The World’s Greatest Innovation Killer

I’ve been around high-growth companies my entire career, and every one of those companies had great ideas that never went anywhere. In fact, some of the companies themselves were little more than an innovative idea; the fact that there was a logo and an office caused employees to (mistakenly) think of the organization as a company rather than an untested idea in need of validation.

Fortunately, my current company innovates in ways that “matter” (my term to indicate that our innovations solve real problems and drive value in exchange). But in the technology world, that’s the exception rather than the rule.

Over the years however I’ve come to realize that many innovators are blind to where the biggest threat to their business lies.  Those who are naturally competitive tend to think it comes from external competition. Others think the key threat is cash flow, regulation, or some other threat looming on the horizon.

But I’m convinced that the number one threat to innovation is target market inertia.

Seth Godin recently wrote about how marketing can create awareness, trust and action – each of which are successively more difficult to create. Remember the Seinfeld episode when Jerry is venting at the car rental agency desk for them taking-but-not-holding his reservation (“…and that’s really the most important part of the reservation – the holding”)? Similarly, when it comes to innovation, it’s not awareness that’s the hard part, but stimulating action.

When I’m speaking to a group about this I often ask them to envision the breakfast cereal aisle in their local supermarket. If you do this right now you will conjure up an image of a long, well-lit aisle where a preposterous array of breakfast cereals are on display, causing stupefied shoppers to consider deep questions such as “does the world need that many versions of Cheerios?”.

THAT is the image to hold in your mind when you consider the array of choices that people in your target market are faced with several times per day.  We’re all overwhelmed, and people who are overwhelmed have difficulty taking action when “action” is exactly what you need them to take.

Often I’ll hear a business plan or a SWOT review where, at the end of the presentation, I haven’t heard one thing about the inertia problem in the target market. I sort of understand this however….I mean, who wants to pitch a company or an idea to important people where you say “…but you know, it might not work because people might not care enough to try it or, once they do, to keep using it”?  Though true, that approach doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Since this blog is a place for smart, attractive, “can-do” people like you, here are a few practical thoughts I have to at least confront market inertia in your business:

1. Question your Happy Path. This is easier said than done.  Many founders/innovators I’ve met are, by definition, optimistic people. They believe in their hearts that the inexorable march of technology and customer need will converge inside one of their conference rooms.  You need to challenge your assumptions. The Church created the idea of the “Devil’s Advocate” and the military uses Red Teams to challenge their assumptions. You too need to get into your market and understand why your happy path is unlikely to happen in the real world.

2. Answer these three questions: Who cares? So What? Why me? More on this here.

3. Find and promote “indicator species”. This is a probably a (future) post in and of itself, but the idea is that few of us engage in change unless we see some other member of our tribe successfully negotiate that change. Technology is adopted largely based upon subtle (or not-so-subtle) social pressure. We get smart phones because, well, everyone around us has them also. An indicator species is a term common in biodiversity and environmental research, but like all great thinking the business world has found a way to appropriate the term for it’s own use – in this case to refer to someone who serves as a successful test case for change. You need to find these people because they show those around them that this change is safe and good.

That should be enough for you to chew on and apply to your own world for now.  Remember – the silent killer of innovation is target market inertia. We humans have evolved to be suspicious of change.  Smart people know this and actively plan for it.

Good luck!