Summary: Innovation - Curtis Carlson and William Wilmot

This work offers a summary of the book “INNOVATION: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want” by Curtis Carlson and William Wilmot.
The starting point for innovation, Carlson and Wilmost believe, is not a new idea, it lies in successfully answering three questions: Who is your customer? What is the customer value you currently provide, and how do you measure that customer value? Which best innovation practices can you use to provide more customer value in the future? According to the authors, there are five principles you can use as tools that can answer all these questions in the best way.
They recommend, for example, focusing squarely on customer needs, rather than what looks exciting to you. A brilliant invention is not commercially brilliant if it makes no difference to the consumer. Can the innovation be put into place in a long-term way, and are you willing to commit to it? Innovation also explores the best way to implement innovation when you do decide to go ahead: What is the best way to form an innovation team, and what complementary qualities should they have? What’s the most effective way to ensure that people in that team share the same strategic vision?
Innovation is successful on two levels: it provides a strong, big-picture blueprint for long-term change, and a detailed plan for how to implement that change.