Many people have big ideas and would love to get their company behind it. In Breakthrough: A 7-Step System for Developing Unexpected and Profitable Ideas, Paul Kurnit and Steve Lance share it – and its relatively easy to follow.
- Recognize that the new idea may mean deviating, even ending, the way things currently are done in the company. For senior staff, this often means setting up a new team and isolating them from the rest of the company since their strategy and culture not only deviate, but may be diametrically opposed to the current system. Many companies, such as IBM when it decided around 1980 to develop a desktop computer, called the PC, created a “skunk works’ team and placed them in Florida, even though the company’s headquarters are in NY.
- If you’re not a senior person and need to develop the idea within the company, you need to understand that you’re going to need some protection from above and support from others who reinforce your efforts and protect it against the mainstream. This means getting some business buy-in from your superiors, peers, etc. Remember, the lesson of the Asch, Sheriff and Milgram experiments – it takes just only a few other people (sometimes as few as one) who support your view to sustain people’s efforts to deviate from the group. So organize a team that includes true believers, consensus builders and odd ducks, with special skills, connections,
- Build a “business” plan to sell it to others within the company. Identify such topics as: what are you selling? What kinds of support are you looking for? Who is the competition? Why are you likely to succeed? What is the ultimate value for the company? Then do the heavy lifting: do the research to answer key questions, conduct due diligence, work out a timetable, budgets.
- Now, armed with a plan, you need to one again sell it to management, to increase their buy-in.
- When you’re ready to launch, make sure to evaluate the process carefully, so appropriate tweaking can take place. Then, as things get accepted – celebrate a successful launch. And, remember, you’ve only completed phase one: now you need to work with the company to institutionalize your creation.
Are you thinking of taking a new idea and launching it as a profitable service or product: The advice in this book may be useful. If you’ve already launched your service/product, share your experiences and let’s see how we can all learn from each other’s experiences! kamagra