The Magic Myth – Innovation is a mystical phenomenon.

Business leaders often believe that innovating requires good luck, serendipity, a little bit of magic, and a hero who overcomes obstacles at all costs.  Leaders that believe this decide not to organize for innovation, hoping that heroes and innovations will emerge when needed.

The Customer Myth – Customers know what they want.

Innovating activities over-emphasize customer input at the expense of user, market, competition, and their own business context.  Innovating consistent with this myth severely constrains Innovation opportunities.

The Invention Myth – Innovation is all about generating new ideas.

Innovating activities over-emphasize generating ideas and potential solutions that are disconnected from what customers want or need.  This causes your Innovation Program to be busy without being productive.

The Process Myth – Innovating can be managed as a standardized process.

Innovating activities over-emphasize process control over solution development and validation.  Process control becomes more important than the solution, causing concepts to get stuck in development and deployment.

The Solution Myth – Solution novelty is all you need.

Innovating activities over-emphasize a solution you love without fully considering the need to improve the User Experience and Supplier Performance.  A solution you love more than the customer will not become an Innovation.  

The Innovating Reality

Each Myth becomes justification for a simplified innovating program, rather the dealing with the four issues that every Innovator must address; Context, Problem Solving, NPD Execution, and Change Leadership.  TEP high hit rate innovating recognizes the element of truth inherent in each Myth, but recognizes them as inclusive parts in a complete Innovating Program rather than as separate and independent guiding principles.