5 Research-Backed Questions to Kickstart Innovation

Hi Leaders,

Innovation is a hot topic item no matter what year you’re doing business. But it feels especially relevant in the age of A.I. Currently, there is even more need for discernment around what constitutes valuable innovation. Innovation in business is something we at Sway have been researching more intensely over the last few months, so we thought we’d share some of our ideas based on ways meaningful innovation is being studied across different industries.

Of course, we framed our ideas the best way we know how: as questions meant to guide and inspire:

What will the world have a need for in 5 years?

Most people on creative teams spend their time responding to the world in some way. This is all for the good. However, the problem is that these creatives are often responding to the world AS IT IS NOW, and by the time you’ve innovated on a solution for that world you see in your feeds or the conversations you’re having with business partners, the world has changed. So the solution is to try to get out ahead a bit. Where do you see the world economy heading in your industry/skillset? What new technologies are on the brink of being popularized that might change what you do in the day-to-day? Thinking in this way means you’ll hopefully be prepared to catch a wave of innovation the next time one appears.

What other things are you already an expert in?

One of the interesting studies we read mentioned that a lot of companies innovated completely new systems and products by branching into industries that had adjacent skillsets necessary for their primary industry. So one way to think about this for yourself is by asking what other skillsets does your company already have as side-effects of your current work. If you run a wedding photography business, you may know a lot about different types of camera tripods. If your company fabricates custom doors for antique homes, you probably have measurement tools that are really important and missing from other industries. 

What’s a new market that didn’t exist 5 years ago?

When you research innovation in business, stories related to this question are the big-ticket stories you typically come across. The classic example is Netflix switching from DVD rentals to video streaming in 2007. At any given moment, certain things become newly possible or affordable and create a vacuum in what the world has versus what it might need. Changes in technology, in international exchange, in production cost, or in legal frameworks can be some of the things that open up these new potential market niches that your company might fill. After all, “nature abhors a vacuum.”

How would you reinvent your industry from scratch?

Sometimes, the greatest innovation comes from a total reimagining. So once you’ve spent some time researching your industry, it can be useful to imagine you’re the first person who’s ever done what you do. How would you want to do it? How would you want to introduce the world to this service or product that they’ve never seen before? How would you want to develop it, produce it, package it? Often our companies follow outdated rules just because they were what past companies did. Often an industry standard is there for a reason, but, by trying to reimagine your entire industry from the ground, you might just discover some industry standards that should go the way of the dinosaur.

What is a main value of yours that isn’t expressed enough in the world?

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it a million times: company values are a beautiful thing! Our values say a lot about ourselves and the world we live in. They can also (secretly) say a lot about what we think the world is missing! If your company values have led you to success and there are one or two you see your industry is missing, how might you double-down on that value in ways that are important to the services or products you offer?  

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