How to Turn Disruptive Change into a Source of Ideas

Jeff Timmons, whose book New Venture Creation has been a bestseller for over a decade, calls good ideas a “tool in the hands of an entrepreneur.” Indeed, finding good ideas is the first step in the innovation process. Successful serial entrepreneurs are able to recognize patterns before an opportunity takes shape. They search for ideas at the intersection of markets, industries, and emerging technologies. They look for disruptors that will “unfreeze” a stable industry and the companies that compete within them. They look for business models that worked well in one market and can be adapted and applied in another. They recognize that they must listen to customers but must sometimes educate the marketplace to new approaches. Entrepreneurs learn to identify ideas by raising their head above day-to-day operations and expanding their vision. They then prioritize and narrow the many ideas they generate into a potential opportunity that addresses a compelling problem for customers who are able—and willing—to pay. This post will present some guidelines to help you leverage disruption to turn ideas into opportunities to create sustainable business advantage. Continue to read How to Turn Disruptive Change into a Source of Ideas