“In a world of ever-accelerating change, innovation is the only insurance against irrelevance.”
~Skarzynski & Gibson in Innovation to the Core
Thinking is about imagining possibilities, of asking why and why not, of generating options for how to market your business.
Doing is about selecting options already identified and launching them the best you can.
Thinking is hard. By thinking I don’t mean staring into a cup of coffee, or calling a meeting once a year to hold a brainstorming session. I mean a committed process that systematically generates hundreds, if not thousands of ideas inspired by employees from all areas of the business, from suppliers, from investors, from partners, from customers, from fans, from different industries and even from competitors. It’s colliding ideas that on the surface are not related, and in doing so, creating aha! moments, or an adrenaline rush associated with epiphany or serendipity. It’s a journey that could include challenging orthodoxies, identifying discontinuities, figuring out how to apply organizational strengths in new areas and identifying deep consumer insights and unmet needs.
Doing is relatively easy. There’s no shortage of ineffective marketing that each of us are exposed to every day.
Thinking helps you solve problems that nobody else thinks to solve that lead to breakthroughs and game-changing opportunities. It’s the future. It’s innovation. It’s growth and it’s success.
Doing helps you solve problems everybody has and helps you support current customers and employees. It’s the here and now. It’s generating cash flow and paying salaries. It’s business as usual.
Both thinking and doing are necessary.
But do you have the right balance?
Are you sure?