Ihave been thinking a lot about the challenges that midsized and larger companies face when trying to do more innovation. It’s not a secret that they need to do more innovation; everyone knows this. It’s not really a secret what innovation is, or what the potential benefits might look like. We’ve seen the results of good innovation in the marketplace. It’s not that people are stupid and don’t understand how to innovate, although many are more comfortable with existing methods and tools, and haven’t been trained in new innovation tools or perspectives. But training and tool introduction isn’t a major barrier.

No, the recurring theme of failing to innovate in a corporate setting has more to do with the failure to find things and discover things. I’d like to address what you need to find and discover, because if we can name the barriers or challenges, we may be able to eliminate them and accelerate innovation.

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