The 4 lenses of innovation

The history of big wave surfing is a tale of audacity and innovation, marked by the exploits of daring individuals who ventured beyond the known limits of oceanic adventure.

In the mid-20th century, a group of pioneering surfers, including George Downing, Wally Froiseth, Woody Brown, and Buzzy Trent, set the stage for the future of big wave surfing by taking on the colossal waves at Makaha on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Their bravery not only challenged the boundaries of the sport but also inspired a new era of surfers in the subsequent decades.

George Downing, in particular, was instrumental in the evolution of big wave surfing through his innovative surfboard designs, which made navigating larger waves more feasible. The spectacle of Downing, Froiseth, and Trent conquering a massive Hawaiian wave captivated surfers in California, prompting many to relocate to Hawaii in pursuit of the towering, warm water waves. This influx of talent from California blended seamlessly with the local Hawaiian surf community, leading to a collaborative effort in discovering and conquering even larger waves.

Among the notable figures of this era was Greg Noll, a Californian lifeguard known for his exceptional swimming ability and fearlessness. Noll's reputation was cemented in 1969 when he rode a wave at Makaha estimated to be over 30 feet tall, a feat that led him to retire from active surfing to concentrate on his surfboard business. However, the resurgence of longboards in the 1980s saw Noll return to the surfing world.

Innovation is often seen as a beacon of progress for companies, yet it can also be a source of significant frustration. Despite pouring considerable resources into innovation initiatives, many companies find these efforts falling short.

The challenge of sustaining performance after achieving initial success adds another layer of complexity. A common root cause of these struggles is the lack of a coherent innovation strategy that can steer decision-making in the right direction.

A well-crafted innovation strategy is essential for clarifying how a company's innovation activities will support its broader business goals. It offers a structured approach for managers to make informed decisions, choose the best practices, and prioritize tasks to ensure consistency across all departments.

Developing such a strategy demands a deep understanding of how innovation will deliver value to customers, how the company will capture this value, and which types of innovation to concentrate on. As market conditions evolve, so too must innovation strategies, mirroring the adaptability required in product design.

Routine innovation focuses on enhancing a company's existing capabilities and business models to better meet the needs of its current customers, such as through more efficient production processes. In contrast, radical innovation seeks to develop new capabilities and business models, creating new value propositions that attract emerging customer segments.

Innovation starts by gaining a profound understanding of what customers truly need. The most successful innovators dive deep into the customer's environment to discover their frustrations and hidden desires. They approach problems from the perspective of the customer, crafting solutions that are designed from the end-user's experience backward. A.G. Lafley from Procter & Gamble encapsulated this approach by saying that the genesis of everything should be the creation of value for the consumer.

One of the complexities in innovation is that customers often do not know what they want until it is presented to them. Innovators have the task of identifying these unspoken needs by closely observing and learning from their customers. This was a principle Steve Jobs of Apple lived by, emphasizing the importance of starting with the customer experience and then working backward to the technology.

For a significant part of the 20th century, innovation was predominantly driven by Research and Development departments. However, in the current economy, which prioritizes value, the most effective strategy is to first identify a crucial unmet need of the customer. This approach allows for the development of a cost-effective technical solution by working backward. Jeff Bezos of Amazon echoes this sentiment, highlighting the company's methodology of starting with the customer and working backward.