Reactive Innovation?
Dennis Howlett reminds me that the last paragraph of my Naked Answers post suggests that I think the only way innovation happens is in reaction to customer demand. Customer feedback is an important ingredient, but not of course not the only component. Henri Fords famous quote “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said, "Faster horses.”" signifies that to make a real difference revolutionary thinking is required. I live on the balance of these two components every day.
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Thanks for the ping Werner.
And having been there more times than I care to think (it still happens) I know just how painful and sometimes confusing a place it can be!
BTW - I don't subscribe to the bludgeon them over the head until they get it theory. I'm more a 'brick the camel's nuts while they've got their head in the well' guy :)
Good point, Werner.
Funny, I actually used the same Henry Ford quote on a panel, back in Decemeber at Les Blogs in Paris, when asked by Ben Hammersley if just "listening" to customers was just a recipe for mediocrity.
Fair enough. The issue isn't whether we "listen" to customers. The issue is whether we retain genuine empathy for them.
The latter is far harder than the former, wouldn't you agree?
There is no way that I can avoid leaving this link: http://www.rageboy.com/0.51.html
My two cents--the outer edges of blogging, like aggregation and RSS feeds and even podcasting--may be where companies who already have an established 'voice platform' (like amazon does with customer reviews, reading lists, and even wish lists if you're creative enough) need to look to bring real value to their constituents through blogging.
right, so it's not the 'GIVE CUSTOMERS A VOICE' mantra, because to a large extent amazon did this before it was cool. it's what's next. maybe it's author podcast interviews between grassroots podcasters and authors, or its amagration, where amazon puts out the most awesomely designed web-based aggregator that lets customers get RSS feeds from their favorite guest author blogs, or new book reviews, or new releases...
I'm thinking off the top of my head, but if I were in the meeting, I'd say let's bounce some ideas around that sit right in that little sweet spot where Amazon is different.
Amazon has an undeniably unique position in the market as part intermediary, part ecommerce engine, part b2c, and art information hub. Probably a few more parts i haven't thought of.
Werner is right to say: We're different; we did this stuff first; so what's blogging going to get me?
Kay i'll go now.