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Sean – it’s easy to poke holes in one blog post – I happen to agree fervently with what you’ve suggested as part of the puzzle and have said as much for years, but even what you suggest has a danger if taken alone – the world is littered with the empty shell of companies that created things that the market should want desperately. Not every company is on a mission to create the car, but innovation comes out of solving problems – the car, airplane, radio and Internet all addressed problems that people knew existed – people wanted to get places faster – the innovation came from people who figured out how to meet that need.

This can and does apply to a client who tells you something inane like they wish they could remember when to change the oil in their car and someone then comes up with a process or maybe even a humble sticker that reminds them. It is as easy as this article suggests to uncover profitable unmet needs, but then it takes innovation or maybe more importantly execution to address the need creatively.

Thanks for your input.

Fantastic work. This is probably the best definition of ‘what is innovation’: “The secret to unparalleled success is to differentiate by solving the greatest unmet needs of a market.” I work with businesses to help them build business Culture around their Competitive Advantage: total focus on what we do differently (that matters) and how to continually find new ways to solve customers problems better. I can now add this magic (but obvious) word ‘unmet needs’. The biggest problem, which takes a great communicator, is to make people realize they have a problem and help them find ‘courage’ to ask for help.

Thank you for your thoughts. MM

Great post. Do you have examples of companies which have done this successfully?