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By Chad McAllister

Innovation Perspective from an Unlikely Source

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I started my career as an engineer.  Like many of my young colleagues at the time, I tended to be a bit arrogant, believing engineering was the center of all that is good in an organization!  While  Marketing, Sales, Operations, etc. must have served a purpose, the really interesting work was leading product innovation — that is what engineers did.  A few years later I found myself working very closely with Sales and I saw a different world and gained new perspectives.  Much to my surprise, I found a book on sales to provide fodder for my innovation thinking.  The book is “Solution Selling” and seminars by the same name were popular in the mid-90’s.  Although it is somewhat dated now, its utility for creating a customer centered approach to innovation remains.

Imagine my surprise — a sales book that is not focused on selling a product but rather focused on meeting the needs of customers.  That means we have to know a lot about the customers and what they need — be a true consultant.  As an engineer, I had been fortunate to work closely with customers throughout my career.  However, this book provided a framework for examining customers needs, identifying what the real problems are, and judging how significant these problems are to a larger group of people.

When I was working on research for why we misunderstand requirements for software projects, I consulted with requirements engineering expert Al Davis

(http://www.uccs.edu/~faculty/adavis/aboutme.htm).  During our initial discussion, he recommended the Solution Selling book as a resource to stimulate thought.  Go figure — someone else who believes understanding the customer is important.

These experiences had many valuable lessons, including that if we want to transform an organization and create a culture of innovation, we need to look outside at customers and markets instead of inside at ourselves.

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Filed Under: Concepts

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Chad McAllister - Product Management and Innovation TrainingThe primary responsibilities for an organization are product management and innovation. They deliver value to customers. They're also exciting responsibilities for those properly equipped. That is my job - equipping product managers and innovators.
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