Word to the Wise

"If your job is to innovate, it is more important to ask the right questions, than to have the right answers to the wrong questions."

~ Paul Wang, "Customer Value Innovation" Professor - Northwestern University 

Two key takeaways:

1. Even if you don't have the answers just yet, being able to formulate the 'right' question will set you on the right path to true innovation.
2. Companies often make the mistake of only asking the wrong question to the wrong people. The right questions must be asked to the right people to get invaluable customer insights that will make a positive impact.

Let me briefly explain what I mean by that:

If your goal is to get more new customers to walk in the door, instead of asking your most loyal customers "why do you love shopping at our store," ask the target segment of the market that you want to turn into customers, "what does it take for us to earn your business?"