This interview with Janna Sobel, a coach with Notre Dame's UIM program and Second City of Chicago teaches organizations how to inspire teams to be innovative beyond their perceived limitations and how to have fun doing it so that they continue to improve upon old systems, find new and inspired ways to benefit their customers and communities, and have a remarkable positive impact on the world.
3 Critical Components to Profitable Innovation. Innovation is widely discussed. You may have innovation in your title or be responsible for it in some way. But, what is innovation? Is it really just new technology or is it more than that? How can innovation be more profitable and propel growth? B2B growth adviser, Kelly Lawrence, President of Lawrence Innovation shares the three critical components of successful innovation.
The pandemic has changed customer buying preferences. This article explores a personal case study of changing preferences and examines one buyer’s decision making in Mercedes-Benz versus Tesla. How have your customers’ buying preferences changed? How will you adjust your value proposition to deliver new business growth?
Adam Grant, organizational psychologist at Wharton described the predominant feeling in 2021 as languishing and encouraged finding its opposite, flourishing. This article explores how our mindset and having more fun help us to flourish, to achieve business growth and to achieve professional growth.
This interview with Janna Sobel, a coach with Notre Dame's UIM program and Second City of Chicago teaches organizations how to inspire teams to be innovative beyond their perceived limitations and how to have fun doing it so that they continue to improve upon old systems, find new and inspired ways to benefit their customers and communities, and have a remarkable positive impact on the world.
3 Critical Components to Profitable Innovation. Innovation is widely discussed. You may have innovation in your title or be responsible for it in some way. But, what is innovation? Is it really just new technology or is it more than that? How can innovation be more profitable and propel growth? B2B growth adviser, Kelly Lawrence, President of Lawrence Innovation shares the three critical components of successful innovation.
By Kelly Lawrence, Founder & CEO, Lawrence Innovation
In January, I shared that my commitment in 2022 is to have more fun - both personally and professionally. A key element of “fun” for me is continuous learning. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to collaborate with and learn from other Innovators every month through InnoQuest. I recently had the expanded good fortune of meeting fellow innovators and sustainability experts Danielle Doza and Victoria Avi. These two remarkable female entrepreneurs co-founded Venture Forward Strategies to help companies take actionable steps toward sustainability, defined as positive impacts on people and the environment that contribute to a flourishing planet. They also challenged me to think about sustainability a little differently. So with March being Women’s history month and April focused on Earth Day, what better time to dig into the topic of sustainability and how it relates to innovation and company growth? Thank you to Danielle and Victoria for the inspiration.
Earth Day 2022 is themed “Invest In Our Planet.” EarthDay.Org states “This is the moment to change it all — the business climate, the political climate, and how we take action on climate. Now is the time for the unstoppable courage to preserve and protect our health, our families, our livelihoods… together, we must Invest In Our Planet.”
In case that call to action isn’t strong enough to jump start your Discovery engine, in March 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission for the first time said that public companies must tell their shareholders and the federal government how they affect the climate. The New York Times reported that the proposed rule “aims to give investors a clearer picture of the risks that climate change might pose to companies, because of disasters like drought and wildfires, changes in government and environmental policies or consumers’ declining interest in products that contribute to global warming.”
And suddenly, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) referenced in our corporate annual plans just got a lot more real. Almost daily, I see a press release with a company announcing reduced carbon emission targets. Ms. Doza and Ms. Avi have informed me that there continues to be mounting pressure from regulators, governments, stakeholders and consumers for companies to address sustainability and climate change. They kindly advised that the time to build or reassess corporate sustainability strategies - including product line strategy - is now. Doza explains, “the risk and cost of an unstable climate will impact every entity and person on this planet. Climate risks to supply chains will only increase. Stakeholders will only raise pressures for companies to take action. Wherever a company is on their sustainability journey is a good place to start.”
For those of you who appreciate case studies, Doza shared two. The first story is how Interface leveraged their sustainability strategy to transform their business model and enhance profitability while significantly reducing their carbon footprint. You can read more in this HBR article. The second example is a case study for how Rohner Textiles leveraged their sustainability strategy to create a Cradle-to-Cradle certified product - a fully compostable fabric. The Cradle-to-Cradle Centre provides more information on how the product is Cradle-To-Cradle certified. The case study has also been featured by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an NGO dedicated to the Circular Economy.
So my fellow innovators, we have proof of concept. There are companies actively engaged in sustainability that are incorporating sustainability into products that are regarded as good for both business results and the environment.
