I’ve just finished reading Lightning In A Bottle (aff) – A book on how to develop great ideas by two consultants at a leading market research firm. I decided to share this now, since many people have a New Years resolution to start a business or launch to a product — BUT this book is not delimited to these people.
It begins by making some bold claims such as “Why Market Segmentation is a Sham” among others. The most surprising claim of all, is that the authors, David Minter (President) and Michael Reid (Principal) of Minter and Associates state that their process for developing ideas will improve new product success rates from 1-in-10 to a staggering 1-in-2!
In other words, how to reach a success rate of 5 times the American national average!
But, I Don’t Need Ideas, Do I?
“All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea.” Napoleon Hill, Author of Think and Grow Rich.
If it weren’t for ideas, there’d be no growth, no innovation, no healthy competition in business. Minter and Reid explain the fundamental importance of ideas and explain how they are the foundation for our society. Without ideas, who’d have invented the wheel?
Of course, ideas are not just tickets to new products and exciting services – they can be also be used for creating your advertising, steering your market positioning or defining your long-term strategies.
Minter and Reid brightly describe the importance of filling your organization with those they call barbarians and prophets. Whilst the prophets develop great ideas, barbarians execute them confidently – and without these people or a proper process in a business, the company stagnates. Whereas many organizations are losing these types of people, Minter and Reid express the significance of attracting these key drivers of innovation.
How can I make it happen?
Besides having prophets and barbarians to influence innovation in business, the ideas should originate and develop in a sturdy process of development and refinement. The authors explain that it’s merely the same process used in grade 3 science class.
- Study the Subject
- Form a Hypothesis
- Test the Hypothesis
- Adjust the Variables
- Re-test the Hypothesis
As you can see on their website the method above is the foundation of their “Idea Engineering process” that made Minter + Reid the successful company it is today. The book is testament to their experience and they explain the process along with all the tidbits to go along with it to be understood by anyone.
Although just following the process on the website would be beneficial to anyone looking to develop influential ideas, the reasoning behind the process, as its described in the book would complement the process beyond measure.
My Impressions
I’m not completely familiar with the topic of product and service innovation but this book has opened my eyes appropriately. Before reading this book I severely underestimated the power and importance that good ideas have in our society. The first few chapters are really great at explaining the necessity for great ideas.
Ultimately, the process outlined in the book is clear and objective. It rings true on a number of levels but I’m still slightly skeptical. Perhaps professionals like Minter and Reid (and maybe 3M) can hit a 50% product success rate but the fact that many companies struggle to get even a 30% product success rate still haunts me in the back of my mind. Whilst I believe it to be possible to reach 50%, you’d certainly have to have your marketing wits about you.
Overall, I would recommend this book (aff) to anyone interested in marketing and especially to those of you who are:
- Wanting to go commercial with a product
- Deciding how to market your business creatively
- Trying to position your company
- Interested in practical Market Research
Wishing You Success and Prosperity in the New Year,
Robert Kingston
Robert, do the authors define what a great idea is? I wonder if they are more likely talking about inspiration – the aHA! moment when the light bulb turns on.
Everybody has ideas, the visionary can recognize it and has the guts to act on it.
After reading their book did they convince you that their process could improve your products success rate to 1 in 2?
Hey Ed,
The didn’t exactly say what a great ideas was, they mainly gave examples of good and bad ideas such as how successful blockbuster was and how bad “invisible jeans” are.
They also said you need prophets (idea people) and barbarians (people to drive the idea) to make great ideas and execute them well. Which I believe is one of the most fundamental things they discussed in the book.
Then they talk about problems you get when developing products (and how most companies go about developing them in the wrong way), the top ten reasons why good ideas can fail and why other ideas fail outright.
I think most of the juice however resides in their seven step process which you can check out here. The thing which ‘got’ me though, was that they emphasize the importance of learning and becoming an expert in the area which you’d like to create an idea in. So, instead of brainstorming first with little background knowledge and learning all about a topic later, they aim to get a solid foundation from which they can create their ideas from.
Whilst I’m not confident that reading the book alone can increase it to 50 percent, having prophets and barbarians in your business might pull it over the mark.