Getting ahead should be routine

Jul 13, 2008 • Paul Singh

In this month’s Inc. magazine, A.G. Lafley, CEO of Procter & Gamble and Ram Charan took on a toy company with $4 million in revenue and 30 employees. The result was a seven-step routine for innovation:

  1. Select the strategy: Looking for an underserved market.
  2. **Connect to customers: **The social network as idea collector.
  3. **Generate ideas: **Brain-storming done right.
  4. **Select an idea: **Time to separate the good from the great.
  5. Prototype and test: Bring on the customers.
  6. **Go to market: **Cookies versus cookie dough.
  7. **Adjust for growth: **The process evolves.

One of my favorite lines from the article applies not only to companies but to you and me as well:

It’s not about brilliance. Valuable new ideas are the product of hard work and smart, disciplined processes.