Value innovation requires companies to orient the whole system toward achieving a leap in value for both buyers. The simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost.

Every excellent company we studied is clear on what it stands for, and takes the process of value shaping seriously. In fact, we wonder whether it is possible to be an excellent company without clarity on values and without having the right sorts of values.

Think big. Start small. Scale fast.

Innovations had better be capable of being started small, requiring at first little money, few people, and only a small and limited market. Otherwise, there is not enough time to make the adjustments and changes that are almost always needed for an innovation to succeed. Initially innovations rarely are more than ‘almost right’. The necessary changes can be made only if the scale is small and the requirements for people and money fairly modest.

Business enterprises irrespective of size must be innovative to remain relevant and competitive locally and regionally. However, innovators need to protect their intellectual property in order to gain from their creativity.

You really need to get clear about what you can sacrifice and what you absolutely will not sacrifice.

company needs to be able to articulate exactly what it does, whom it serves, and against whom it competes. Why? Because all employees should be made to feel like salespeople or ambassadors for the firm, and they cannot do this without a fundamental understanding of an organization's business. More important, without this understanding, employees cannot connect their individual roles to the overall direction of the larger organization.

How do you innovate? First, try to get in trouble. I mean serious, but not terminal, trouble. I hold — it is beyond speculation, rather a conviction — that innovation and sophistication spark from initial situations of necessity, in ways that go far beyond the satisfaction of such necessity (from the unintended side effects of, say, an initial invention or attempt at invention).

Value innovation requires companies to orient the whole system toward achieving a leap in value for both buyers and themselves.

If we expect people to live the core values of an organization, we have to be able to tell them what those values look like in action.

The good news is that one of the key elements of being a visionary company is strikingly simple: Good old-fashioned hard work, dedication to improvement, and continually building for the future will take you a long way... The bad news is that creating a visionary company requires huge quantities of good old-fashioned hard work, dedication to improvement, and continually building for the future. There are no shortcuts. There are no magic potions. There are no work-arounds. To build a visionary company, you’ve got to be ready for the long, hard pull. Success is never final.

Innovation requires having at least three things: a great idea, the engineering talent to execute it, and the business savvy (plus deal-making moxie) to turn it into a successful product.

If your company lacks meaningful official values, take the liberty of defining those values for your team.

the best innovation is sometimes the company, the way you organize the company