Robert G. Cooper On Creating Value Through Innovation

The best innovators have four times the sales from new products and more than double the success rate as the worst performers. But why the huge differences?’

‘A superior and differentiated product– one that delivers unique benefits and superior value to the customer- is the number one driver of success and new product profitability.’

‘Building in the voice of the customer is one of the strongest drivers of new-product profitability, and also of time efficiency. But the great majority of companies miss the mark here- with insufficient VoC and no fact-based customer insights.’

‘People don’t know what they’re looking for until they see it or experience it. So get something in front of the customer or user fast- and keep repeating these tests all the way through to formal product testing or field trials. Multiple iterations and product validations- spirals development- are essential when facing fluid markets with customers that are uncertain about their needs.’

‘Manage risk by breaking the process into increments. When the uncertainties and unknowns are high, keep the spending low.’

‘If you want speed to market, then focus– resource your projects properly.’

‘Of the five most important drivers of businesses’ new-product performance, idea management has the strongest impact.’

‘Customer visit teams are valuable for gaining real insights into the customer’s world: the ability to identify and focus on customer problems and unspoken needs, a vital source of product ideas.’

‘Innovative customers are quite likely to have the industry’s next new product, and this lead-user method is one way to uncover what it is.’

‘Your own employees are excellent potential sources of new-product ideas. Yet all too often, internally generated ideas are either mundane or not acted upon. But there are ways to change that.’

‘How does one design a system that integrates many activities and multifunctional inputs and fosters a cross-functional team approach?’

Source:

Robert G. Cooper (2017). Winning at New Products: Creating Value Through Innovation

Do Not Be Scared To Express Your True Self

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If you want to know your true self, you must cultivate the courage to express your inner self.

Do not hide it. The world is waiting to receive the real you.

Stop accepting who you are not. And start celebrating who you really are. If you do not have the courage to live your real life, then you are living a fake life.

Permit me to ask you. Are you living your real life? If you are not doing what you love to do, if you are not associating yourself with the right people, if you are not being true to your inner self, then you have given up your true self.

Gerry Hussey writes, ‘The sad thing is that we begin to value social affirmation as more important than self-expression and we decide to bend and shape our identity and our self-expression not in ways that express our true self, but simply in ways that get us accepted by others.’

Your life is your life. Your life is bigger than what other people want you to be. Because of that, you must do whatever you can to defend your life. And you can do it.