the focus of your innovation. Make a distinction between innovation of offerings and innovation of processes. Recognize the importance of failures in innovation as these are necessary for successful innovation toward the achievement of extraordinary performance. In the third level of the Return Driven Strategy framework, innovation of offerings is one of the necessary competencies for the success of any business or organization. Firms with high returns have skills, experience, and a focused intention for changing their offerings on an ongoing basis. Additionally, inspiration, invention, and ingenuity all describe ways in which creativity is channeled toward developing offerings that fulfill the needs of targeted customer groups. High-return businesses go through creative endeavors to not only improve products and services, but also develop and deliver potential offerings that fulfill needs in ways no other offering previously has. Let’s take a look at medical device company Medtronic’s financial performance. As stated in “Driven,” the company’s performance is driven by its focus on its mission statement, which is, “To contribute to human welfare by application of biomedical engineering in the research, design, manufacture, and sale of instruments or appliances that alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life.” This is just one of the many great examples that show how innovation, offerings, and needs are part of the path to the creation of wealth. Innovation stems from creativity and innovation. However, it’s not enough that firms be creative. This process needs to be focused on the creation of new offerings that answer needs that customers cannot get answered elsewhere. In other words, innovation is not called the fifth tenet in the Return Driven Strategy framework because it is fifth in importance, but because it should follow intention. When creativity is used for the achievement of the higher tenets, more of the unmet needs in the market can be solved. … and as creative as your organization can be, you must still deliver an offering that fulfills the needs of customer groups to support the resources for your creativity. Hope you found this week’s insights interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for next Tuesday’s Return Driven Strategy! Learn more about the How to Innovate Return Driven Offerings on next week’s Return Driven Strategy!