5 Mistakes that Quash Corporate Innovation

The biggest breakthroughs in the history of business and the history of the world are never the result of conventional thinking, says Maria Ferrante-Schepis, a veteran in the insurance and financial services industry who now consults Fortune 100 companies such as GE with innovation agent Maddock Douglas, Inc.

To echo Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt back in 1960, In every case, the reason growth (in business) is threatened, slowed or stopped is not because the market is saturated. It is because there has been a failure of management.' Many of the world's biggest companies are simply riding on inertia, says Ferrante-Schepis, author of Flirting with the Uninterested, (www.flirtingwiththeuninterested.com <http://www.flirtingwiththeuninterested.com> ), coauthored by G. Michael Maddock, which explores innovation opportunity through the lens of the insurance industry

There's a great saying in the South: You can't read the label when you are sitting inside the jar,' says Maddock, CEO of Maddock Douglas. It's hard to see a need and invent a way to fill that need when you've been inside one business or industry for a long time.

Recognizing those needs requires stepping outside of the jar and viewing things from the outside, adds Ferrante-Schepis.

You can't innovate from inside the jar, and if you aren't innovating, you're just waiting for the expiration date on your business, she says.

Ferrante-Schepis and Maddock bust five myths relating to corporate innovation:

The preference of four out of five dentists  doesn't necessarily matter: Many years ago, when the Maddock Douglas  firm consulted with P&G to develop new oral health care products, Crest  was recommended by most dentists. However, it turns out the market had  shifted; consumers became more interested in bright smiles than healthy gums.  Many industries make the mistake of getting their insights from their own  experts rather than asking the consumer.

Giving all your love to those who already  love you: In the interest of preserving customer morale, too many  companies focus on those who already love their service. But that's not what  companies need to work on; they need to focus on what's not working  in order to improve. The haters very often offer well-targeted insights that  can tremendously improve products, customer service, and/or  operations.

We tried that idea. It didn't  work. What idea, exactly? People who are in the jar interpret new  ideas based on how they last saw them. You may think you've tried or  tested an idea, but if you applied it in a conventional way, the way it's  always been used, you haven't really tried it. Consider the term auction --  in-the-jar thinkers envision Sotheby's and not the more practical and  innovative eBay.

Trying to impress with insider  jargon: Communication is a huge part of innovation. Policies in the  health-insurance industry, for example, include language that may make sense  to insiders, but say nothing to the average middle-class customer, which is  prohibitive. Be very careful about the language you use. In this case, voice  of the customer should be taken literally. Customers recognize, respond to  and build from their own words more than from yours.

Staying at your desk and in the  office: Doubling down on what already has not worked for you is not  innovative. Get outside your office and act like an anthropologist. Spend time  with your customers and bring an expert interpreter and a couple members of  your team. Compare notes; you'll be shocked at how differently you all see the  situation.

Maria Ferrante-Schepis is the managing principal of insurance and financial services at Maddock Douglas, Inc, an agency of innovation focused on helping large brands bring new ideas to market. After more than 20 years as an executive in the insurance and financial services industry, she has joined the Maddock Douglas team to focus on the opportunities for innovation in the insurance and financial services industry, recognizing the significant public and government demand for change. Ferrante-Schepis holds a bachelor's in marketing and an MBA in management.   

G. Michael Maddock is the founding partner and CEO of leading innovation agency Maddock Douglas, which has helped more than 25 percent of Fortune 100 companies invent, brand and launch new products, services and business models. A serial entrepreneur, Maddock has launched four successful businesses and co-chairs the Gathering of Titans Entrepreneurial Conclave at MIT.