Challenge The Assumptions
Japanese grocery stores had a problem. They are much smaller in size than shops in the USA and therefore don’t have room to waste. Watermelons, big and round, wasted a lot of space and were cumbersome in logistics as well. Everyone assumed and accepted watermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it.
But some Japanese farmers decided to challenge this assumption. If the supermarkets wanted a square watermelon, they asked themselves, ‘How can we provide one?’ It wasn’t long before they invented the square watermelon.
During experiments they found out that if you put the watermelon in a square box when they are growing, the watermelon will take on the shape of the box and grow into a square fruit.
This made the grocery stores happy and had the added benefit that it was much easier and cost effective to ship the watermelons. Consumers also loved them because they took less space in their refrigerators which are much smaller than those in the USA meaning that the growers could charge a premium price for them.
Learning from the story
1. Don’t Assume. If there are any assumptions challenge the assumptions itself. All the innovation is outcome of challenging the basic assumptions.
2. Listen to your clients feedback and understand their unresolved problems.
3. Once you innovate; value your innovations and uniqueness.
Questions to ask ourselves
1. What are the challenges my clients are facing?
2. What are the assumptions hiding in those challenges?
3. How do I challenge those assumptions to innovate?
If you really want to challenge your typical way of doing business and learn the most effective way of doing business; here’s my personal invitation to our *FREE seminar Business On Autopilot.
Facebook Comments
TAGS
