The Role of Observation and Intuition in Innovation

Referring to the success of Japanese companies, Kenichi Omahe says in his book “The Mind of the Strategist” that, the common thing for these companies is that they have a strategist with great natural talent who is, in general, the founder or CEO. Maybe they've never taken a course or read a book on strategy... but they have an intuitive understanding of what the basic elements of strategy are. He goes on to say that what confers an extraordinary competitive impact on these strategies is the creative element of those plans, as well as the determination and will of the mind that conceived them. He ends the reasoning by saying that great strategies, like great works of art or great scientific discoveries, require great technical mastery in their elaboration, but they originate ideas outside the scope of conscious analysis. Dean Keith Simonton analyzes this last phenomenon in his book “Origins of Genius”, highlighting that creative individuals follow a process that begins with the analysis of a problem for which they try to find a solution. When they realize that such a solution is not coming, they eventually give up momentarily and divert their attention to other, more profitable activities. Creatives then enter an incubation period in which the mind works unconsciously developing combinations of ideas. Useless combinations will never reach the level of consciousness. Only a few combinations are harmonious and, therefore, useful and beautiful at the same time. Then, without prior warning, a sudden enlightenment takes hold of the creative's mind. Significantly, for the mind to enter this state, it is necessary to carry out some previous work of conscious preparation. This preparation begins with identifying the problem to be solved. If we start from the wrong problem, all the subsequent work will only lead us to the wrong solution. Therefore, it's key to start the process right. What is the correct form? In our opinion, the correct way to identify a problem lies strictly in observation. That's why we don't believe much in focus groups. Most people are so anxious to meet the expectations of those who ask us something that we tell them what we think they want to hear, and not necessarily the truth. The second problem with people is the difficulty we have in articulating our needs. Even if we are aware of the problems, we are hardly able to recommend solutions. Especially in the case of novel and complex products. Finally, people communicate through language, with all the limitations that this entails. Words identify experiences in our memory. Therefore, a word for one person can mean something very different for another. Therefore, being close to the action is key to correctly identifying a problem. Even in the Internet era, geography is important. Not surprisingly, most technological innovations originated in Silicon Valley and financial innovations in New York.