Five Secrets of Great Innovation

So what does it take to succeed with a great new product? Business expert Steven D. Strauss offers this advice:

1. Think of things that never were and ask, “Why not?” Bobby Kennedy’s famous motto is an apt description of the first ingredient necessary to create a successful new product. Terrific products come from terrific ideas.

2. Tap the power of one: Whatever successful product you look at, you will invariably find there was some man or woman steadfastly committed to its success. Ed Lowe was nothing but a young, ambitious veteran with tons of unsold clay when he decided that he had a better cat litter. He single-handedly invented a new industry.

3. Keep it simple: If you are going to offer something new and improved, make sure it’s simple and does one or two things very well. People famously cannot program their VCRs, but they don’t have to program their DVRs.

4. First is best. Getting your product to market first can mean the difference between having a winner and being a loser. Post-its were first. Pampers were first.

5. Try, try again. When Dr. Percy Spencer noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket melted after standing near a magnetron tube, he realized something unique had occurred. Yet it would take almost 20 years of trial and error before Raytheon could turn that into the first microwave oven.