“Some people say: “Give the customers what they want.” But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘A faster horse!'” People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.” – Steve Jobs

Making a difference

There are countless ways in which holistic innovation can contribute to a better future for the Earth and its inhabitants. End-to-end solutions like Mobility as a Service (MaaS) are challenging the status quo and coming up with modern solutions for modern problems contributes to people’s happiness and general wellbeing.

Everyone knows that innovation is a bare necessity of the 21^st century, yet this field is not developing as fast as it could or should, because of regulations, legacy questions, and the fact that change management takes time. In addition, I noticed that everything turns liquid under pressure. We are aware of the fact that holistic innovation – based on solutions – ultimately makes a difference in people’s lives.

Competences

I believe that innovation is a state of mind. During my career, I helped many companies with their innovation trajectories and have been an entrepreneur myself. In that capacity, I have seen that innovation and business revolution are a blend of four important competencies.

These competencies are Economy, Technology, Psychology, and Intimacy. Following these competencies, I note that opportunities for innovation don’t only transcend company levels, but markets as well. Successful, integrated solutions always consist of a mix of the aforementioned four competencies.

Working together cooperatively, together with the “four competence solutions” speeds up processes and turns innovations into profits. When an organization showcases its personality, it becomes a counterpart for personas found in the marketplace. From there, a change in corporate processes can take place. It also requires being more pragmatic and flexible across all levels and being less preoccupied with hierarchical structures. Dynamic teams are a good example of this. 

Facebook forward

I think that innovation starts with looking for customer-centric solutions (Psychology & Intimacy). Take Facebook, for example, whose next step could be community activation. This creates tighter and more valuable relationships between the platform’s users, which adds value to the platform itself and causes it to surpass its current status of being just a “Facebook”. The result is that the way is paved for platform modification (Technology) and the invention of new business models (Economy).

Even though the social media platform connects 1.7 billion people every day, its popularity is declining in the West; more and more people are permanently deleting their accounts. The solution that attracts new members is the same one that makes older members – mostly early adopters – delete their accounts. Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t only have a strong position in the market but is also always on the lookout for new models that really impact people’s lives. An interesting challenge, if you ask me…

Next Gen leaders

The next step in Facebook’s evolution could be – and I’m just making a suggestion here – spawned from community activation. It could connect people through activation, based on their interests. What it could also accomplish through activation is to better meet the needs of their community, i.e. create a real, active community based on their personal interests. Next Gen leaders won’t shy away from such a challenge and will use a cooperative model to make sure that innovation flourishes.

What’s your innovation vision and how can we help? Drop us a line on the contact page or look us up on LinkedIn, we look forward to hearing from you!