GUEST POST from Mike Shipulski
If you think you understand what your customers want, you don’t.
If you’re developing a new product for new customers, you know less.
If you’re developing a new technology for a new product for new customers, you know even less.
If you think you know how much growth a new product will deliver, you don’t.
If that new product will serve new customers, you know less.
If that new product will require a new technology, you know even less.
If you have to choose between project A and B, you’ll choose the one that’s most like what you did last time.
If project A will change the game and B will grow sales by 5%, you’ll play the game you played last time.
If project A and B will serve new customers, you’ll change one of them to serve existing customers and do that one.
If you think you know how the market will respond to a new product, it won’t make much of a difference.
If you don’t know how the market will respond, you may be onto something.
If you don’t know which market the product will serve, there’s a chance to create a whole new one.
If you know how the market will respond, do something else.
When we have a choice between certainty and upside, the choice is certain.
When we choose certainty over upside, we forget that the up-starts will choose differently.
When we have a lot to lose, we chose certainty.
And once it’s lost, we start over and choose uncertainty.
Image credits: Pexels
Sign up here to join 17,000+ leaders getting Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to their inbox every week.
After a week of torrid voting and much passionate support, along with a lot of gut-wrenching consideration and jostling during the judging round, I am proud to announce your Top 40 Innovation Bloggers of 2024:
Greg Satell is a popular speaker and consultant. His first book, 
Mike Shipulski brings together people, culture, and tools to change engineering behavior. He writes daily on Twitter as 
A twenty-five year Procter & Gamble veteran, Pete has spent the last 8+ years applying insights from psychology and behavioral science to innovation, product design, and brand communication. He spent 17 years as a serial innovator, creating novel products, perfume delivery systems, cleaning technologies, devices and many other consumer-centric innovations, resulting in well over 100 granted or published patents. Find him at pete.mindmatters@gmail.com
Dainora (a.k.a. Dee) creates customer-centric content at Viima. Viima is the most widely used and highest rated innovation management software in the world. Passionate about environmental issues, Dee writes about sustainable innovation hoping to save the world – one article at the time.
Soren Kaplan is the bestselling and award-winning author of Leapfrogging and The Invisible Advantage, an affiliated professor at USC’s Center for Effective Organizations, a former corporate executive, and a co-founder of 
Diana heads marketing at 
Jesse Nieminen is the Co-founder and Chairman at 
Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is an emeritus professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, an instructor at the University of Colorado-Denver Business School and cofounding President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs at 
Leo is the founder of 
Rachel Audige is an Innovation Architect who helps organisations embed inventive thinking as well as a certified Systematic Inventive Thinking Facilitator, based in Melbourne.
Art Inteligencia is the lead futurist at Inteligencia Ltd. He is passionate about content creation and thinks about it as more science than art. Art travels the world at the speed of light, over mountains and under oceans. His favorite numbers are one and zero.
Phil McKinney is the Author of “Beyond The Obvious”, Host of the Killer Innovations Podcast and Syndicated Radio Show, a Keynote Speaker, President & CEO CableLabs and an Innovation Mentor and Coach.
Dr. Ralph-Christian Ohr has extensive experience in product/innovation management for international technology-based companies. His particular interest is targeted at the intersection of organizational and human innovation capabilities. You can follow him on Twitter 
Dr. Dean Anderson and Dr. Linda Ackerman Anderson lead 
Scott Anthony is a strategic advisor, writer and speaker on topics of growth and innovation. He has been based in Singapore since 2010, and currently serves at the Managing Director of Innosight’s Asia-Pacific operations.
Anthony Mills is the Founder & CEO of Legacy Innovation Group (
Paul Hobcraft runs 
Chateau G Pato is a senior futurist at Inteligencia Ltd. She is passionate about content creation and thinks about it as more science than art. Chateau travels the world at the speed of light, over mountains and under oceans. Her favorite numbers are one and zero.
As an experience architect, Alain helps leaders craft customer, employee and shareholder experiences for profit, reinvention and transformation. He does this through his personal consultancy Alain Thys & Co as well as the transformative venture studio 
Happy Holidays!
