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

Brad And Steve On How To Elevate Your Game

If you want to improve your life, you must first improve your performance.

The question is, according to Brad and Steve, ‘Is healthy, sustainable peak performance possible? If so, how? What’s the secret? What, if any, are the principles underlying great performance? How can people like us- which is to say, just about anyone-adopt them?’

‘The brightest minds spend their time either pursuing their activity with ferocious intensity, or engaging in complete restoration and recovery.’

What are you doing to get better? If you are doing something, then ask yourself, ‘Is it the right thing for this moment?

‘It isn’t experience that sets top performers apart but the amount of deliberate practice they put in. Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.’

Be intentional about your practice. If your practice is not right, do not expect to get better.

‘The way we think about the world has a profound effect on what we do in it.’

‘By pushing us toward just- manageable challenges and enhancing how we’ll respond to them, the right mindset opens up the possibility for growth to occur.’

Growth happens when you open up your mind to receive it. Because you will never receive what you are not expecting.

‘If we never take ‘easy’ periods, we are never able to go full throttle and the ‘hard’ periods end up being not that hard at all.’

‘Hard work only becomes smart and sustainable work when it’s supported by rest.’

‘It is hard to do your best thinking when your mind isn’t at peace.’

‘The things we work amidst become expansions of the self, things the mind can use to create harmony in experience.’

‘Is healthy, sustainable peak performance possible?

Source:

Brad Stulberg & Steve Magness (2017). Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with The New Science of Success