In the often overwhelming world of sustainability, where do we start? At the beginning. Let’s break it down. Is sustainability (however your organization defines it) known or unknown? (Note, If any of you claim sustainability is known, I encourage you to open your own consultancy.) Sustainability has a reputation as a big hairy beast in the business and new product development world. New regulation tells us there are trends pushing for change. The signals are there that it’s time to investigate. So, I encourage you to set aside fear, bring out your new market and new technology development tools and apply them to the big broad topic of sustainability.
The AIM Institute argues there are 6 steps to commercialize new technology. Why not apply these to an investigation of sustainability, develop a business case and use the insights to help guide your strategy and tactics? This can be done at the corporate level and at the technology level. In the case of sustainability:
Accept you are trying to tame a jungle animal - you are not caring for a farm animal or well-understood family pet. You have a lot to learn and there are jungle guides - experts in sustainability - to help us along our journey. Reach out to them.
Select your first target market segment. Sustainability is a broad topic and means many things to many people. Break it down into meaningful chunks.
Investigate all assumptions that must be true.
Explore assumptions about customer unmet needs first.
Kill projects quickly that can’t go anywhere. Focus on the ones that are meaningful.
Test the next market segment.
How will you incorporate sustainability into your corporate growth strategy? Into your next innovation? Into your business model for sustainable growth? Contact me, I'd love to hear from you.
The pandemic has changed customer buying preferences. This article explores a personal case study of changing preferences and examines one buyer’s decision making in Mercedes-Benz versus Tesla. How have your customers’ buying preferences changed? How will you adjust your value proposition to deliver new business growth?
Adam Grant, organizational psychologist at Wharton described the predominant feeling in 2021 as languishing and encouraged finding its opposite, flourishing. This article explores how our mindset and having more fun help us to flourish, to achieve business growth and to achieve professional growth.
There is no greater opportunity for leaders to generate sustainable growth than innovation. Done well, innovation generates profitable new business while improving the condition of customers. This article discusses the definition of innovation, typical results, when to innovate, how to innovate and who innovates.
Business leaders maximize ROI when their solutions help customers navigate disruption. What are some of the disruptors facing your business? How will you prepare for them? How might these disruptors impact your customers? What solutions can you provide to maximize your profitability and ROI? Read on to find out.
We all know that to have a sustainable, for-profit business, we must make money. To make money, we have to solve problems our customers care about. To solve a problem, we must first understand the problem to be solved. To understand, we must listen, observe and develop insights. The 4 Ps completely ignore these critical aspects of new business development. Read on and help us create a world that truly serves customers.
How will you deliver significant growth in 2021 and beyond? We discussed the top growth driver is understanding customer unmet needs – in other words having a value proposition. Asking “So, what?” is a start, but if you aren’t matching the need to the customer, it doesn’t matter. Read on for key considerations to developing a winning value proposition that yields significant growth results and will help you maximize ROI on your sales, marketing and R&D investments.
As leaders, we are charged with growing business. A lack of value proposition continues to cited as a top reason for business failure. In this article, we explore value proposition and how improving value proposition contributes to accelerated, sustainable business growth. What is a good value proposition? How do we know if we are effectively communicating good value proposition?
Learn why customer intimacy is critical to your business and how you can achieve it. Includes resources such as Lawrence Innovation’s proprietary research paper “Maximizing ROI on Discovery Research With Custom Market Insights Reports” and Top 10 Indicators Your Company Needs to Improve Customer Intimacy.
In the current market, 85% of companies are in decline. Four of the common reasons companies -and their new products - fail can be attributed to a lack of marketing science. In part two of this four part series, we provide five indicators to help you identify when a lack of differentiation is preventing you from accelerating growth.
In the current market, 85% of companies are in decline. Four of the common reasons companies -and their new products - fail can be attributed to a lack of marketing science. In part two of this four part series, we provide five indicators to help you identify when a lack of differentiation is preventing you from accelerating growth.
Customer Intimacy? 10 Indicators Your Growth Is Being Undermined
In the current market, 85% of companies are in decline. One of the most common reasons companies - and their new products - fail is poor customer intimacy. They are not really in touch with customers through deep dialogue. Here are 10 indicators that your company needs to take action to deepen customer engagement in order to accelerate growth.
According to a recent report from the Board of Innovation, just 15% of companies are experiencing growth during the global Corona virus pandemic. For the 85% of companies experiencing decline, it is recommended to find new growth. We discuss root cause of failures and what to correct in order to achieve growth.
Lawrence Innovation helps B2B innovators accelerate growth by converting market insights into practical action plans that deliver results.
