INTROSPECTION – Defined as self-examination. Before you can become innovative, you (and your management team) really need to re-examine your business with the intent of understanding what business you are in. As a marketing consultant with over 25 years in the consumer goods industry, I am admittedly biased, but I would suggest you engage a professional who can help you in this endeavor. For example, the basic question of “what business are we in?” can lead you to very different paths for innovation. George Eastman built Kodak into an empire by answering that question correctly. Kodak was not in the business of selling film, cameras or photos. No, Eastman defined all of those as byproducts of his true business: selling memories…memories of family, good times, history, etc. You need to answer similar questions including “who is my target market?”, “what is my unique point of difference?”, “what is the consumer insight upon which I compete?” etc. Until you understand your business at the most fundamental level, you are not ready to innovate.

IMMERSION – Once you have completed the INTROSPECTION exercise, you need to immerse yourself in all aspects of your business, but with a twist. You need to imagine yourself as having just landed on Earth from another solar system and you are trying to learn about your business as if you knew nothing about it at all. So visit your customers and spend hours (days?) with them. Understand how your products fit into their lives. Do a deep dive into the category in which you compete and understand the “up and coming” technologies that impact it. Spend as much time as you can investigating your competition…what makes them special and where are their weaknesses? You get the point. You need to immerse yourself in the business in order to complete your understanding of it.

IDEATION – Now you are ready to start thinking about innovation. Take your management team off-site to a nice place (as nice as you can afford). Relax. Play. Renew friendships. Talk. Share. Ideas will start to emerge from the vast knowledge you have gathered as part of the first two exercises. Eventually hold a few formal sessions where you capture those ideas. Consider using a consultant who can help you ideate and generate thoughts on innovation. If you cannot afford to spend a couple of days away from the office you are not ready to innovate. Do it. You will thank me later.

After you complete the “Three I’s” exercise you should have a renewed understanding of your business, its place in the category, your customer, and potential avenues for innovation. If you do this process correctly, you will have the foundation for development of your strategic plan, marketing plan, and innovation plan. Your management team will be refreshed and engaged in the task. In short, your non-innovative company will have found its wings, and I believe you will have the tools to drive growth in your business for years to come!

Mark Prus is a Principal at Venti Brands Consulting Group LLC

If you have visionary leadership at your company, this might be a good way to go. But companies like Procter & Gamble also have strong leadership and they have taken a different route to innovation. P&G has been a leader in Open Innovation, and many of the new products they have launched in the past few years have come from outside the company.

Which approach is better? Some say that Crowdsourcing produces a lot of good ideas, while “home grown” innovation is capable of producing bigger breakthrough ideas.

I love Apple (full disclosure: I own Apple stock and am a big fan of their products). However, I am not sure that the “elitism model of innovation” is one that can be expanded to a lot of companies. I believe that Steve Jobs is a true visionary, and that people like him come along far too rarely for this to be a workable model of innovation. It does work for Apple…but how many other companies can implement it?

Your thoughts?

Mark Prus is a Principal of Venti Brands Consulting Group LLC