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Brands are being told everyday that they must embrace innovation like never before; and that includes turning over part of the process to consumer. And, by the way, this isn’t any random consumer. These consumers are the brand’s self-selected advocates; ones often found engaging in social media. But, before a brand can even begin to think about advocacy innovation and the new face of R&D, let’s consider organizational structure and the company’s ability to engage in this new process.
According to Lisa Bodell’s new book, Kill The Company, companies need to question assumptions and to challenge rules that have outlived their time. Killing these status quo attitudes makes space for change and more value-added work, like thinking (gee, wouldn’t that be nice to have the time to think?). Innovation is supposed to make things better, not worse, easier, not more complicated. A company that empowers its people to think critically, question relentlessly, and act boldly, to move from Zombies, Inc. to Think, Inc., will own the future.
When the internal compass is set to this temperature, external innovation efforts will also be easier and more fruitful.
Believe us when we say that we know the sirens may be going off in all corners of the brain; and the building. Not to worry, the feeling is normal. In the interim, we kindly suggest to you before embarking on this incredibly fruitful expedition of open innovation to take some precious think time to read Lisa’s book or for an even quicker, equally informative read, try Mike Maddock’s (founder and CEO of Innovation Agency Maddock Douglas ), great check list in his Forbes article, How To Know Your Company Is (NOT) Ready To Innovate And What To Do About It. And, of course, we are always here if you have any questions about how to engage your consumer community in innovation, advocacy and R&D.
Top image from Imgembed.
This is a cross-post from Napkin Labs blog.