Tony Ulwick – Anthony Ulwick - Innovation Expert

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Anthony Ulwick, author of the bestseller, What Customers Want, and founder of Strategyn, an international innovation management consulting firm, is revolutionizing the field of innovation. While others claim innovation is a disorderly process that cannot be organized, Mr. Ulwick knows that innovation, like any other business process, can be organized into an efficient process with predictable results. This isn’t just talk or pie-in-the-sky thinking. What sets him apart from the theorists, academics, and other leading experts in this field is that he has already done it, proven it, published it, and patented it.

Mr. Ulwick’s thinking, which is years ahead of the curve, confronts the false beliefs held by other innovation thought leaders. For example, in a recent interview with the executive education leader HSM, Tom Peters, who has been hailed as the guru of gurus of management, is quoted as saying, “Nothing is more important than innovation, but if you think you can organize it you are nuts … really nuts. Orderly innovation is an oxymoronic phrase, believed only by morons with ox-like brains.”

But that outlook and many other popular beliefs about innovation, Ulwick says, “are just plain wrong – the product of age-old myths, lack of vision, and outdated thinking.” Mr. Ulwick has energized innovation with new thinking that exposes this and other myths. Consider the following:

Myths about Innovation...	…and the Truth
The innovation process begins with a creative idea.	The innovation process does not begin with an idea at all. It begins with the collection and prioritization of all the criteria that will be used to judge the value of ideas. With these inputs available up front, idea generation is focused, enabling companies to dramatically increase their chances of devising breakthrough products and services.
Management’s role in the innovation process is to encourage employees to be creative, take risks, and pursue pet projects – and to not punish failure.	Management has abdicated its role in the innovation process and delegated responsibility to the organization. Management – and not employees – must take responsibility for innovation. Decisions regarding targeting and business strategy and product and portfolio strategy must be made at the management level. Employees’ role in the innovation process is limited; companies can become proficient at innovation without undergoing broad cultural change.
Companies must be customer focused in order to succeed.	Companies must focus on the job the customer is trying to get done – not on the customer – in order to succeed. The job must be the primary unit of analysis. A focus on the customer and the competition offers no guarantee of success.
Customers often do not know, or can not effectively communicate, their actual needs and requirements.	Customers know, and can communicate, their needs perfectly well. The problem is that companies do not know how to define “need” or how to listen to customers. Unfortunately, they are blind to their ignorance, which makes this factor the number one contributor to failure. Unless the job is the unit of analysis and all inputs adhere to strict rules regarding structure and format, companies are capturing the wrong inputs into innovation. It is time stop focusing on the customer and to refocus VOC efforts on the job.
Innovation, by its very nature, is a disorderly, trial-and-error process that cannot be organized.	Innovation, like any other business process, can be organized. Companies have found it difficult because there is disagreement on just what innovation is, the sequence in which the process should be executed, and what inputs are needed to succeed. When innovation is executed in the correct sequence and with the right inputs, trial-and-error iterations are eliminated and success is ensured – the first time.
There are just two types of innovation growth strategies: they are growth thorough sustaining innovation and disruptive innovation.	A new categorization scheme reveals that there are six unique innovation growth strategies. Growth is achieved by pursuing all of them in a manner that maximizes overall profitability and guarantees long-term control of the market.

Let Mr. Ulwick show your company how to apply this thinking to energize growth. With this knowledge, your company will improve its innovation success rate, grow revenue, lower development costs, and deliver the products and services customers want. The unique insight Mr. Ulwick offers is the key to your company’s long-term sustainable growth. Inquire now about speaking engagements.