Customer Focused Innovation

A summary of a conversation that I had with my six year old daughter this morning.

Lauren: "Mommy. I want to get my hair cut short this weekend. Everyone at school has their hair cut short and I want my hair cut short too."

Me: "I think it is good to be different. To be unique."

Lauren: "But, I don't want to be different. I want to be just like all the kids at school."

Me: "Lauren. In business it is good to be different. People pay more money for unique and companies spend a lot of money trying to be unique."

Lauren: "But, I want to be just like all the girls."

Me: "OK."

Now I realize that my approach would have been far more effective if I just would have asked, "Do you think Miley Cirus wants to be like all the girls?"

Lesson learned....don't try to talk business with a six year old unless you put it into her terms.

Note: This post was originally published in Customer Connection on 11/14/2008.