What is
Opportunity Thinking®?
Growth starts with how we think.
Our growth engine is always going to the opportunity rather than individual ideas and innovations. What we need is a way to think about opportunity and that is what Opportunity Thinking® is – a set of principles and processes that guide how we find, define, and capture opportunity, driving focus in our innovation efforts.
Growth
starts by
killing ideas.
Killing ideas that won’t lead to growth.
Killing ideas as the starting point for growth.
Killing ideas in order to begin at
the real starting place for growth—
opportunity.
Opportunity which, when truly understood,
provides clues to building the right ideas—
big ideas.
Big ideas, Killer ideas that produce
big growth.
Not really.
Ideas have too often been relied upon as the catalyst for growth.
Why not? Ideas are enticing, ideas are entertaining, and ideas are energizing. Each good one holds hope—hope for a better world, for a fuller life, for things bigger, faster, cheaper, healthier, more beautiful—hope for some kind of tangible growth.
We hunger for ideas to help meet our challenges, solve our problems, and give us a brighter future. Without ideas there would be little progress. History is full of amazing ideas that have delivered both small and large advances in how we live. Many of these successes were so noteworthy and so beneficial we eventually began to assume ideas were the source of progress and the creators of growth.
3000
ideas leading to
100
projects resulting in
2
launches of which
1
breaks even
We are dismally failing with our ideas.
Despite their allure, ideas in the commercial world are too often failing to deliver on their promises.
It takes about 3,000 ideas to get 100 projects, which result in only 2 launches, producing, on average, 1 product that breaks even. Of these products, only 20% make some appreciable profit!
Considering all the commercial ideas we generate, the vast majority aren’t very good after all. Ideas are more likely to disappoint than delight, becoming an expensive distraction from growth. This is not the result of acting hastily. The average length of a major new product development project in most industries is measured in years, not months.
We are dismally failing with our ideas, even after we have plenty of time to examine them. This is not only a waste of time, resources, and investment but also a waste of the personal commitment of people.
Opportunity Thinking® Principle
Tethering ideas back to opportunities ensure big launches
Ideas vs Opportunities
We must go beyond sizing as a proxy for understanding opportunity and dig deeper into its real nature. Currently, opportunity exploration and idea generation are separate processes, completely disconnected from each other. Understanding opportunities should be the foundation for developing ideas that resonate in the market.
The problems with ideas and their lack of success are driving people to say they want bigger ideas. But bigger ideas simply don’t happen without bigger opportunities and a better understanding of those opportunities.
Think of an idea as a Koi fish and an opportunity as the pond. Some suggest if you put one of these beautiful orange and black Japanese fish in a small pond, it will stay small. Put it in a large pond and that same fish will grow quite large. The fish grow only as large as their environment allows.
Opportunity Thinking® Principle
If we want a big fish, we need a big pond... if we want a big idea, we need a big opportunity
start our growth journey focused on discovering and generating opportunity as the precursor to big ideas.
Opportunity
Thinking®
Killing ideas as the starting point for growth is the starting point for growth.
Opportunity is the path to killer ideas.
You can kill an IDEA...
but you can't kill an
Opportunity!
Opportunity
Thinking®
Killing ideas as the starting point for growth is the starting point for growth.
Opportunity is the path to killer ideas.
You can kill an IDEA...
but you can't kill an
Opportunity!
The originator of
Opportunity Thinking®
You can kill an IDEA... but you can’t kill an OPPORTUNITY!™
