The insight gap

Corporate innovators do not work in a startup—they work in an established organisation with decades, if not centuries, of history. Pretending otherwise might prove fatal to their innovation projects and ventures.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to lose face, respect, and time is to ignore the past and do the work that has already been done. Imagine going to the customer to interview them about their "problems" and "needs," only to be told—by them!—they already talked about these topics to you. Of course, by "you" they are referring to the innovator's organisation, not them as a person. Doing that once or twice can be salvaged, but if that becomes a pattern...

But there is a way to ensure this does not happen. The corporate innovator ought to identify the vital insight gap, and then focus on it relentlessly. They can do so by first asking "What must be true for this idea to work as intended?" This will help them identify critical assumptions about their idea.

Next, they should go through each of the answers and list evidence and insight they already have, either supporting or rebuking the statement. This will give them a visual overview of known and unknown knowns. Once the big picture has been made, ask "What else must we know to be certain these [statements] are true?" This will reveal the insight gap. Next step would be conducting business experiments in order to generate validated learning, so informed decisions could be made.